Why Did They Let Eastbound & Down Suck?

Last year, I’d have shouted it from the rooftops that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s role in my comedy world was gone, replaced by Eastbound & Down. And then a funny thing happened: This season, Always Sunny has knocked out some really impressive material. And Eastbound & Down has flushed away every bit of affection I ever felt for it.


I’m not saying I no longer watch Eastbound, because I do. That’s what you do when you love something: You cling to every last shred of it you can grasp in your hands, smothering it against your bosom as you think about the good times (I’m going to be an amazing ex-husband). But the show has taken some turns this year that rob it of so much of what made it great.


Last season we were introduced us to some amazing, all-too-real characters and a story so many of us could identify with, that of a man who had flushed his talents down the toilet, forcing him to work a mediocre job he thought he was above as he tried to recapture his former glory (take things personally much, Papageorgiou?). Now, Kenny Powers is a cockfighter dealing with Mexican midgets and millionaire music producers who fills his days with cocaine, riding donkeys onto the infield and accidentally shooting his friends in the leg. Unless you’re Ozzy Osbourne or Hunter S. Thompson, this material probably doesn’t resonate with you in quite the same way.


I’ll keep watching, but here’s hoping that they bring Kenny home for season three. I miss characters like April (I’m still trying to decide if she’s semi-gross or supremely fuckable), Principal Cutler and Clegg as well as organic plot lines rather than material that seems it could have come from the minds that brought you Homeboys in Outer Space.

Tagged as: Eastbound and Down, HBO, review.