‘Rooster’ Series-Premiere Recap: ‘Release the Brown Fat’

Steve Carell is a gift. In Rooster, the new comedy series from HBO, he plays Greg Russo, divorced dad and author of a popular series of “beach reads” featuring a character named — you guessed it — Rooster. Carell is in nearly every scene of the premiere episode, and he lights up the world of the show like a sun in the center of a comedic universe. The characters in his orbit are quite strong in their own right, but here, as in The Office, Carell’s unflagging comedy prowess provides the energy that powers the narrative into full-on hilarity. After his (fantastic) serious turns in The Patient and The Morning Show, as well as ensemble work in The Four Seasons and Space Force, it’s truly wonderful to have him back in a leading role in a TV comedy. This is where Carell belongs, and Rooster gives him a perfect platform to bring the funny.

Rooster co-creator Bill Lawrence knows a thing or two about placing a funny-but-conflicted character into the center of a strong ensemble. (See: Jason Sudeikis in Ted Lasso, Jason Segel in Shrinking, and Vince Vaughn in Bad Monkey.) Lawrence has been on a hot streak of creating shows in which people come together in little chocolate-coated clusters of found family; his narratives often present the world as a friendly, accepting place in which every casual encounter could result in a lifelong friendship and where everyone has a shoulder to cry on. That’s a world I want to live in, and Rooster riffs nicely on this formula of building a community full of kindness and curiosity.

Lawrence co-created the show with Matt Tarses, who also worked with him on Apple TV’s Bad Monkey, a show based on Carl Hiaasen’s popular novel of the same name. According to The Hollywood Reporter, when Lawrence and Tarses were working on Bad Monkey, they got the idea for Rooster, loosely basing Carell’s character on Hiaasen himself. As fathers to daughters who are now independent adults, both Lawrence and Tarses wanted to further explore that dynamic. The core concept that drives Rooster is Greg’s desire to swoop in and help his daughter, Katie (Charly Clive), after her husband cheats on her with a younger woman. But, as lovable as he may be, Greg isn’t perfect, and misunderstandings, mischief, and mayhem ensue.

As the first episode opens, we meet Greg as he steps onto the Ludlow College campus to give a talk about his successful series of novels. In a moment that feels like it might be a hallucination, he spies a half-naked “wet man” waving at him from across the quad. It’s not a hallucination, though; it’s just John C. McGinley, living his life to the fullest. We’ll meet his character later, but as someone who went to a liberal-arts college where students regularly did “naked walks” on campus, I fully endorse the addition of “wet man” to the Where’s Waldo world-building on this show.

The cozy liberal-arts-college vibe is very on point here. Turtlenecks and flannels abound, teens vocally question authority at every turn, and a colorful cast of intellectuals pepper the scene. Within minutes of landing on campus, Greg is introduced to Professor Dylan Shepherd, played by Danielle Deadwyler, a professor of poetry who teaches a class on Bad Bunny that I so very badly want to take. Dylan and Greg have an instant chemistry, like I can almost see actual waves of magnetic connection between the two actors whenever they’re onscreen together. The pairing of Deadwyler and Carell could not be more delightful. They share a bunch of screen time in the premiere, and every moment is electric.

Greg goes to give his talk, but it’s very clear that he doesn’t want to be there and that he devalues his own work. Summarizing his books for Dylan, he says, “The characters you like have sex, and the ones you don’t get shot in the face.” The lecture gives us a bit of background on Greg’s life. When a student confronts him about the sexual nature of the books, stating that the main female character is mostly a sex object, Greg counters by saying that she’s sexy but also brave and smart, just like his ex-wife, who just happens to be the most famous alumnus of Ludlow College. Greg’s inferiority complex is showing. He’s already giving “divorced dad,” and we haven’t even met his daughter yet.

After Greg gives his semi-disastrous lecture, he heads over to an office where he meets the wet man, er, Walter Mann, a.k.a. the president of Ludlow College. John C. McGinley plays him as a loopy, health-nut bureaucrat who is far more interested in the interpersonal politics of the employees at his college than he is in the students’ general education. Walter loves Greg’s books and is very pleased that he finally accepted his offer to come speak. Greg, on the other hand, has an ulterior motive. He’s come to the college not really to lecture but to check in on his daughter Katie. You see, Katie is an art professor at the college, and she recently had a very public scandal when her husband, Archie (Phil Dunster), a professor of Russian studies, started banging one of the grad students. Walter tells Greg that if the situation had gotten ugly, he would have been forced to choose Archie over Katie because Archie has tenure. This is a big yikes for Poppa Greg.

When Greg goes to check on Katie, he sneaks in on the very end of her lecture. Don’t you just love it when characters watch other characters teach from afar? Katie illustrates that she has a comfortable, teasing relationship with her dad by telling her students they can have extra time on their papers if they just look him in the eyes and tell him they love him. Only one student is up to the task, and let me say, if I ever had an opportunity to look Steve Carell in the eyes and tell him I love him, I would take it. (Seriously, how is he getting both funnier and hotter? Discuss in the comments, please.)

Much like with Deadwyler, Carell has an unmistakable chemistry with Clive as well, only this vibe is strictly paternal. The two effortlessly riff off of one another, elevating the scene where they spy on her ex and his new girlfriend from sad to slapstick. The stinger on the scene, where Katie flees and Greg mistakenly gets caught peeping on two girls smooching, is good for some giggles. Later, Katie goes to spy on Archie some more at their old house and gets caught up in a tree, a lit cigarette in hand. She’s a little sweet, a little dangerous, and I adore her so much.

Unable to find a way to help his daughter, Greg tries to drown his sorrows with a few drinks at the local bar. Coincidentally, Dylan is also there, and she’s very into Greg, so she plies him with tequila and warm nuts. She gives him some advice, telling him that he should go see Archie and tell him to “man the fuck up.” She also shares that she’s lived a very lonely life, dating on and off, and even telling one person she loved them but then taking it back. That’s cold, Dylan! But not as cold as the rejection she gets from Greg when he walks her home. To his great surprise, she invites him in, and he stammers at her door for a bit, genuinely gobsmacked that this beautiful, brilliant, luminous woman would choose him. After some back and forth, he gently turns her down. Her key doesn’t work, so she ends up smashing her window to get away from the sting of rejection.

Even though Greg doesn’t sleep with Dylan, he does heed her advice and goes to see Archie. Archie has a terrible haircut and a lot of regret over what he’s done to his marriage. Greg is angry that this man has hurt his daughter, but he also has experience with the situation; we eventually learn that his wife cheated on him before they separated. He harbors a lot of regret over how he handled it, and he tries to impart his learned wisdom to both his son-in-law and his daughter. It does not go well.

While Katie heads over to chat with Archie, Greg meets up with Walter. If you thought Greg was going to get out of dodge without hopping in Walter’s “Hot House,” you were dead wrong. Greg’s game-but-miserable reaction to the sauna, and then the cold plunge, is predictably hilarious. But the real hot house is over at Archie’s, where Katie professes her love for her husband before he has a chance to speak. He also claims that he still loves her … but not before telling her that his girlfriend is now pregnant. Katie goes nuclear, kicking Archie out of his house and tossing his beloved first edition of War and Peace into the fireplace. She isn’t thinking clearly enough to check the flue before lighting the tome ablaze, and so the floating embers quickly multiply, burning the entire house down. Oops.

Greg sees the smoke from afar and finds Katie standing in front of the wreckage. She tells him to tell the cop that they were together all morning, and he dutifully does only to have her tell the cop the truth. He’s a good dad, and she’s a good kid. But, oh, what a pickle they’re in now.

• One thing about Bill Lawrence: He’s going to soundtrack his shows with oodles of classic rock. Shout out to the excellent use of the Violent Femmes’ “Kiss Off” when Katie lights Archie’s book on fire.

• The cast on this show is very on point. In addition to the main cast of characters, the hilarious Annie Mumolo pops up as Walter’s droll and exasperated assistant, and Rory Scovel is the bumbling, small-town cop. I love it all.

• Walter’s sauna has a lot of rules listed on a wooden board he carved himself. The two best are: “Entering the sauna is akin to signing an NDA.” (LOL, no it’s not.) And “No food or drinks in the hot house. Even watermelon!”