Glen Powell’s Football Comedy Has The Potential To Be The Next Eastbound & Down, But It’s Playing It Too Safe

Each nice sitcom wants an awesome premise, and Chad Powers‘s is a doozy; it’s basically Friday Evening Lights meets Mrs. Doubtfire. Eight years after a career-ending mistake, washed-up soccer participant Russ Holliday is scraping collectively a residing working for his dad, an Oscar-nominated film make-up artist. Someday, he has the brilliant concept to make use of his dad’s prosthetics to disguise himself as a unique particular person — the eponymous Chad Powers — and be a part of a school crew as a walk-on participant.

It’s an ideal comedian premise with limitless storytelling potential. It provides Glen Powell an opportunity to play two characters in a single, and units up a goldmine of potential conflicts, problems, and misunderstandings. Russ has to maintain his Chad alter ego a secret from his dad, and Chad has to cover his true identification as Russ from his teammates and coaches. No matter lie Chad tells, Russ has to maintain monitor of it. Chad must be cautious to not harm the prosthetics that may reveal the nationwide shame hiding beneath.

All of the items are there for a brand new hit sitcom. However to this point, it’s let down by its writing. The humor doesn’t at all times land, the storytelling performs it a bit too secure, and Russ/Chad is the one character who feels absolutely fleshed out and distinctively drawn. In lots of instances, a random reference is substituted for an precise joke. There’s a cameo look by Haliey Welch, a.okay.a. the Hawk Tuah Lady, early within the first episode that feels dated, pointless, and falls flat. Nonetheless, the present’s coronary heart is in the best place, so there’s an opportunity to show it round.

Chad Powers Is Extra Eastbound & Down Than Ted Lasso

It is Been In contrast To Jason Sudeikis’s Sports activities Comedy, However It is Extra Like Danny McBride’s

Because it’s a comedy sequence set within the extensive world of sports activities, Chad Powers has been compared to Ted Lasso, however tonally, it’s a lot nearer to Danny McBride’s Eastbound & Down. Ted Lasso is a healthful, sentimental, uplifting present, however Chad Powers has a imply streak that units it aside. Like Eastbound & Down, Chad Powers tells the story of a boorish, loudmouthed has-been athlete making an attempt to launch an unconventional comeback. It makes use of lots of McBride’s signature shock humor and adults-only raunch, though it’s in the end a a lot lighter, gentler present than Eastbound.

At instances, Chad Powers feels prefer it’s looking for a center floor between each exhibits, however that’s the unsuitable method. It needs to have the underlying sweetness of Ted Lasso, however it’s too vulgar to seize that saccharin sentimentality. It needs to have the sting of Eastbound & Down, however it’s too afraid to actually lean into it. If it doesn’t decide a lane between the 2, it’ll find yourself settling right into a banal, milquetoast center floor that doesn’t make sufficient of an impression.

The most important similarity to Ted Lasso is within the present’s origins. Jason Sudeikis initially conceived the character of Ted Lasso for a sequence of commercials to advertise Premier League matches airing on NBC Sports activities. Ultimately, Sudeikis teamed up with Invoice Lawrence to broaden the character into his personal half-hour sequence. Chad Powers comes from equally unorthodox beginnings. It’s based on Eli Manning’s character from Eli’s Locations, which Powell and Loki creator Michael Waldron have become a complete present. It’s one other sequence that nobody requested for, however it stays to be seen whether or not, like Ted Lasso, it’s the present we’d like proper now.

Glen Powell Carries The Present With A Efficiency-Inside-A-Efficiency

The Writing Would not At all times Work, However Powell’s Efficiency Positive Does

It’s exhausting to recall a extra memorable chilly open in a sequence premiere in latest reminiscence. Chad Powers opens with Russ actually dropping the ball on the one-yard line, shedding the Rose Bowl for his crew, and angrily punching a fan right into a terminally in poor health little one. This sequence immediately establishes who this character is and the error that ruined his life, and does so with a few darkly hilarious gags that make you are feeling unhealthy for laughing. Punching a fan is unhealthy sufficient, however knocking him into the wheelchair of a kid with most cancers is unforgivable — and that’s simply the opening scene.

However to this point, the sequence that follows hasn’t lived as much as that opening. There hasn’t been one other second as twistedly hysterical as that wheelchair punch, and regardless of having terrific supporting gamers like Toby Huss and Steve Zahn within the solid, not one of the different characters have actually stood out. Because it stands, Powell is carrying Chad Powers on his shoulders. He’s humorous, charismatic, and dedicated, and he mastered the artwork of a efficiency inside a efficiency in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. The writing simply must catch as much as the hilarity, originality, and conviction of Powell’s efficiency.

Launch Date

September 30, 2025

Community

Hulu

Administrators

Tony Yacenda

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  Perry Mattfeld

  Russ Holliday / Chad Powers

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Execs & Cons

• Chad Powers has an ideal comedic premise
• Glen Powell anchors the sequence with a unbelievable performance-within-a-performance

• The writing is taking part in it too secure to succeed in the present’s full potential
• Not one of the supporting characters round Chad are actually standing out