HBO scores a hit with 'Eastbound and Down'

04/15/09 - Kenny Powers had it all: a career as a B-list baseball relief pitcher, a well-tended mullet and all the hookers and Miller High Life ("the champagne of beers" - classy) he could possibly imagine. And then his arm started going and he lost it all, just like that. The Gatorade endorsements, the tanning beds and the inspirational self-help book deals all went out the window.

That, in a nutshell, is the depressingly hilarious premise for HBO's latest venture, "Eastbound and Down," a half-hour comedy series that seems destined to be the perverse and slightly bastardized antidote to the slew of sudsy sitcoms littering the TV landscape.

"Eastbound and Down" is profane, subversive and most importantly, morbidly funny.

Starring Danny McBride ("Pineapple Express,") the show chronicles the day-to-day life of an out-of-work, out-of-shape baseball player, struggling to hold on to the pathetic scraps of glory he once enjoyed as a major league sleazeball.

Forced to bring his big league, beer-chugging bigotry and badly bruised ego back to his hometown of Shelby County, N.C., Powers has no choice but to move in with his brother and take a job as a substitute gym teacher as he plots his return to glory.

But Powers plans to rise again - like a majestic beer-bellied phoenix from the ashes...

First though, he'll keep track of his drunk escorts, chaperone a school dance while rolling on ecstasy, sell some priceless memories on eBay and struggle to stay poised just above the craggy abyss known as "rock bottom."

The show is certifiably hilarious; as soon as Will Ferrel's hallowed name rolls through the opening credits, billed as executive producer, this much is obvious right off the bat. Even more fantastic is the fact that Ferrel has a recurring cameo on the series as a car dealer with a slick beige suit and a billowing mane of feathered hair.

McBride's Kenny Powers is a bizarrely compelling bigot, dropping irreverent lines like, "In closing, I'd like to give a big up to God or L. Ron or whatever," and "I'm not a xenophobe, I just think America is the best country in the world . and all the other countries aren't as good." (The latter quote happens to be from his inspirational book on tape.)

He lugs through the middle school berating small children - and somehow, all of this works. Powers is crude, yes, but at least he's funny.

Powers has no censor. He's an uneducated man with a glaringly red neck, a chip on his shoulder and a greasy mullet.

He's almost wholly unlikable: a Red State goon with an unbuttoned collar and a bloated ego that never seems to deflate no matter how many times reality knocks him down. He's not just ignorant, he's ig'nant and damn proud to be that way.

All the vestiges of his glory days fall down around him, and he is left standing amid a pile of empty syringes, worthless memorabilia and Big Gulp cups. He squandered every shot he had, and for the first time in his life, people finally have the nerve to tell him his leopard-print jetski looks stupid.

"Eastbound and Down" just got picked up for a second season, and, for fans of grotesquely entertaining comedy, that's good news. HBO may not have totally knocked it out of the park with this one, but it seems it might have a winning cult hit on its hands.