Television series

Eastbound & Down

Name: Eastbound & Down
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Sports
Released: 2009
Cast: Danny McBride, Steve Little, Katy Mixon, Elizabeth De Razzo, John Hawkes

Comedy

Eastbound & Down is a foul-mouthed character study disguised as a sports comedy: Danny McBride's Kenny Powers is a washed-up major-league pitcher slouching back to his humiliating hometown, convinced greatness is still owed to him. It's cringe comedy with a mullet and a chip on its shoulder — vulgar, cartoonish, oddly touching underneath. Best for anyone who enjoys watching a deluded man refuse to learn his lesson, loudly.

TVMaze rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like comedy built on a deeply unlikable man who keeps digging himself deeper, and you find the cringe funnier than the wins, with a sharp eye for vanity and small-town pride.

Skip it if you need characters to be decent or sympathetic, since Kenny is loud, self-absorbed and often hard to root for, and the humor leans on his bad choices rather than warmth.

What it asks of you: Four seasons of half-hour episodes that stack up, with slow-building embarrassment and crude, profane jokes; it rewards staying with one bad decision long enough to see it compound.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Vice Principals2016

Same creators, same rot at the core — Danny McBride and Walton Goggins play two petty, ego-mad administrators clawing for power at a high school, with all the delusional swagger and slapstick cruelty you loved in Kenny.

But It trades some of Eastbound's warmth for pure meanness; there's less redemption and more genuine dread underneath the laughs.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia2005

Five deeply terrible people, endless petty schemes, and a total refusal to grow — this is the purest, longest-running distillation of delusional narcissists convinced they're the heroes of their own story.

But The tone stays relentlessly mean across fifteen-plus seasons; don't expect the softer, sadder beats Eastbound occasionally allows itself.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia poster

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby2006

Will Ferrell's arrogant NASCAR champion has Kenny Powers' exact swagger — hometown pride, wounded ego, absurd self-belief — compressed into one gloriously stupid feature-length fall and rise.

But It's broader and dumber by design, with none of Eastbound's slow-burn character work or serialized stakes.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Eastbound & Down

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters2007

Same grandiose, delusional self-belief as Kenny, but transplanted into a real human being with zero self-awareness — proof the archetype wasn't invented, just observed.

A real-life documentary about grown men waging war over a Donkey Kong high score, and one of them is a preening, self-mythologizing showman so much like Kenny Powers you'll swear it's satire — except it's completely real.

But No jokes are written; the comedy comes purely from people's actual behavior, so it's slower and stranger than a scripted sitcom.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters poster

Curb Your Enthusiasm2000

Larry David turns his own petty ego into an entire comedy engine, engineering social disasters out of pure stubbornness — a quieter, more cerebral cousin to Kenny's self-sabotage.

But It's talkier and more restrained, built on awkward silences rather than Eastbound's loud, physical chaos.

Arrested Development2003

A family of preposterously self-deluded people who each believe they're the reasonable one — dense, quotable, and packed with the same confident, catastrophic self-regard Kenny wears like a cape.

But There's no sports backdrop and the humor leans on tightly wound callbacks that reward close, repeated viewing.

The League2009

A group of grown men treating fantasy football like a blood feud, trash-talking their way through arrested adulthood — smaller stakes than Eastbound, but the same competitive man-child energy.

But The improv-heavy style is looser and scruffier, with less visual ambition than Eastbound's polished HBO sheen.

Ballers2015

Dwayne Johnson plays a retired NFL player turned financial manager, hustling daily through the same world of broke ex-athletes and blown fortunes that Kenny knows all too intimately.

But It leans glossier and more drama-forward than comedic, trading Eastbound's absurdist satire for slicker, straighter sports-world drama.

Silicon Valley2014

Same HBO engine of delusional men chasing glory, just swapped from a pitcher's mound for a tech incubator — arrogance, incompetence, and spectacular self-sabotage among aspiring founders.

But It's nerdier and more dialogue-driven, trading Eastbound's physical comedy and Southern swagger for boardroom absurdity.

Semi-Pro2008

Will Ferrell again, this time as a delusional minor-league basketball owner-player, chasing glory in a scrappy, era-appropriate sports comedy that shares Eastbound's love of washed-up hometown heroes.

But The jokes are more scattershot and the script weaker overall; it's a lesser cousin, not a classic.

The Wrestler2008

It's the exact premise of Eastbound & Down with all the comedy surgically removed, showing you what Kenny's story looks like without the jokes protecting him.

Same bones as Eastbound — a broke, faded athlete returns to a life he's outgrown his own ego for, chasing one last shot at the spotlight — but played entirely straight, with Mickey Rourke's performance turning swagger into open wound.

But There is no punchline here, and the ending doesn't let you off easy; go in ready for something heavy.

The Hustler1961

The same character type — brilliant, arrogant, allergic to humility — filmed as tragic drama instead of raunchy comedy, showing how old this story really is.

Paul Newman's pool shark 'Fast Eddie' is Kenny Powers' spiritual grandfather — cocky, self-destructive, convinced his talent entitles him to glory, decades before Kenny ever picked up a baseball.

But Black-and-white, slow-burn 1961 pacing and a moral seriousness that has none of Eastbound's crudeness or jokes.