Since round-kicking his way onto Hollywood’s radar with the low-budget comedy The Foot Fist Way, Danny McBride has made a career out of playing the world’s biggest jerks. And while that may seem like the kind of thing that would give most actors a short half-life, it’s actually turned into a sort of calling card for McBride who has proven, time and again, that even dickheads can have depth (maybe). This has never more true than on Eastbound & Down.
The series, which ran on HBO for four seasons, was one of those shows that seemed perpetually on the brink of cancellation—though not for lack of comedic power. Created by McBride, Jody Hill, and Ben Best (who created The Foot Fist Way), and produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (who brought The Foot Fist Way to audiences), Eastbound & Down follows former pro baseball pitcher Kenny Powers (McBride) through his post-MLB life.
But whereas other similarly themed movies and TV series have attempted to depict “what happens next” to former celebrities, Eastbound & Down is unique in that Powers’ very public crash and burn is only the beginning of his downward spiral. And while, like other fallen heroes before him, he does attempt to mount a comeback, he isn’t doing it with his tail between his legs. Because that would require Kenny to admit that his star has fallen in the first place—which would be an impossibility given his level of self-absorption, despite the fact that Kenny he has moved back to his hometown, where he’s living with his older brother (played by Oscar nominee John Hawkes) and working as a substitute gym teacher.
Though its premise might seem familiar, Eastbound & Down is unique in its ability to consistently—and successfully—reinvent itself so that you never get stuck in one place for too long. Each season sees Kenny at a different crossroads, and typically one that will take him further away from fame, which seems to be the one burning desire that can override all of his other emotions. Yes, he has the capacity to care about and even love others, but he’ll sacrifice anyone if it means he can step back into the spotlight. Yet it says something about his character that, at his lowest points, he still manages to return home to the people who know him best and have the least amount of tolerance for his antics, like his brother Dustin (Hawkes), sometime-girlfriend April (Katy Mixon), and devoted sidekick Stevie (Steve Little).
Not everyone is a fan of McBride’s dickish shtick, and while it’s understandable that some people might be turned off by his perpetual jerk persona, it’s also unfortunate. Because, like some of the best dark comedies before it, Eastbound & Down does have a heart… it just takes a while to get there. Well, about 14.5 hours.
As McBride wraps up another run as one of HBO’s most lovable jerks on the freshman series Vice Principals, you’ve got plenty of time to see his earlier go at the title with Eastbound & Down. Here's how to get into it.
Number of Seasons: 4 (29 episodes)
Time Requirements: Given its quick clip, it would be easy to spend a couple of hours per day getting caught up in the trainwreck that is Kenny Powers’ life. But considering the series’ relative brevity, we’d suggest savoring it a bit (if you can) by sticking to a strict diet of two episodes per night, which will let you complete the series in just about two weeks. (Just in time for Vice Principals’ first season finale.) And if you just can’t help yourself, it’s an easy weekend binge-watch.
Where to Get Your Fix: Amazon, HBO Now, HBO Go, iTunes
Best Character to Follow: Even if he weren’t regularly reminding you of the fact via voiceover, there’s no getting around the fact that Eastbound & Down is Kenny Powers’ show—and rightfully so. On the surface it's easy to dismiss Kenny as a morally bankrupt fame whore, but that's sort of the point. Also, there's something enigmatic about him. Like sadism-seeking moths to a flame, Kenny manages to push just about everyone he comes into contact with to—yet rarely over—the edge. He’s just pathetic enough that you want to believe he’s capable of redemption, even if he’d call you a "fucking pussy" for thinking that.
Seasons/Episodes You Can Skip:
Though there’s a definitive arc within each individual season (which all comes together in perfect cohesion to create the full series), there’s a bit of a self-contained element to each episode of Eastbound & Down, too. And it’s all so dark and strange and unexpected that any single episode that falls short with one viewer will have a legion of fans who consider it a favorite. Season 3's "Chapter 15" episode—in which Will Ferrell’s blonde Bimmer dealer Ashley Schaeffer makes a triumphant return, and has hired Stevie as a geisha girl—is a perfect example of an episode that split viewers.
Which is all a roundabout way of saying that there’s no need to skip any one episode—as even the weakest half-hour installments of the series will have more than one classic moment.
Seasons/Episodes You Can’t Skip:
In 2011, fans of Eastbound & Down learned that the show’s third season would be its last. One year later, the show’s creators decided that it needed one more season—and fans are thankful for it, as it’s one of the rare series that managed to end on a high note (many fans consider Season 4 to be its very best).
Season 1: Episode 1, "Chapter 1" Everything you need to know about Kenny Powers, you learn in the series pilot. The disgraced former baseball star has returned to his hometown in North Carolina, where he’s shacking up with his brother and his family and is about to start work as a substitute P.E. teacher at the same school where his former girlfriend, April, works. It may seem like rock bottom, but Kenny’s just getting started on his descent.
Season 1: Episode 5, “Chapter 5” Among the series’ many great cameos is executive producer Will Ferrell’s role as Ashley Schaeffer, the very odd and very blonde owner of a local car dealership who becomes one of Kenny’s main enemies after a celebrity endorsement gone wrong earlier in the season. In the fifth episode, he trots around his newest pitchman, Kenny’s MLB nemesis, Reg Mackworthy (played by Craig Robinson). Adam McKay directed the episode—and it shows.
Season 1: Episode 6, “Chapter 6” Just when Kenny seems resigned to a life of normalcy, an offer from the Tampa Bay Rays changes everything—and emboldens Kenny to be vulnerable, and ask April to join him. But when the plans change at the last minute, Kenny’s ego gets in the way yet again and sends him "on the run."
Season 2: Episode 2, “Chapter 8” Embarrassed by how his fate with Tampa Bay changed, *Eastbound & Down’*s second season sees Kenny Powers “in hiding” in Mexico. And it’s here that he finds an opportunity to make a return to the game by playing for the Charros, whose owner, Sebastian Cisneros (Michael Peña), is as out-of-control and self-obsessed as Kenny. Together, they plan to mark Kenny’s return to baseball in appropriately over-the-top fashion, but their plans get derailed when Kenny learns some news about April.
Season 2: Episode 6, “Chapter 12” The McConaissance owes a lot to Eastbound & Down. Between 2010 and 2012, Matthew McConaughey made a trio of appearances on the show as Roy McDaniel, a baseball scout who convinces Kenny to leave Mexico and reclaim his rightful place in baseball history. Kenny listens, and begins the journey that will take him into the show’s third season (and will see his dad, played by Don Johnson, come along).
Season 3: Episode 1, “Chapter 14” In the revolving door of guest stars, Jason Sudekis—as Kenny’s BFF Shane—is one of the show’s highlights. The third season premiere sees the two of them settling into a debaucherous routine of playing ball and partying as Kenny signs on to play with the Myrtle Beach Mermen. It also introduces us to Kenny’s one-year-old son with April, Toby.
Season 3: Episode 3, “Chapter 16” Kenny Powers is never at his most obnoxiously entertaining than when he’s put in direct competition with someone—which is exactly what happens when McConaughey’s McDaniel pops up in Myrtle Beach with a young pitcher from Russia, Ivan Dochenko (Ike Barinholtz), who he wants Kenny to mentor. But Ivan's youth, talent, and likability lead to an immediate rivalry (that comes crashing down in a later episode during the Fourth of July).
Season 4: Episode 1, “Chapter 22” Season 4 kicks off several years after the events that ended Season 3, and see Kenny sort of back where he began in the series premiere—living a normal guy existence, working a regular job, raising his two kids with April (now his wife), and seemingly happy (well, as happy as a guy like Kenny can be). But all of this newfound domestic bliss gets thrown into a tailspin when he spends a night out with Guy Young (Ken Marino), a former teammate who now hosts an ESPN-like sports talk show and rekindles Kenny’s taste for fame.
Season 4: Episode 2, “”Chapter 23” When a guest spot on Guy’s talk show goes south for Kenny, he enlists Stevie’s help to redeem himself, re-channelling his inner douchebag and becoming a hit with audiences.
Season 4: Episode 8, “Chapter 29” Though his marriage to April is crumbling, Kenny is only concerned with capitalizing on his latest go-around with fame, which doesn’t sit well with Guy. Eventually, he’s forced to make the ultimate choice: normal husband and father, or the world’s favorite tool.
Why You Should Binge:
Because no one commits to the role of jerkface as thoroughly—and with as little regard for political correctness—as Danny McBride, and yet somehow manages to be immensely engaging (and even likable).
Best Scene—“Introduction”:
Truth be told, naming a single scene as the best of *Eastbound & Down’*s four seasons is a far more difficult task than it should be. But the series’ seemingly unending barrage of biting one-liners and so-mean-you-don’t-want-to-laugh insults means that just when you think you’ve heard Kenny Powers at his best/worst, he somehow manages to one-up himself in the very next episode. And then again in the next season. But if you’re looking for a quick litmus test on how you might fare with the series as a whole, its opening scene—which is essentially an introduction to The Rise and Fall of Kenny Powers—lays out the basic premise of the series in an appropriately profanity-laden three minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/8TDFJpRkARA
The Takeaway:
In some arenas, the cost of fame is every last sliver of one’s humanity—and that's OK with some people.
If You Like Eastbound & Down, You’ll Love: HBO’s Vice Principals is McBride and Jody Hill’s latest depiction of unlikeable people living everyday lives with McBride headed back to school and aiming for Bill Murray’s recently vacated position of high school principal. Walton Goggins is eyeing up the same seat, though the two eventually need to come together to oust the woman who beats them both to the job. (Though the season’s not over, Goggins may be the more depraved of the two.)
When it comes to depraved and delusional antiheroes, Kenny Powers could find himself beat by any member of The Gang/bar owners at the center of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Whether they’re turning a priest into a homeless drug addict, putting on a musical, or working to solve the mystery of “Who Pooped the Bed?,” 11 seasons in there have been no signs of human decency. There's also The League, which isn’t quite as depraved, but it’s cut from the same depraved cloth (and airs on the same network) as Sunny.
