I won’t start this review off pretending I don’t have a bias towards HBO’s “Eastbound and Down.” I’m a big Danny McBride fan (if you haven’t seen his debut “The Foot Fist Way” do so). I love the character of Kenny Powers (the most lovably assholish character in TV comedy). And this show comes the closest of any TV sitcom—-even the ones on HBO—-to once and for all breaking off the last restraints of the sitcom by taking us on a real journey.
What do I mean by saying that? I’m saying the way TV comedies started out—-on a stage, with a laugh track, the same four or five people every damn week, and roughly the same “situations” that put the “sit” in sitcom—-has been gradually changing over the last decade as fewer and fewer shows (but still too many) now use laugh tracks or are shot on stages instead of multiple settings. We now have Community or even Parks and Recreation occupying the Thursday night slots where even an adventurous sitcom like Seinfeld reigned supreme only a few years prior.
But “Eastbound and Down” goes even farther than those shows. Instead of showcasing roughly the same cast and exact-same setting every episode with little variation, it takes us on a real journey.
For those that don’t know, the show deals with a washed-up baseball player named Kenny Powers (played with amoral glee by Danny McBride) who strikes out of the majors for steroid use, politically incorrect comments, and basically being an egomaniac. The show is all about his road back to the majors, and one of “Eastbound”‘s many joys is the way the story follows Kenny wherever he goes. Whether it’s his South Carolina hometown (when he’s forced to get a job coaching at an elementary school) in season 1 or a detour to play for a Mexican baseball team (not to mention run a cock fighting ring) in season 2 or now, in the show’s third and final season, when he’s in the Myrtle Beach minor leagues desperately trying to stage a comeback.
It doesn’t matter if Kenny Powers is depressed, raging, or doing something downright illegal (like stealing his best friend’s identity or trying to pawn his newborn son off for someone else to raise), he’s always hilarious and remarkably likable. It helps that McBride is a good enough actor to show us the vulnerable insecurities that power Kenny’s selfish narcissism, and how badly he just wants his comeback shot.
This is brave, risky, and satisfying storytelling that too few critics take seriously because the show is a foul mouthed comedy not above the occasional dick joke. But don’t let that fool you. More than any other comedy on TV, “Eastbound” plays by its own rules, and, hopefully, is re-writing them for other shows.
Supporting Scene Stealer: Although many fans of the show love Kenny’s pathetic sidekick Stevie (one of the few characters to be in nearly as many episodes as Kenny), the show has a deep bench of supporting talent as John Hawkes, Don Johnson, Jason Sudekis, Lily Tomlin, Michael Pena, Craig Robinson, Adam Scott, and Will Ferrell have all put in an appearance over the years. It’s hard to single out many characters besides Kenny since the show so consistently rotates them, but that’s another advantage in not making a show stale.
Bonus Review: Life’s Too Short. This is HBO’s other comedy on right now, and is yet another Ricky Gervais show for HBO, which has also broadcast his “Extras,” his radio talk show, and even his standup specials. [Maybe HBO might start putting on YouTube videos of his bowel movements next.] Anyway, this show is a solid B-grade show in that it is sometimes hilarious and sometimes there are entire ten-minute stretches where I don’t laugh at all.
What it has going for it is an extremely likable lead character in Warwick Davis (playing a narcissistic loser version of himself), and the man is a truly gifted comic performer, both verbally and physically (just try not to laugh when he’s climbing a staircase in order to save face and, of course, only makes it so much worse). Of course, the fact that I like Warwick so much only complicates the show’s cruel insistence on punishing him. Like all Gervais comedy, this show seems to get a weird amount of pleasure out of suffering, and it really stretches the whole “awkward comedy” bit to almost misanthropic levels. [It’s hard to believe people would be that humiliatingly rude to Warwick.]
Still, I have to say that I’ve had more good times with this show than bad, and I’m serious in saying it does wonders for Warwick’s range. Here’s hoping Warwick never struggles for work as much as his fictional alter-ego.
Kenny is an asshole that you can grow to love.