Chad Powers fumbles out of the gate and never recovers

It’s considered bad practice as a reviewer to judge a series before you watch it. That said, it’s hard not to assume the worst when you see “Developed from an Omaha Productions skit by Eli Manning” in the show’s logline. Chad Powers never rises above those assumptions and often falls even lower. It gets to a point where I half expected Manning himself to appear and reveal that this too was a prank.

Co-created by Glen Powell and Michael Waldron, Chad Powers follows Russ Holiday, a star college quarterback who makes a crucial mistake during the championship game. That mistake leads to an altercation with the parent of a child in a wheelchair that ends with both of them on the floor in front of cameras. The events ruin Russ’s career instantly, and the subsequent spiral remains mostly off screen. 8 years later, Russ is a bum living with his dad (Toby Huss) and recording depressing Cameos. One day, while delivering his father’s makeup and prosthetics work, Russ gets an idea. He travels to a small Georgia college that he heard is having open tryouts, and Chad Powers is born.

That’s a lot of setup for very little return, which becomes the show’s running theme. The sight of Powell in some off-putting prosthetics and using a strange accent is good for a few chuckles, but quickly wears thin. The series mostly plays like a poor man’s Eastbound & Down mixed with a 00s Adam Sandler comedy. It falls flat because nobody cares about any of this working.

The writers clearly struggle with answering the obvious questions you have while also mining it for comedic material. How does Chad play without sweating off his prosthetics? Won’t even the most basic investigations into his past prove this is all BS? The answers to these and other questions fail to produce anything funny. Instead, the show gets much of its mileage from the awkward encounters between Chad and the rest of the cast.

The best of these are the moments with Frankie Rodriguez’s Danny. Like most of the characters in Chad Powers, Danny is pretty one-note. Rodriguez fills him with such energy that he becomes the standout of the cast. Glen Powell’s charm is a big part of his current ascent to leading man status, but there’s none of it on display here. He nails the jokes and sells Russ’ desperation to be back in the spotlight, but there’s an emptiness that keeps it from clicking together. It doesn’t help that Russ is such an unrepentant asshole that his inevitable redemption feels massively unearned.

It’s possible that this all comes together in the second half of the show’s brief season. As it stands, Chad Powers is a bad idea executed poorly. Maybe it works better as the basis of a hidden camera skit involving the less-wooden Manning brother. Like its namesake, the series never gets out of its own way. Instead, it relies on tired sports tropes and broad comedy that rarely works without an expert hand calling the plays. It’s disappointing, but the type of disappointment you feel when a bad team loses a game. Maybe they’ll win the next one.

Chad Powers is currently streaming on Hulu. New episodes release on Tuesdays.

Final Verdict: Tune Out

Television Turmoil: Small Wonder is supremely weird and incredibly goofy

Television Turmoil is a look at the worst and weirdest series to make their way onto the small screen.

It has been said many times over, but the 80s truly were a wild time, especially for TV. Save for the 60s, there’s never been an era full of bonkers concepts that found success in spite of themselves. It is the perfect starting point for this series, and a prime example of both “worst” and “weirdest.”

Small Wonder follows V.I.C.I. (Voice Input Child Identicant) a robot girl created by Ted Lawson (Dick Christie) and sequestered in his home for reasons that are never fully explained. With the help of his family, Ted must keep V.I.C.I.’s true identity a secret from those who might use it nefariously or, you know, nosy neighbors.

Created by corny sitcom legend, Howard Leeds (co-creator of The Facts of Life and Silver Spoons) the show became a hit in first-run syndication. It also bares a striking resemblance to another program Leeds produced in the 60s, the creepily titled My Living Doll. That series focused on a robot in the form of an adult woman taken into the care of a military psychiatrist. Objectively, a worse idea than this one, and that’s before we get into the part about the Fembot being trained to be “the perfect woman.”

Aimed at children, Small Wonder mostly revolves around the Lawson’s obnoxious son, Jamie (Jerry Supiran) and his various attempts to have V.I.C.I. (or just Vicki when she is pretending to be a real girl) make his life easier. This ranges from having her do his chores to elaborate money-making schemes that usually backfire. In fact, most of the family uses Vicki for basic tasks around the house. Most notably, Ted’s wife Joan (a very underserved Marla Pennington) frequently uses Vicki to help with cooking. This sad existence is further exacerbated by the knowledge that Vicki is capable of cognitive thinking. Which makes her, at the very least, a sapient being.

These thoughts are perhaps too big for a show that seems to have the budget of a middle school production of The Wizard of Oz. Truly, this is a program that doesn’t expect you to ask the big questions. Actually, it doesn’t expect you to ask any questions. For instance, why exactly does Ted wish to keep this stunning achievement a secret from the world? To hear him explain it in the pilot, his job passed on the project, so he took it home. The kind of answer that only works if you don’t think about it. This is all before we get into questions about how V.I.C.I. operates.

Like most 80s programs focused on the growing technology of the time, Small Wonder doesn’t care very much for how tech actually works. Throughout the series, Vicki can grow in size, float in the air for extended periods and in one peculiar instance, restart a person’s heart. Anything a coked out writer’s room can think up is on the table as far as her abilities go. So, not only did Ted create artificial life, he created the world’s first superhero. Which makes his decision to hide his creation away even more troubling.

Still, this is technically a kid’s show. Maybe we should just take the premise at face value and try to enjoy what is being offered. Unfortunately, that doesn’t get you very far. Most of the jokes on the show revolve around Vicki repeating something someone else said in a monotone voice. This happens so often that I have to assume the writers just didn’t feel like writing new dialogue. Despite the fantastical concept, the show usually settles for stock sitcom tropes. There are a lot of stories about someone almost figuring out that Vicki is a robot. Because this is the 80s there are also a handful of inept “Very Special Episodes.” The most egregious being one about smoking that ends with Vicki trying a cigarette and smoke pouring out of her ears.

Many of the show’s biggest jokes revolve around the use of special effects to showcase Vicki’s abilities. This sounds like a good idea on paper. Part of the problem with being a syndicated show is running with a very small budget. This leads to the effects looking dire, even for the time. The show occasionally avoids this problem by using more practical effects, but with a staggeringly low budget of $300,000 per episode, even those aren’t very convincing. This also extends to the sets, which are crudely made and, in the case of schools or stores, unusually empty.

The closest thing to a positive the show has going for it is Tiffany Brissette as Vicki. A pageant girl who came close to nabbing the role of Punky Brewster, Brissette is clearly talented even when forced to show no emotion. The later seasons of the show would come up with reasons to allow the actor to show more range, from various malfunctions to an evil version of the robot named Vanessa that could somehow speak in a natural tone of voice. Brissette’s aging also forced the writers to come up with an explanation for this robot’s apparent growth spurt. Thankfully, the show didn’t last long enough for us to find out what rationale it would give for V.I.C.I. becoming a teenager.

Of course, no family sitcom is complete without an annoying neighbor character. Harriet Brindle (Emily Schulman) fills this role admirably by being both irritating and superfluous to the majority of the happenings. Her equally grating parents also appear occasionally and are either very interested in Vicki or completely clueless about her true nature.

You can try to wave away most of these issues with a simple, “This is just a show for kids.” We shouldn’t have to accept the bare minimum just because children are watching. We should expect more from programs aimed at an audience of developing minds. Of course, that was never in consideration with this program.

True to the era it was created in, Small Wonder is all about the bottom line. It was made to provide cheap content for local stations to play during non-prime time hours. The only thing asked of it was to make a modest return, and it accomplished that goal. The show ended up being syndicated internationally and found success overseas, which is more than I can say for many of the shows I’ll cover here. That success is likely the reason anyone remembers this program and why it is often listed along with the worst. That’s the problem sometimes with failing upward, it just puts more eyes on you.

Next time: We take a look at NBC’s expensive and short-lived Love Boat ripoff, Supertrain.

USA’s The Rainmaker desperately tries to make it 2010 again.

Photo: USA Network

In the desolate wasteland of cable television, only a select few networks are still putting out original programming. The USA Network is chief among them. In the long-gone days of the mid-00s, the channel’s “blue sky” era marked a period of successful programming focused on positive and breezy fare. Shows like Psych and Burn Notice provided a sense of comfort in a TV landscape moving toward more gritty and realistic affairs. With The Rainmaker, USA hopes to bring that feeling back.

Based on the John Grisham novel and previously adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola, this version of The Rainmaker aims for a more laid-back vibe. The series follows Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan), a hotshot soon-to-be lawyer fired from the prestigious firm Tinly Britt on his first day. With nobody else willing to hire him, Rudy joins up with a small-time outfit run out of an old restaurant. He soon discovers a possible wrongful death lawsuit that finds him facing off with the firm that fired him and their lead partner Leo Drummond (John Slattery). That’s just scratching the surface. There’s Rudy’s girlfriend and fellow soon-to-be lawyer Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman), who continues to work for Tinly Britt. Oh, and there’s a nurse going around killing people (Dan Fogler) who might have a connection to the case.

That last part is the most egregious move the show makes. The Rainmaker is a moderately faithful adaptation, but the addition of a serial killer feels antithetical to the good vibes it’s trying to produce. That tonal confusion extends to the entire structure of the show. For all the fun it promises, the show is stuck in a weird zone between being a serialized story and a procedural. Obviously, there are plenty of shows that nail the balance between telling episodic stories and carrying a season-long arc. The Rainmaker focuses its season on one case but breaks it up into episodic quests. It’s an odd strategy that never fully forms a workable narrative.

The real charm of the “Characters Welcome” era is right there in the tagline. The actors were the reason to come back, and that’s The Rainmaker’s biggest flaw. Characters are certainly present, but they’re rarely interesting. Even the “fun” ones like slovenly paralegal Deck Shifflet (P. J. Byrne) or tough-as-nails Jocelyn Stone (Lana Parrilla) offer nothing new. Even Slattery is basically playing a modernized version of Roger Sterling. By far the biggest issue is with Callaghan’s version of Baylor. He aims to show Rudy as a moral fighter, the common ideal of a lawyer, but it never lands.

Despite their best efforts, the USA Network can’t bring cable back to what it once was. Even if the show successfully recreated the “blue sky” era, it would still be on a network that has nothing else to pair it with. This is the station’s only show out this year with one other scripted program in development. The sad truth is that even if the series were good, you’d likely never hear about it. There’s so many other programs vying for your attention on platforms you use more often. The Rainmaker never aspires to be more than passable entertainment, and for that you’re better off sticking with Suits.

The Rainmaker airs Fridays on USA Network and streams on Peacock.

Final Verdict: Tune Out

Season 2 of Poker Face keeps the game alive with a few new tricks

Photo: Peacock

This review contains light spoilers for both seasons of Poker Face.

When Poker Face first debuted at the beginning of 2023, it was a breath of fresh air. A throwback to 70s detective shows that was full of style thanks to the guiding hand of Rian Johnson. Nearly two and a half years later, the show is back. Now, it’s far from the only show to harken back to a different age of TV. In its second season, the trick must change. The series needs to prove what it can be outside of its influences.

Season 2 finds our human lie detector, Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) on the run once again. This time she is being tracked down by a bevy of assassins hired by ruthless mob boss Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Pearlman). In a bold move, the writers wrap up this plotline early in the season. This frees up Charlie to focus on what her life can be. Rest assured, the show still involves murder and the solving of it. Death seems to follow Charlie around, so much so that it becomes something of a running joke in the season’s latter half.

As with many episodic shows, Poker Face follows a certain formula. The basic structure is this: we meet the guest stars in the lead-up to the murder, we move back before the killing to see how Charlie fits into the picture, and finally, she solves the mystery. From there, the plot deals some form of karmic justice, and our heroine moves on to the next location. The show changes up the format just enough over the course of the season to keep it from getting stale. Although the regular 45-50 minute runtime often leads to a quicker mystery-solving. It’s a tricky equilibrium, but the hit-to-miss ratio is still in favor of the “hits.”

Part of what makes Poker Face so engaging is the way it balances tone. The series is primarily a comedy, a tough act to pull off when someone needs to die each week. It’s a testament to the writing team that the show remains funny while never selling short the heinous crimes committed. That said, there is a tendency this season to veer onto the goofy side to the detriment of that balance. The most egregious being an episode wherein a Florida cop (Kumail Nanjiani) gets eaten by his pet alligator after it consumes a ton of cocaine. It’s a rare installment where the death, as bizarre as it is, feels a bit too trivial.

Photo: Peacock

Even the show’s weaker episodes hang together thanks to a tremendous lead performance by Natasha Lyonne. Not since Adrian Monk have we been blessed with such a charming TV “detective.” Charlie Cale is resourceful and determined, despite frequently finding herself in over her head, and Lyonne seems to find chemistry with everyone she encounters. That last part is especially important because Charlie is usually absent from the first act of each episode. Lyonne’s ability to establish a connection with a character in only a few minutes is the glue that holds it all together.

Obviously, there’s another half to this equation. Poker Face is full of quality guest stars, although this recent season feels front-loaded. The first two episodes feature Cynthia Erivo playing five identical sisters along with Giancarlo Esposito and Katie Holmes as troubled owners of a funeral home. Erivo gets the big, splashy acting challenge of playing 5 different people, but Esposito and Holmes are equally fascinating. That those first two episodes are among the season’s best offerings also helps. Still, there are plenty of interesting guest turns from the likes of John Mulaney, Corey Hawkins, Melanie Lynskey, John Cho, and Alia Shawkat among many, many more. You’re guaranteed at least one quality guest appearance per episode.

Season 1 utilized Rian Johnson’s visual style, even when he wasn’t directing. For season 2, Johnson is only around for the first episode, leading other directors, including Lyonne, to pick up the slack. The results are mixed, with some episodes eager to show off their influences. We get an entire homage to the ending of Heat one week, for instance. As the season goes on, the show settles more into a comfortable rhythm than the visual inventiveness that came before.

For many shows, a second season is a chance to fully define what can be done with the premise. With Poker Face, the writers want to see what happens with Charlie when she isn’t running. It’s an intriguing idea, even if it doesn’t always lead to great episodes. Still, the series finds an interesting way back to something like the status quo by season’s end. Maybe the trick is that there isn’t a grand innovation each week, just a solid hour with a fun character solving a murder. Sometimes that’s all you need.

Poker Face is currently streaming on Peacock.

Final Verdict: Tune In

Chief of War: A historical drama that never loses its authenticity

Photo: Apple TV+

As an avid fan of history, I’m immediately sat the moment I see the words “historical epic.” The less I know about the period, the better. Especially given the dubious accuracy of many of these films and shows. While I can’t speak for the veracity of Apple TV+’s Chief of War, it certainly has the “epic” part down. There’s a massive scope at work along with a part of history that is thoroughly unexplored.

A passion project for co-creators Thomas Pa’a Sibbett and Jason Momoa, Chief of War uses the natural grace of the islands of Hawaii to tell the bloody tale of their unification. Momoa, who also co-wrote every episode, stars as Ka’iana, a former warrior chief who is called back to the fight. A prophecy states that there will be a great warrior who helps unite the islands, and King Kahekili (Temuera Morrison) believes Ka’iana is that man. Things only get more complicated from there with the arrival of English fur traders and a growing war between Kahekili and the other island kings.

This is a show with a lot of moving pieces, and it takes its time setting them up. These people have a past and a vibrant culture that we quickly become used to. The first two episodes are all in Hawaiian, and when English speakers arrive, it feels like a real intrusion. The commitment to world-building comes at the expense of character in these installments. Thankfully, the series puts in the time later on to further establish our main cast.

Momoa is putting in his career best for this show, anchoring a mostly unknown cast of actors. His presence is commanding before he throws a single fist. Make no mistake, Momoa is also adept at the action as well. Chief of War does not skimp on the brutality of the fight scenes, and Momoa’s physicality adds to it. Luciane Buchanan plays the other side of the coin as Ka’ahumanu, the consort to King Kamehameha. Her kindness and determination make her a great foil to Ka’iana. Add in a terrifying performance from Temura Morrison and you have a trifecta of great acting to build around.

While Chief of War has its slow moments, the show succeeds by crafting a historical epic that feels both grand and human. There’s a commitment to recreating the time and culture that is commendable. All of it in service of a story that has gone untold is equally admirable. That the focus remains on our main cast, even as the English speakers infiltrate more and more of their world, adds an extra layer of depth. More history deserves to be told with this level of care.

Chief of War is currently streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes release on Fridays.

Final Verdict: Tune In