For a half-hour comedy that’s mainly going for laughs (what a concept!), there’s a lot happening in “Rooster.” Ostensibly, the new HBO series follows Greg Russo (Steve Carell) on a trip to see his daughter, Katie (Charly Clive) after her husband, Archie (Phil Dunster), leaves her for a younger woman. As Katie unloads her heartache and confusion, Greg can’t help but reflect on his own broken marriage; it’s been five years, and he still hasn’t recovered from losing Elizabeth (Connie Britton).
Then an unexpected job opportunity emerges. It would move him closer to Katie during her time of need and give Greg a mulligan on his post-divorce reinvention. He could start over in a new town, with a new gig, and maybe even make some new friends. Perhaps the position is providence: bringing father and daughter together at just the right moment, so they can help each other regain their footing.
That, however, isn’t all “Rooster” is — far from it. Did I mention Katie works as an art history professor at Ludlow College, a (fictional) liberal arts school in New England, which is the same place Archie works with his young new partner Sunny (Lauren Tsai)? (It also happens to be Elizabeth’s alma mater, and she its “most celebrated alum.”) Greg never went to college, so you can see where this is headed: He’s going back to school! There will be keggers, hook-ups, late nights and early mornings, all without shading Greg as a sad old man trying to turn back time. Not this guy! Not Greg! He’s doing this for his kid!
If the premise sounds a bit broad for HBO, it should. While the pending Paramount acquisition has churned out plenty of funny hits in its storied history — “The Chair Company,” of all shows, became HBO’s most-watched comedy debut in five years — its titles tend to have sharper edges, headier ambitions, or offbeat vibes (like, you know, “The Chair Company”).
As a warm, simple, and familiar sitcom, “Rooster” stands out on HBO by fitting in with the rest of TV, particularly its creators’ former work. Co-showrunners Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses started out in network sitcoms, with the former ascending to TV royalty in the genre. Lawrence is responsible for “Spin City,” “Scrubs,” and “Cougar Town,” and he made the transition to streaming look easy with the mega hit “Ted Lasso,” as well as two additional Apple comedies, “Shrinking” and “Bad Monkey.”
Many of Lawrence’s sitcoms deploy a hooky premise as pretense for a hangout comedy, and his early work focused on skilled professionals whose personal lives were in the toilet. In “Spin City,” Mike (Michael J. Fox) is too busy running New York (the hook) to spend time with family and friends (the hangout). In “Scrubs,” J.D. (Zach Braff) is too overwhelmed with doctoring duties to maintain relationships outside the hospital.
“Cougar Town” arrived mid-pivot — after “Scrubs” and before “Ted Lasso” — as Lawrence shifted from stories of young workers looking for love to stories about proven professionals trying to shake things up. Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is a beloved college football coach who becomes a beloved British soccer coach. Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) is a reliable therapist who seizes on a radical new approach to helping patients. Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn) is a detective who starts over as a private eye.
There’s a lot of “Shrinking” and “Scrubs” in “Rooster” — enough to unofficially form Lawrence’s Sad Dad trilogy. The first six episodes feel overstuffed (with plot, characters, and jokes), but a lot of it works. The premiere is rock solid, without a wasted word and showing a strong grip on its tone, and the cast is exceptional, led by Carell, Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster, and Annie Mumolo. What doesn’t work, for the most part, can be chalked up to the trial and error process typical for network comedies, which rely on regular fine-tuning to find their best self. If the audience is laughing while those adjustments are being made, you’re good — no harm, no foul.
Still, for all the funny moments and exuded kindness (another modern Lawrence trademark), as “Rooster” moves past its set-up and into its ongoing story, it keeps tripping over itself. Greg is an author. He’s done well for himself writing beach reads where “the characters that you like have sex, and the ones you don’t get shot in the face.” His novels allow him to live vicariously through his recurring hero, Rooster: a buff, beachside detective who’s as suave and smart as Greg is awkward and unassuming.
Charly Clive, Connie Britton, and Steve Carell in ‘Rooster’Courtesy of Katrina Marcinowski/ HBO
But “Rooster” insists on illustrating Greg’s lack of social (and physical) graces by turning him into a shield for canceled men. For every apparent impropriety, there’s a reasonable explanation. When Greg gets drunk and high with an underage undergrad, it’s OK, because he’s trying to help a lonely kid make friends. When a student claims his books are misogynistic, it’s OK, because she’s overreacting. And in the most ludicrous, straight-out-of-a-’90s-sitcom example, when Greg trips and breaks his fall by grabbing a woman’s breasts, it’s OK because what else could have done? Even the so-called victim says it was an accident, so no, there’s nothing to see here, let’s move on.
Except it’s hard to move on when “Rooster” keeps circling back. Greg getting sent to the disciplinary board becomes a recurring bit, no more serious than whenever J.D. visits the hospital’s attorney or Jimmy gets chastised by his boss. Cancel culture isn’t what the show is about, but it’s such a prominent punchline that it keeps getting in the way of the show itself. The only serious subject matter “Rooster” cares about relates to its characters’ emotional journeys — Greg’s feelings of inadequacy are fresh, stirring material, and Carell lends them incredible poignancy in the brief glimpses they’re given — and the humor inspired by Greg’s misconstrued behavior is incongruous with what’s otherwise a light, heartwarming comedy.
Enjoying Carell, one of the most affable actors in existence, shouldn’t be this hard (as a Matt Lauer surrogate on “The Morning Show,” sure, but not when he’s the audience proxy living out a middle-aged guy’s “back to college” fantasy). After all, the series largely avoids other topical issues of modern campus life, from freedom of speech restrictions to administrators kowtowing to autocracies. So why does “Rooster” need to keep bringing up the threat of cancellation, especially after the show goes so far out of its way to avoid labeling Greg as a certified Bad Man™️? He isn’t even the professor who sleep with a student; his son-in-law did!
Perhaps the first season’s misguided focus is just one more wrinkle waiting to be ironed out — an attempt to fit HBO’s edgy, contemporary brand from a creative team best suited for broad comedy. After all, even when you’re overtly aware of its hang-ups, “Rooster” is easy to fall for. The jokes are plentiful, the campus setting is aptly cozy, and the pacing proves as quick as it is assured. You can tell everyone involved has done this before, at the highest levels, including Lawrence’s returning favorites John C. McGinley (“Scrubs”), Alan Ruck (“Spin City”), and Connie Britton (“Spin City”). Deadwyler, a legitimate star, gets stuck reassuring everyone that this seemingly offensive white dude is actually OK, but she’s still an additive comedic presence, whether it’s her dialed-in reactions or catchy enthusiasm.
Carell, meanwhile, is in his element and thriving. Greg is far more aware of his social blunders than Michael Scott was, but their shared actor brings the same late-“Office” innocence to his latest embarrassing lead. It’s hard to sell lines so mortifying no normal person would think them, let alone speak them aloud, but Carell stammers through each one with just enough blamelessness that you believe Greg when he says, “I don’t know why I do so many of the things I do.” Carell is savvy enough to root each preposterous statement or action in something true to his character.
It’s a performance worth reveling in. Here’s hoping “Rooster” makes it easier to do just that in Season 2.
Grade: B-
“Rooster” premieres Sunday, March 8 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO. New episodes will be released weekly through the finale on May 10.