By: Billy Cushing
4-26
Greg Russo, a famous author known for his breezy “beach reads,” and whose fictional protagonist is nicknamed Rooster, pays a visit to the college campus where his daughter Katie is a professor.
He says he’s there to do a reading of one of his beloved novels for the university’s literary professor, Dylan. But he has other reasons for visiting. That’s how ‘Rooster,’ my recommendation for this month unfolds.
Steve Carell stars as Greg, and the real reason he visited New England’s quaint Ludlow College in the first place was to check in on Katie (Charly Clive). Her husband, fellow professor Archie (Phil Dunster), has left her for grad student Sunny (Lauren Tsai) and everyone on campus knows it.
Greg’s swift visit starts to look like a permanent one as he’s soon courted by the cold-plunging dude-bro college president, Walter Mann (John C. McGinley). Greg accepts the position as writer-in-residence and all of a sudden, he’s not just passing through his daughter Katie’s life, he’s living in it. Through all this Greg is also navigating his own identity crisis, being newly divorced from Katie’s mom.
Greg’s presence at the university leads to some hilarious situations, including Katie’s flailing attempts to square things with Archie and accidentally burning down his house, Greg having a fling with a colleague, and continually digging himself deeper in front of the idiotically suspicious local cop.
Once he settles in he embarks on the college experience he never had, since never going to college himself, including keg parties, hook-ups, late nights and early mornings.
The relationship between Katie and Greg is the heart of the show.
Katie is going through a rough time, and Greg tries his best to support her, even if he’s in way over his head. He tries to give her space while still being a good father. Katie doesn’t actually welcome her father’s support, but he can’t help himself, often making things worse but in the most comedic ways possible.
Together they fumble through this new chapter of her life… and his.
Created by Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Ted Lasso, Shrinking) ‘Rooster’ displays all the hilarious scenes and heartfelt moments that those other shows do. The shows successful balancing act between big laughs, small emotional landmines, and relationships is exactly why Bill Lawrence’s comedies hit the way they do. ‘Rooster’ is consistently funny, brilliantly smart, and effortlessly charming. The cast is superb, with every actor doing their part.
McGinley, best known for his long running role as Dr. Cox on Scrubs, is terrific in Rooster. Whether in his campus office, running shirtless on the college grounds, or 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 and Carrell are great together.
‘Rooster’ shows us that life isn’t always perfect and it can be easy to feel lost and full of regrets no matter your age, career, or situation, while never bringing viewers down in the dumps. It’s a charming story about finding yourself again and helping others along the way, that grows funnier the more time you spend with the characters and that’s certainly worth watching.
‘Rooster’ airs Sundays at 10 on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max.
If you have any questions about TV you can email me at BillsTVTalk@gmail.com. I will answer all of your questions and will feature some of the questions I receive in a future Mailbag column.