“God’s taken a dump on my face!” shouts Kenny Powers. “The love of
my life doesn’t wanna have sex with me ’cause she’s gettin’ married to
some smoothie-eatin’ fairy! The only job op I got is teaching a bunch
of fuckin’ piss-pants how to tie their shoes! This is me, Dustin!” he
yells at his brother. “Take a picture!”
Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) didn’t always have it so bad: Once a
super-famous baseball player, the arrogant, oafish Kenny lost his
fastball, then his job, then his fame. Now he’s broke, and crashing
indefinitely with his brother’s family. He refuses to look for work,
and also refuses to sell his jet ski. He drives around listening to the
motivational books on tape he recorded years ago. He cries himself to
sleep.
Eastbound & Down might be the best TV comedy I’ve seen
since the British The Office. That’s a weird comparison, ’cause
they’re quite different—Eastbound & Down is very
American, and far goofier and more stylized—but the core
sensation is the same. This is heartbreakingly hilarious, weirdly
involving stuff. There’s something—I can’t quite call it “charm,”
but there’s something—about a dude who, even at his
lowest, can turn to his own self-image for inspiration. Shortly after
he complains about God taking a dump on his face, Kenny bounces back:
“I need to remember that I am better than everybody else!” he
declares. “I’m a bullet-proof tiger, dude. And if everyone in this town
has forgotten who I am, maybe it’s time I remind them.”
So Kenny accepts a job teaching P.E. at his old junior high school.
He vows to hook up with another teacher, April (Katy Mixon), who also
happens to be his old high school girlfriend, and also happens to be
engaged to the principal (Andrew Daly). He recruits the school’s
pathetic band teacher (Steve Little) to be his “assistant.” He starts a
feud with a local car salesman (Will Ferrell). This is the depressing,
mean-spirited, hilarious, improbably heartwarming life of Kenny Powers,
and though it’s told in a mere six half-hour episodes, it feels utterly
complete.
