Steve Carell’s new show Rooster on HBO
I watch everything Steve Carell does. Even his speeches.
So I was excited for his new HBO comedy Rooster where he plays a famous novelist Greg, who visits his daughter Katie in college. Soon he discovers that his daughter is enduring the public humiliation of her husband’s affair with a student.
Reclusive Greg writes about a daring detective Rooster. At first I thought this was a Fish Out of Water like Ted Lasso, where the socially awkward Greg is out of his comfort zone trying to teach college kids. He even said he didn’t know what shoes to wear on his first day of class. Comedy ensues when Greg slips on leaves as he tries to walk in his new shoes. But then —- not much more.
It’s not Carell’s fault. He does a great job of bringing levity to every dull scene. He doesn’t even need lines, like when he played Brick in Anchorman.
In Rooster, Carell’s character is clear. He’s a doting father who adores his only child while he slowly recovers from his painful divorce. We understand him and we can relate to him. That’s why we like him and we root for him. He’s the reason we’re watching.
I want to keep seeing the brilliant Steve Carell every week. I don’t want his show to get cancelled. So I took time out of my Netflix surfing to write this critique. It doesn’t take a screenwriter to know when a film isn’t working as well as it could. But I consulted a screenwriting book anyway.
Colorless characters
A show can’t survive on just one star. You need a strong ensemble like in The Office and Ted Lasso. So I thought the other main character, Greg’s daughter Katie, would be a strong female counterpart. Sigh… From the first scene, Katie acts like a jilted teen who stalks her ex. She climbs a tree to peek into her cheating husband’s house! AND gets caught! How embarrassing! What self-respecting adult does that?! That’s why I thought Katie was a prefrontally-challenged student. I was shocked to learn that she was a college professor.
Katie is a mixed bag of inconsistencies. First of all, she’s a Daddy’s Girl with a doting father in Greg, who declares that Katie is the most wonderful daughter in the world. I have several Daddy’s Girl friends and a Daddy’s Girl daughter, so I know they are adored from birth. They grow up confident with a high estimation of their worth.
A Daddy’s Girl is treated like a princess with a cushy life. Katie would choose a man who makes her feel as special as she thinks she is. She would never tolerate being put in second place by a mistress. Neither would she endure a cheating husband who makes her feel unattractive and unloved. And she definitely wouldn’t put up with the public humiliation of being left for another woman.
Second, as an Only Child, Katie would’ve gotten everything she wanted. She’s used to being the priority and getting her way, so she would never marry a man who isn’t enamored of her. Yet here she marries a narcissist just because he’s hot?
Third, despite being an Only Child Daddy’s Girl, Katie carries herself like an insecure people pleaser. She doesn’t project competence nor confidence, even when she’s teaching. She has no friends nor passions.
So now we go to Katie’s cheating husband, Archie, played by Ted Lasso star Phil Dunster, where he played the beloved star player Jamie (he pronounced it Gem-meh). Surely this proven comedian would bring the funny. Alas, no. It’s not his fault. Phil plays it low key confident but he’s supposed to be a
self-absorbed professor who teaches something pretentious and Russian.
Husband Archie played by Phil Dunster from Ted Lasso
No chemistry
Rooster is full of relationships: dad and daughter, husband and wife, friends, peers, divorced couple, couple with mistress, teacher and student, student and mentor, and teacher and tormentor. None feel real nor relatable. Except for Christle, who brings the sizzle. Every scene she’s in is so strong and memorable that I wish I could watch her with Carell for every episode.
Then there’s the lack of chemistry all around. First with the married couple. Given Archie’s alleged hotness and ego, it’s hard to comprehend how he is attracted to Katie who has a librarian vibe. I thought maybe Katie boosted his ego, but she’s dismissive instead. Katie hasn’t shown anything that would make an Alpha Male like Archie marry her.
Weirder still is how Katie relates to her dad Greg. Carell is consistently very loving with Katie but she responds like she’s swatting a fly away. She acts like a cringey teen who is ashamed to be seen with her parents. Later, she even says she’s glad he’s leaving! How hurtful is that? My husband would be devastated if our daughter told him that.
Telling not showing
Rooster characters also love to state what writers failed to show.
Everyone tells Archie he’s full of himself even when he’s just quiet in a scene. Sunny, The Other Woman, tells Archie that he loves the sound of his voice while they were having a serious conversation. Walt tells Greg that he’s lonely after he hosted a fancy party.
Archie tells Katie that she’s the smartest person he knows after she burned his house down. Katie tells Archie “I’m a rock star!” after she found out her parents helped her get her job.
Katie’s mom keeps stating how unconcerned she is with nonchalant lines like, “I wasn’t listening but he sounds sincere.” after she pulled strings to get Katie hired.
Even Greg says, “I’m a pretty awkward, uncomfortable guy.” after he killed it at Beer Pong and partied hard with his students.
How can we root for anyone?
Even if the characters aren’t interesting nor funny, I would still watch to see What Happens Next. But nothing much happens because the characters of Katie and Archie don’t want anything all that much. Sure Archie wants to get published and Katie wants to suddenly get tenured, but those are not overarching goals that dictate their actions.
Katie’s public humiliation is what gets Greg to come to her. Yet you get no sense of her heartache nor anger over the adultery. Instead, Katie just looks embarrassed like she merely tripped in front of an audience.
What does Katie want? No one knows. You would think she wants revenge. Nope. Or to destroy Archie’s new relationship? Does nothing. Does she want to ruin The Other Woman? Nah. Maybe she wants to get Archie back? Briefly, but Katie was very wishy-washy about it. And why didn’t she get a divorce after the affair if she’s done with Archie? All she did was climb a tree to peep yet she says she doesn’t want to be seen as a victim.
Then there’s Archie whom we should hate but can’t because he’s too insipid. What does he want? I thought he was unfaithful because he and Katie had marital problems or were about to divorce. Nope, they get along fine and are even still attracted to each other. So why did he cheat and live with his Other Woman?
Maybe Archie wrecked his marriage with Katie for a hot student who fawns over him. Yes she’s hot. And no she’s dismissive of Archie. The Other Woman is Sunny, who despite her name, delivers her lines like she’s in the Poker Player Championship.
Speaking of Sunny, it’s unclear why she even became The Other Woman. She’s beautiful, smart, and still young. She’s also an Only Child Daddy’s Girl who knows she’s All That. She’s got options. Why would she consider an older married man in the first place? Archie is not even rich nor famous. He’s a turtleneck professor! And why would Sunny stay with a man who is obviously not ready to commit?
Except for the characters Dylan, Mo, Christle, and Tommy, I don’t know the names of the other characters. These four are the only ones who are clear about who they are and what their motivations are.
Nonsense scenes
Oh the nonsense I see.
I already mentioned Katie climbing the tree like a Peeping Tom. But the glaring one is Archie as a married professor who has a very public affair with a student, though she’s not his student, he says. Apart from a few student protesters, nobody in the college thinks Archie’s behavior is appalling. No one cited Archie for his unbecoming conduct as a professor. And no one complained about Archie’s moral ascendancy over student Sunny.
For the sake of Steve Carell, I was ready to suspend disbelief that Archie’s immorality goes unpunished even in an institution that relies on its reputation. Maybe this is the world of Rooster. But then, Carell’s character Greg is immediately subjected to a disciplinary hearing for every minor comical misunderstanding that occurs in his class. Is the joke that the college chastises the petty and ignores the grave?
Then there is the box sauna regularly inhabited by the university president Walter, played by John McGinley of Scrubs fame. He still looks like the intense Dr. Cox, who now invites Sunny to join him in his sauna. I watched this wildly inappropriate scene with my brain blaring a Code Red alarm. No. No! Noooo!
Sunny in the sauna is wrong for three reasons. One, Sunny is already involved with an older married professor Archie so she cannot be in intimate quarters with any man. Two, she’s a student and Walter is also an older married man with all the power she lacks. It doesn’t look good for either of them to be seen in any place together. Three, she’s pregnant! High heat is linked to several birth defects. Doctors warn against it.
Now if Sunny is past the first trimester because she had a sonogram of a fully formed baby, why doesn’t she have a baby belly? A woman starts to show at four months no matter how thin she is. Yet here she is, still tight as a teenager, wearing a red bathing suit.
Crazily still is when Sunny, who doesn’t express any emotion, walks up to Katie in public to say she’s scared about her pregnancy. Yet she never told Archie any of her fears. In what world would The Other Woman confide to the Wife about that?!
How does Katie react to Sunny’s vulnerability? I would reply, “You deserve Hell you Homewrecker!” Nooooo. Katie feels sorry for Sunny. How can you feel sorry for a woman who stole your husband? I was so annoyed I had to eat ice cream.
Katie is a mixed bag of inconsistencies
How to find the funny
Only a few characters in Rooster are clear about what they want. However, their problems are quickly resolved. Greg wants to save his daughter’s job so he agrees to teach for a semester. Job saved. Tommy wants to pass. Greg helps him. Problem solved.
I don’t even know what Katie or Archie want. No one in Rooster has a burning desire that dictates their actions. So we’re left just watching them go about their days on campus. To break the monotony, some make bad decisions that don’t lead to any dire consequences. When nothing matters to the character, the audience cannot care about the character.
Ironically, Rooster writers know this because they make Steve Carell tell his writing class in the last episode, “If the readers care about your character, they are in for the ride.”
While I want this Rooster ride to last, I’m afraid it doesn’t have any conflict to sustain it. In their book “Scriptnotes”, scriptwriters John August and Craig Mazin explain why a story requires conflict.
“When it’s time to write individual scenes, conflict is still the centerpiece; scenes without conflict are cinematic wallpaper. What is the character trying to achieve in this moment, and what’s standing in their way?”
Instead of placing Steve Carell in juvenile campus tropes like drunken pranks, sexual flings, or a mascot chase, he and his cast should be enmeshed in the pursuit of a burning desire, collectively or individually.
Let’s take Ted Lasso, which I only watched because of Jason Sudeikis. He is the reason I subscribed to Apple TV. Nothing about this show appeals to me. I don’t care about English football, called soccer in the US, and I don’t know any of the cast. But from the start, it’s quickly established that Ted and his team want to win. Now put obstacles along the way and you’ve got conflict. As The Real Housewives have proven, conflict is fun to watch.
In pursuit of team victory, all the Ted Lasso characters have clear desires that direct their decisions with every dilemma. I watch them as they struggle towards their goal that I’ve come to care for them. They’ve also captured the hearts of many that they have Funko Pop bobble heads. That’s the power of a clear character with a strong conflict.
So how does conflict create comedy?
Producer, director, and Oscar comedy actor Seth Rogan explains it best in the book “Scriptnotes”.
“That’s the thing that people don’t seem to get. Without conflict, nothing is funny. They’re always trying to get us to make things funny in scenes where there is no conflict. It’s a struggle.”
August and Mazin sum it best.
“Conflict is the engine of the story, not a seasoning to be applied at the end.”
