Created by Bill Lawrence, Matt Tarses, and Jason Winer – Starring Steve Carell, Danielle Deadwyler, Charly Clive, Phil Dunster, Lauren Tsai, and John C. McGinley

Let’s get this out of the way early: I loved Rooster.

This was appointment television for me in a way very few comedies are anymore. When a new episode dropped, I was there. 10 PM. Sitting down. Ready to go.

And that’s probably because this show sits directly in my wheelhouse.

I love shows that are funny in absurd ways, silly ways, clever ways, and deeply human ways. Shows with sharp dialogue, running jokes, weird little bits of continuity, and characters who stumble through life trying to figure themselves out. I like comedy that has heart without turning sentimental.

Rooster absolutely nails that balance.

What the show really understands is that growing up never actually stops.

Everyone here is in some form of crisis. Some characters are young and trying to figure out who they want to become. Others are older and realizing they may not fully know who they are yet either. The details change from generation to generation, but the core struggle stays the same — finding purpose, finding connection, trying to build a life that actually feels meaningful.

And the show keeps finding new ways to explore that idea.

One of my favorite things about Rooster is how good it is at revealing the humanity in characters who initially seem impossible to like.

The cheating husband. The out-of-touch school president. The underachieving slacker. The other woman. Characters who could have easily become one-note jokes or antagonists instead get moments of vulnerability and growth. The show keeps peeling layers back until you understand why they are the way they are.

That’s where the heart of the series really comes from.

It gives us caricatures first, then slowly reveals the people underneath them.

My favorite example of this is Walter Mann (John C. McGinley).

McGinley has this incredible ability to take a character who initially feels larger than life and slowly ground them emotionally until you can suddenly see the entire person. Walter starts off as crass, entitled, loud, and almost cartoonishly out of touch. But over the course of the season, those rough edges stop feeling like punchlines and start feeling like defense mechanisms.

Or maybe “becomes” isn’t the right word.

The humanity was always there. The show just slowly reveals it.

Steve Carell is also doing exactly the kind of work he excels at here. Greg Russo has shades of the awkward energy that made Carell a star on The Office, but there’s also a growing warmth and confidence underneath it. You can feel the loneliness from his failed marriage, the uncertainty, the need for connection. And as the season goes on, watching Greg slowly rediscover joy in other people becomes one of the most satisfying parts of the show.

He’s also, of course, incredibly funny.

Danielle Deadwyler is wonderful here too. She has an amazing sense of comedic timing, and some of her biggest laughs come from tiny reactions or subtle line deliveries. My biggest complaint is honestly that I wanted more of her. Some of her growth happens slightly offscreen, so a few emotional beats feel more told than shown, but Deadwyler still makes all of it land.

And the rest of the main cast is amazing.

Katie (Charly Clive), Archie (Phil Dunster), and especially Sunny (Lauren Tsai) all pull off the same trick the rest of the show does so well: giving you one impression initially, then slowly revealing deeper layers underneath.

Even the supporting players who drift in and out of episodes contribute something memorable — running jokes, absurd situations, weird line deliveries, or tiny emotional moments that stick with you longer than you expect.

And the music rules.

That probably sounds like a small thing, but it matters. The soundtrack helps give the show its rhythm and personality in a way that makes everything feel even more alive.

This really was one of my favorite new shows in a long time.

And yes, I know I’m biased. This series is made by and stars people connected to several of my favorite shows ever, so maybe I was always going to love it a little.

But that’s okay.

I’m allowed to be biased sometimes.

Especially when the show is this good.

Verdict: All In