| Eastbound and Down |
[Feb. 15th, 2009|11:46 pm]
International Bon Vivant and Raconteur
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Eastbound and Down, the latest HBO comedy, premiered tonight after The Flight of the Conchords. While Flight was in top form, featuring one of its best songs ever, "Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor," Eastbound is going to have to iron out some kinks if it wants to keep me watching.
Danny McBride stars as Kenny Powers, a has-been Major League Baseball star who now teaches gym at the same middle school he used to attend. McBride does a great vacant meathead look, which works perfectly for the character, but the problem, at least in the premiere, is that the cast is so full of kooks, slobs and stuck-ups that there's really no one you want to tune in for week after week. You don't really want Powers to succeed because he's an asshole who doesn't seem able to learn or grow into a better human being -- but there's no one else you really want to see succeed either. His brother seems nice, at least, but he's a bit player right now. Everyone else is a wacko.
That said, I laughed out loud several times, and that's always a good sign with TV comedies, which usually average one laugh per episode, if that. Eastbound and Down is definitely crass, dumb-guy humor, but damn if I didn't get a kick out of all the swearing in front of the school kids. I'll give this one another shot next week to see if it grows on me some more or proves itself a one-joke wonder. |
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