Rooster premieres Sunday, March 8 at 10:00p.m. ET/PT on HBO. New episodes drop weekly.
Rooster is Steve Carrell at the top of his game. It’s also Danielle Deadwyler at the top of her game. Phil Dunster, Charly Clive, Annie Mumolo, Lauren Tsai, and John C. McGinley too. The new series from Scrubs and Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and his producing partner Matt Tarses (Sports Night, The Goldbergs, Scrubs) is a delightful comedy about coming home, even if “home” is an unfamiliar place.
The HBO series (the first s 6 of 10 total episodes were available for review) stars Carrell as Greg Russo, a famous author known for his breezy “beach reads,” and whose fictional protagonist is nicknamed the titular Rooster. Greg pays a visit to the college campus where his daughter Katie (Clive – The Lazarus Project, All My Friends Hate Me) teaches and hijinks ensue. Katie is going through a personal crisis – her husband Archie (Dunster, in a delightful smarmy twist on his Ted Lasso character Jamie Tartt) left her for a younger grad student – and is hanging on by a razor’s edge. In a moment of midadventure, Katie accidentally burns down Achie’s house and Greg is more-or-less blackmailed by the school’s president into taking a teaching job in order to get Katie out of hot water.
Greg is immediately a stranger in a strange land; the students consider his novels little more than populist trash and he’s living in the shadow of his revered ex-wife (Connie Britton), who made a huge donation to the school. But soon, unsurprisingly, Greg finds his place. He uses the teaching job to move past his divorce and help Katie. But this isn’t an “Old School” situation. Rooster isn’t the story of an awkward man trying to reclaim his youth. It’s much more subtle, thoughtful, and brilliant than that.
Rooster utilizes Carrell’s blend of comedic timing and dramatic chops to perfect effect here. Greg Russo is a masterclass performance from Carrell, a natural extension of what he does best. Greg is a somewhat emotionally awkward fish out of water trying to figure out “what’s next.” It’s the next step in Carrell’s parade of loveable-yet-biting on-screen characters after The Office’s Michael Scott and The 40 Year-Old Virgin’s Andy. But while those characters are at times completely out of their depth, Greg is more sure of who he is even if he doesn’t know exactly what he wants.
The show is frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious. The dialogue is sharp, humorous yet realistic. The pacing is crisp. But the biggest showcase of Rooster’s comedy is a surprising one given the show’s HBO pedigree: scene after scene of sidesplitting slapstick that borders on farce. Aside from Katie inadvertently burning down Archie’s house, Greg and Archie engage in riotous on-camera fisticuffs, Greg is repeatedly hauled in front of the school’s disciplinary committee for politically incorrect comments, inappropriate shoes lead to inappropriate interactions with students, the list goes on. The buffoonery is a surprising revelation that serves as a perfect balance to the top-tier dialogue and deep connections between characters.
The relationship between Katie and Greg is the beating heart of the show. Katie is going through it and Greg tries his best to support her, even if he’s in way over his head. Katie repeatedly says she doesn’t want Greg to be there (she does) and he tries to give her space (not always) while still being a good father. As Katie, Clive is instantly believable as Carrell’s daughter and performs her as a woman on the brink – just barely holding it together while the world around her crumbles. Carrell’s mastery of the overzealous and well-intentioned paternal archetype is on full display here and Clive serves as his perfect scene partner and foil.
Deadwyler (Till, The Piano Teacher) is perhaps best known for her powerhouse dramatic roles, but shines here as Dylan, Katie and Greg’s university colleague and potential love interest for Greg. Carrell and Deadwyler have grounded, simmering chemistry throughout the series. The “will they or won’t they” throughline that runs through each episode is the perfect balance to some of the more uproarious elements of Rooster’s first six episodes.
Dunster is also brilliant as Archie. He subverts his most famous on-screen character, Jamie Tartt, and makes us both love and hate him in entirely new ways. We’re meant to detest Archie for cheating on Katie, but (dammit) we just can’t. Those doe eyes and smarmy British charm leave us constantly thinking that maybe it’s OK if they get back together. Likewise, we can’t completely despise Lauren Tsai, who plays Sunny, the grad student with whom Archie is having an affair. Sunny is going through her own turmoil and Tsai plays her in a way that encapsulates all the fear and anxiety that comes with being a young college graduate who’s just trying to make their way through the world.
Rounding out the cast (which also includes appearances by a murderer’s row of actors like Connie Britton, Alan Ruck, Robbie Hoffman, and Annie Mumolo) is John C. McGinley as Ludlow College president Howard Mann. McGinley, perhaps best known for his longrunning role as Dr. Cox on Scrubs, is dynamite in Rooster. Whether in his campus office, running shirtless on the college grounds, or while having frequent conversations with other characters in his at-home hothouse sauna, McGinley’s Mann serves as both a grounding force and laugh-out-loud scene-stealer throughout the show. He brings both gravity and levity to a series that’s already bursting with both.
Lawrence and Tarses deftly take all of these superb performances and blend them into an engaging cocktail that’s at once uproarious and profoundly meaningful. A story that seems simple on its surface (daughter is going through a crisis, father swoops in to help) becomes a character study of what it means to connect with other human beings in the real world.
Rooster is the type of show so many others desperately want to be: elevated in its approach and broad in appeal. It’s comforting yet biting; serious but also hilarious. Deep but light enough to be consistently entertaining.
Rooster is somehow like everything else on television yet wholly unique. It’s a magic trick of a TV show, and one that’s worth a watch.
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