Pilot

The pilot episode of Red Oaks premiered on Amazon on August 28, 2014 as a part of Amazon's crowdsourced pilot season. Amazon ultimately ordered the show to series in October, with the rest of the first season premiering on the platform a year later.

Synopsis
On an evening in New Jersey in 1985, David Meyers, an NYU student, and his father, Sam, are playing tennis. Believing that David intends to become a CPA, Sam chides David for his mediocre accounting grades and scoffs at David’s A in “Cinema of the French New Wave.” Suddenly, Sam collapses on the court and has a heart attack. While he and David wait for help to arrive, Sam confesses that he “never loved” David’s mother, Judy, and that he should have married a woman named Sun Yi instead. Sam also expresses his suspicion that Judy “is a lesbian or at least technically bisexual.”

Sam survives his heart attack, and David begins his summer job at Red Oaks Country Club. David is working as an assistant tennis pro under head pro Nash, a flamboyant, mildly overweight Middle Eastern man. Nash informs David that he can make up to $900 a week if he can ingratiate himself to club members and get them to pay for private tennis lessons. Meanwhile, Karen, David’s long-term girlfriend and the club’s aerobics instructor, invites David to the staff summer kickoff kegger that night. Reluctantly, David agrees to go. Later that day, a club member named Getty asks David to play him one-on-one. David beats Getty, who gets increasingly agitated as the match goes on.

That night, David attends the staff kegger with Karen. David finds Nash playing strip golf with two women on the golf course. Nash begins to tell him something about the man David had played against earlier that day, but is too distracted by his female companions to finish his thought. David then finds Karen on a remote stretch of the golf course, chatting with the club’s event photographer, Barry. Barry leaves, and David and Karen have sex. Afterwards, Karen wistfully discusses their future together and the possibility that they may be members of Red Oaks someday, which makes David visibly uncomfortable.

Other staff members attending the party are lifeguards Misty and Steve, as well as David’s friend Wheeler, who works as a valet at the club. Wheeler sells a dime-bag of weed to Steve and asks about Steve’s girlfriend, Misty. Steve informs Wheeler that he and Misty have broken up, which piques Wheeler’s interest. Wheeler drives a golf cart around the club grounds until he finds an upset Misty hiding in a tree. He reminds Misty that they were driver’s ed partners in high school, and the two hit it off while smoking weed in the golf cart. Wheeler becomes increasingly upset as Misty describes Steve’s inconsiderate behavior, and nearly runs Steve over while he and Misty speed around the grounds. As the night goes on, Nash finds David again. Returning to his earlier thought, Nash informs David that Getty is in fact the President of Red Oaks, and that Getty does not think David’s tennis game is good enough for him to remain employed at the club. David reveals that he let Getty win a few of their games because Getty was being “such a sore fucking loser.” Nash explains that he has made a deal with Getty; David will be allowed to keep his job if he can beat Getty 6-0 in a rematch the next morning. A severely hungover David manages to handedly win his rematch against Getty, much to his and Nash’s relief. Afterwards, David becomes intrigued by a young woman at the club reading an erotic novel called Delta of Venus. While she won’t tell him her name, she does reveal that she is Getty’s daughter.

Music
Steal Away - Robbie Dupree I See You - Carmen Bogart Bombs Away - Loosely Tight Traces to Nowhere - Mitch Murder The Stroke - Billy Squier Let it Out - Shock Therapy Oak Tree Rapp - Starr Crew I Won't Wait No More - The Jetzons Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat Loverboy - Billy Ocean (Si, Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star - Bill Wyman 4-3-1 - The Jetzons Had A Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy) - Roger Hodgson