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Credit: HBO<\/p>\n
Steve Carell seemingly likes to keep us on our toes, with his best performances<\/a> spanning all sides of the comedy-drama spectrum. In Rooster, which premieres on the 2026 TV schedule<\/a> on March 8, he digs into his bag of tricks for a father-daughter dramedy co-created by Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Shrinking). Critics have seen six of Season 1\u2019s 10 episodes and, overall, their sentiments seem to align.<\/p>\n Rooster stars Steve Carell as Greg, a bestselling author who takes a teaching job at a small New England college to help his daughter Katie (Charly Clive), an art history professor, after her fellow professor husband Archie (Ted Lasso\u2019s Phil Dunster<\/a>) leaves her for a grad student. Michael Peyton of IGN<\/a> calls the series a 10-out-of-10 \u201cMasterpiece,\u201d writing that it\u2019s a \u201cmagic trick of a TV show\u201d in how it’s simultaneously elevated in its approach but grounded in its appeal. Peyton explains:<\/p>\n HBO\u2019s Rooster is an acting masterclass, with tour-de-force performances from Steve Carell, Phil Dunster, Danielle Deadwyler, John C. McGinley, and more. It\u2019s at once charming, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny. The pedigree of both the cast and production team behind the show is top-notch. Rooster is Ted Lasso for the HBO set and well worth a watch.<\/p>\n Belen Edwards of Mashable<\/a> says it\u2019s fun to watch Steve Carell cut loose as Greg enjoys his first taste of college life. Yet Edwards also says Rooster is at its best when it focuses on Greg and Katie, resulting in a show that \u201cfeels like a warm hug,\u201d even if it bears similarities to other Bill Lawrence series. Edwards writes:<\/p>\n It’s hard not to think of Ted Lasso and Shrinking throughout Rooster. Workplace patter-turned-therapy sessions abound, and the often-cheerful Greg is, like Ted and Jimmy, harboring a deeper hurt. \u2026 That familiarity risks feeling cloying at times, but the college satire element gives Rooster just enough bite to set itself apart. It’s a charming tale of finding yourself again and helping others along the way, and that’s certainly worth crowing about.<\/p>\n Rooster boasts an impressive ensemble including Danielle Deadwyler, John C. McGinley, Connie Britton and Hacks standout Robby Hoffman<\/a>, but Nicole Gallucci of Decider<\/a> agrees it\u2019s the chemistry between former Office cast member<\/a> Steve Carell and Charly Clive that makes this a winner \u2014 no doubt aided by Carell and both co-creators being girl dads:<\/p>\n While the cast features masters of comedic timing, physical comedy, standup, and improv that brilliantly play off each other, it\u2019s hard not to compare Rooster to Lawrence and Carell\u2019s past projects. Though the series strikes the creator\u2019s signature balance of humor and emotional depth, Rooster has yet to rival Shrinking, Ted Lasso, or The Office. \u2026 Even if it hasn\u2019t exceeded the soaring expectations set right off the bat, the show is an instant comfort watch with a solid foundation, incredible star power, and real promise.<\/p>\n Daniel Fienberg of THR<\/a>, however, doesn\u2019t think Rooster has figured out which of Steve Carell\u2019s stories it wants to tell through six episodes. Fienberg says the university setting is also misunderstood and misused. The critic continues:<\/p>\n Despite a tremendous cast and ample, if sporadically utilized, charm, HBO\u2018s Rooster suffers from a surfeit of loglines and an insufficiency of focus in deciding which one it wants to follow. It\u2019s a show with an excess of underdeveloped identities, rather than a lack of identity, spackling over its poorly fused story elements with a sense of humor that\u2019s sometimes appealing and frequently desperately hacky.<\/p>\n Aramide Tinubu of Variety<\/a> echoes the strangely outdated humor that Rooster brings, \u201cas if misogyny and the #MeToo Movement are just ideas to laugh at,\u201d and says the series is disappointingly full of predictable characters and circumstances that lead to a lackluster narrative. Tinubu continues:<\/p>\n Rooster should be a witty examination of a father\/daughter bond. Regrettably, it dissolves into an uninspired narrative riddled with stale jokes and plot points from a different era. Basically, we\u2019ve already seen several iterations of Rooster before, like Father of the Bride, Fatherhood and even themes from Carell\u2019s most recent work, The Four Seasons.<\/p>\n It sounds like Rooster may need some time to find its footing, but the first half of the series\u2019 inaugural season is promising enough for the majority of critics. It\u2019s \u201cCertified Fresh\u201d with 85% on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> as of this writing, so if you want to check out the latest Steve Carell dramedy, the first of 10 half-hour episodes will premiere at 10 p.m. ET Sunday, March 8, on HBO and streaming with an HBO Max subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. 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