I probably should be a bigger fan of Steve Carell’s that I’ve been up till now. I’ve already been crystal clear that I wasn’t a huge fan of THE OFFICE and I can’t say I fall into the demo that anointed Judd Apatow as the definer of Gen X comedy with THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. But I’m enough of a student and appreciator of comedy to know he’s a pretty big deal in his own right thanks to those and many other works that have made him as impactful a comic artiste as practically anyone in the 21st century, so the fact that he’s back as a series lead is huge.
Well, my own ignorance now officially ends after I was practically applauding in bed from the performance he delivered in the first of ten episodes of ROOSTER, which debuted last night on HBO. It inherits a time and space where appointment comedies such as CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, VEEP and BARRY have thrived, and it brings not only his impressive resume but also those of Bill Lawrence, who has clearly supplanted Chuck Lorre and even Greg Berlanti as Warner Brothers’ most valuable player. And here he’s again teaming up with Matt Tarses, who collaborated so brilliantly with him on the OG SCRUBS and who is himself part of one of the first families of comedy (dad Jay cut his teeth on THE BOB NEWHART SHOW and begat the eminently endearing BUFFALO BILL and THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOLLY DODD; sister Jamie one of the more meteorically rising network executives who greenlit the likes of FRIENDS and MAD ABOUT YOU but whose life was tragically too short).
With pedigrees like that, ROOSTER already had some outstanding architects at the start. But they’ve wisely buttressed Carell with both familiar and relatively new castmates that helped make the kind of impressions which CINEMABLEND’s Heidi Venable compiled yesterday:
Michael Peyton of IGN calls the series a 10-out-of-10 “Masterpiece,” writing that it’s a “magic trick of a TV show” in how it’s simultaneously elevated in its approach but grounded in its appeal. Peyton explains: “HBO’s Rooster is an acting masterclass, with tour-de-force performances from Steve Carell, Phil Dunster, Danielle Deadwyler, John C. McGinley, and more. It’s at once charming, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny. The pedigree of both the cast and production team behind the show is top-notch. Rooster is Ted Lasso for the HBO set and well worth a watch.”
Belen Edwards of Mashable writes: (“I)t’s fun to watch Steve Carell cut loose as Greg enjoys his first taste of college life. Yet Edwards also says Rooster is at its best when it focuses on Greg and Katie, resulting in a show that “feels like a warm hug,” even if it bears similarities to other Bill Lawrence series. It’s hard not to think of Ted Lasso and Shrinking throughout Rooster. Workplace patter-turned-therapy sessions abound, and the often-cheerful Greg is, like Ted and Jimmy, harboring a deeper hurt. … That familiarity risks feeling cloying at times, but the college satire element gives Rooster just enough bite to set itself apart. It’s a charming tale of finding yourself again and helping others along the way, and that’s certainly worth crowing about.”
For me, the setting of a uppity Northeast liberal arts college is ripe for both comedy gold and exploration, particularly in times where the setting itself could be triggering (though admittedly far less likely for a Sunday night HBO crowd). DEADLINE’s Dessi Gomez took that proverbial bull by the horns yesterday:
Initial encounters with Professor Dylan Shepherd (Danielle Deadwyler) and President Walter Mann (John C. McGinley) at Ludlow tease the clash of old guard and new that is taking place on college campuses across America. “It’s very tricky, because we don’t want to land in a political hotbed, right? And universities are all over the place, and so this definitely has a nostalgic vibe,” Lawrence told Deadline. “Right now, those campuses are very transitional, because, in a great way, it’s time for a new guard in a lot of facets of American education and elsewhere.”
That said, it’s the relatability of the journey and challenges that Carell tackles that resonates all the more. Gomez continued:
“The main thing we liked was the metaphor of, for me, nostalgically, college is where you went to reinvent yourself and decide who you wanted to be,” Lawrence told Deadline. “Very intentionally, we said, Steve’s character never went to college. And why couldn’t a guy in his late 50s use that as a place to decide what he wanted the rest of his life to look like? He could overcome some of the things holding him back.”
And then, there’s this:
Loneliness is a theme to keep lookout for as the show continues, according to Lawrence. “A lot of the characters are intentionally — Greg’s lonely. Walt, I think he says, ‘I’m painfully lonely.’ His wife’s gone for half the year. [Dylan] talks about, in the pilot of, ‘You ever feel surrounded by people, but still really alone?” he said.
I was able to utliize teaching, albeit only as an in-market side hustle, to give me the opportunity to interact with stimulating minds and give my own life a necessary boost at a time when my home life was crumbling and my work life was becoming increasingly less rewarding both emotionally and financially. The three hours a week I’d spend with my students from the University of Miami, on their own special journey learning how to network and navigate Hollywood while living in quads that often produced the same sort of interpersonal drama and dynamics that a reality show would covet, were gratifying and rejuvenating. I yearn for an opportunity to do that again somewhere, somehow. For now, I’ll have to settle for living vicariously through Carell.
As I also do the joys and frustrations of being a parent, something I’ll never know for myself. THE WRAP’s Loree Seitz explained on Friday how that storyline is also central to ROOSTER and to me makes this a truly special show:
For…Lawrence and… Tarses, “Rooster” was always about their daughters…the heart of the HBO series was inspired by the trio’s trials and errors of navigating relationships with their newly minted adult daughters. “All three of us have daughters that have just really entered into post-college adulthood,” Lawrence said…We all are still navigating what it means when, not only do you still want to be intrusive in their life and take care of them emotionally and keep them from getting hurt. But they no longer want that and they shouldn’t want that, and if someone held a gun to your head, you’d have to admit it was more about you trying to find what your place is than it actually is for them,” Lawrence continued.
And I’m absolutely riveted by Charly Clive’s nuanced performance as Rooster’s daughter Katie, an art history professor who is trying to cope with her husband (Dunster) leaving her for a grad student. Her feeble attempts to process this, which ultimately leads her to literally set fire to their relationship (and what was the house she shared with him), are both manic and poignant at once. She’s clearly her father’s daughter, and when she finally allows Rooster to open her mind–while at the same time he’s afforded the needed opportunity to do same–provide some of those signature “awww” moments that made TED LASSO a cultural phenomenon, and a wonderful counterpoint to the snarky and biting humor that have defined the numerous comedies Lawrence, Tarses and Carell have previously done.
It’s yet another show I’m welcoming onto my DVR list and into my streaming reminders. If I can’t teach or impact young lives any more I can at least look forward to a half-hour a week enjoying someone who can.
Until next time…