Eastbound and Down: The First Season - Review

Not a day goes by when a comedy show we're watching is most likely going to offend someone. Shows such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, South Park, Family Guy (for all the wrong reasons), and etc. are examples- but none of these shows have the courage to do what Eastbound & Down does in its only six episodes.

Starring Danny McBride, mostly known from Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express, plays as Kenny Powers who becomes a Major League Baseball star at the age of 19 (I don't know if that's even possible). Over the course of his stardom, he has media meltdowns, accused of drug use (which we learn he did do steroids), gets constantly switched to baseball teams all over America, and loses his fastball. Several shitty years later, he resides in North Carolina with his older brother Dustin (John Hawkes) and Dustin's wife Cassie (Jennifer Irwin)- both who have three kids. While at North Carolina, he resorts to being a substitute P.E. teacher at a middle school. In this middle school, Terrence Cutler (Andrew Daly) is the principal who is engaged to Kenny's high school sweetheart April (Katy Mixon). Kenny tries to get it on with April while being stalked by the middle school's music teacher Stevie Janowski (Steve
Little).

Eastbound & Down is created by Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and Best Best- all three who made the indie film The Foot Fist Way. I rented The Foot Fist Way three times trying to find the hard laughs but I only chuckled- so my expectations for this show were low. Until Jody Hill worked with Seth Rogen to make one of the most daring comedies in a long time- Observe and Report. I was very surprised that Spill.com gave Observe and Report a "Rental". I'm not sure if I'm the only one but I think Observe and Report is a great funny tragedy - it's a character study with humor. A lot of people on the IMDb boards compare Observe and Report to Taxi Driver which I disagree. I think the best comparison for Observe and Report is to Robert DeNiro & Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (and that this is Seth Rogen's "Cable Guy"). If you didn't like Observe and Report or at least admire what it tried to do- "You're fucking out!" (quote from Kenny Powers).

Eastbound & Down is crude, rude, profane, vulgar, yet true. Kenny Powers is an arrogant, egotestical, and foul-mouthed person but there are moments where we cheer him on and like the daft bastard. Every character in E&D is someone we've met in our life or at least one of them have a personality trait that we share. One of us might laugh (in real life) that a baby was named Rose after the movie Titanic or one of us might be straight AND like smoothies. Most comedy shows introduce us to the characters, then have them in funny situations, and end the episode with a joke (not to shit on this show, but It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for example). Watching the first episode, laughing hard, I was scared that Kenny Powers would be just cursing and acting like a man child (like most Will Ferrell movies). The six episodes are more like six chapters to a movie (if you combine the first season's runtime- it's 3 hours) in that once the first episode ended, the second episode picked up right after the first episode's end. At that point, I knew this show was unlike other comedy shows are attempting to do on the airwaves.

The biggest surprise I found in this show was how each character (or at least the ones that contribute to an episode's story) evolved- especially Kenny Powers. The creators of this show could have made a show where all the characters didn't develop or go outside being two-dimonsional but they didn't. Every actor performs their character so well- notably Danny McBride, Andrew Daly, and Steve Little. All three actors make their characters have really interesting ups-and-downs . For a star vehicle for Danny McBride, he totally shines- even by playing as the biggest douchebag and then have the SAME character become different... or something similar in the same show.

I don't want to spoil how creepos like Stevie Janowski or good-natured school principals like Terrence Cutler change because it's for the best- the show is reliant on surprise. How the season finale ends in a away that's well played and satisfying- if the show wasn't picked up a second season that this ending was a perfect end (though I'm very happy it's getting a second season). Like most comedies re-watched, the element of surprise is gone- but Eastbound & Down (as well as Observe and Report) have statements or actions from one episode that relate to another episode that a few people or many could only catch with more than one viewing. Recurring things like Kenny Powers' audiobook, "You're Fucking Out, I'm Fucking In" and Stevie Janowski's wanting to be like Kenny Powers are funnier (and sad) the more it appears. Eastbound & Down is completely dark with its humor. This humor is more reliant on what the character has becomes, what the character has done or said as opposed to the slapstick humor (the picture shown above this paragraph). The humor also parodies those sitcom cliches we're sick from back then (Full House) to now- noticing beneath these hilarious jokes is fun (two shows I think resemble that is The Venture Bros and Arrested Development).

Eastbound & Down has so many quotable lines that repeating the funniest ones would be out-of-text and/or highly offensive. I agree that some lines in Observe and Report was just "FUCK!" but here it's more well written/improvised. Obviously the show's not for everyone- I admit I cringed more than I laughed at 4 jokes the show contained. Topics aren't held back: The American Dream, being a teacher, kids with cancer, sex, marriage, rejection (accepting it or not), being a wash-out, fame, being a follower/creep, drug use, jealousy, and religion. Not to shit on this show, but for South Park each episode would be around this one or more topic for a story. For Eastbound & Down, these topics come off more naturally than something forced from the story.

Eastbound & Down is one of the funniest shows right now and if you're curious whether it's for you, it'll only take about five minutes to figure out whether you're on board.

Rating: FULL PRICE!

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If you find the opening scene of the first episode funny, this show's for you.


My Spoiler-Filled Review of Observe and Report: http://my.spill.com/profiles/blogs/to-observe-amp-report

To honor this year's Fourth of July, a patriotic quote from Kenny Powers, "I've been called a xenophobe but the truth is I'm not. I honestly think America's the best country and all other countries just aren't as good. That used to be called patriotism."