East Bound and Down 10 on Dickness Scale
I wrote the other day about how I was eagerly anticipating the premiere of the Will Ferrell produced show East Bound and Down on HBO. It premiered last night and it lived up to all of the hype.
It was the first episode and it is only a half hour show so much of the show involved laying out the back story of Kenny Powers, played by Danny McBride. Powers was a fantastic baseball reliever who could throw about 100 miles per hour. They seem to have based the character in part former relief pitcher Rod Beck at least as far as the look. Powers partied constantly cursed during press conferences and completely threw away all of his talent. He lost his stuff and after bouncing around the league for a few years was out for good. The show starts three years after he was out of the major leagues. He moves back home and begins a job as a substitute gym teacher at a middle school. He moves in with his brother’s family. His brother is the guy who played the store owner from Deadwood, John Hawkes. Not the Sheriff, the other guy, Sol. His old high school flame, played by the incredibly sexy Katy Mixon, is a teacher at the high school who is engaged to the principal.
He is a man-child who teaches children. In the Foot Fist Way he was a karate instructor, who taught both children and adults. In East Bound and Down he is a middle school gym teacher. They could have went the safe route and made him a semi-likeable figure with a self-destructive streak, but the way they are going is the way to go. Just worry about making the audience laugh hysterically. If they continue to do that this show will be the biggest new hit of the year hands down. The episode of Flight of the Conchords tonight was the funniest one of the new season as well so things are really looking up for HBO. They made a terrible decision to pass on Mad Men a few years ago which has ended up being arguably the best show on television. They now appear to have finally move on and found themselves their first big hit since the Sopranos. The last few years Showtime had really taken HBO’s place when it came to appointment television. No longer were people watching HBO for the Sopranos. They were now watching Showtime for shows like Dexter or Californication. I think Flight of the Conchords is great and I still watch Entourage, but this show has a chance to make people who otherwise would not subscribe to HBO do so and it has been a few years since they have had a show like that. Really it would surprise me to learn of anyone who has a sense of humor watching this show and not finding at least one scene were they are laughing so hard they are on the verge of tears. For me it was the last scene of this episode. I really do not want to spoil it, but it as I think about it now I am starting to laugh again and I saw it hours ago. “Where’s he going it’s only first period.” That is the line that sets up the ending of the first episode. It cuts to a scene which promises great stuff in the coming episodes.
There were a few extremely funny parts and it ended with the best scene of the episode. Always leave the audience wanting more. If you had any question what direction they were heading with the show up until the end of the show all of your questions were answered in the last scene. They decided to go full dickness, hence the ten on the Dickness Scale. The Dickness scale is not a rating system for the quality of the show, but rather a scale measuring the level of dickness or the state or quality of being a dick as defined by Urban Dictionary. Kenny Powers really has no redeeming qualities as a human being. I mean that as a compliment. This is the team who created the Foot Fist Way which also stars McBride in a similar role. This role is right in his wheelhouse and he nails it perfectly.
Full Disclosure: As I said in a previous post, my last name is Dick and that is the reason I named this site dickness. It is not meant to be a reference to my character and in no way does my level of dickness approach that of Kenny Powers.
Here is an interview from Comingsoon.net with Danny McBride the star of East Bound and Down. McBride was also recently in Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express and the upcoming Land of the Lost so the interview is wide-ranging in scope. From what he says of their plans for East Bound and Down I am optimistic about its future.
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