At 11 pm on Christmas night, I wasn’t ready to go to sleep, so I aimlessly searched Disney+ for something to watch. What I didn’t know before I started my search was that I would come across one of the most enjoyable shows I’ve seen for a while.
Who is Chad Powers?
Penn State University holds what they call walk-on tryouts twice a year, in the spring and the fall. In 2022, former New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning decided to go undercover at the tryouts for his ESPN+ show, Eli’s Places. The only person who knew about the undercover operation was Penn State’s now-former coach, James Franklin.
Donning a wig, moustache, and prosthetic nose, Manning showed up at the tryouts as ‘Chad Powers.’ Here is the whole segment:
It was fun to watch a two-time Super Bowl-winning QB such as Manning do that. The best part is probably when one of the coaches was ready to sign Chad Powers up becuase ‘he saw something in him.’
Chad Powers comes to the small screen.
In early 2024, Disney announced that ‘Chad Powers’ would be coming to Hulu, with Glen Powell starring as the titular character and serving as producer and co-writer. Manning and his brother, Peyton, would serve as executive producers for the show.
The premise of the show sees talented college QB Russ Holiday have a meltdown after losing a big game for this school. After many years trying to get his life back on track, Holliday gets the idea to disguise himself and try out for the South Georgia University football team.
The show also stars Steve Zahn, who Gen Xers and Millennials would remember from films such as ‘Riding in Cars with Boys’ and ‘Reality Bites,’ as well as Perry Mattfeld, Wynn Everett, Toby Huss, Quentin Plair, and Frankie A. Rodriguez.
Despite being announced in early 2024, ‘Chad Powers’ would not air on TV until September 2025.
What the Critics are saying
Reviews from critics have been mixed, with a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb.
The Sydney Morning Herald TV Editor, Meg Watson, called the show “Ted Lasso on Acid.” TV writer for The Guardian, Stuart Heritage, said that “Powell gives one of the most magnetic and memorable performances in memory.”
The Nightly’s Wenlei Ma said, “We have Ted Lasso to thank for Chad Powers,” and she hit the nail on the head. Both shows were born out of skits, and both are redemption stories. But there are two things that I don’t agree with her on.
The first one is that there is too much football. I must admit that I love American Football, and compared to other sports tv shows like ‘Ted Lasso,’ it does have more sport. For this show, the football is needed. The viewer needs to see Russ Holliday go through everything as Powers, so we can see him overcome the obstacles. We need to see him grow and become a better person. And you can’t do that without football.
Ms Ma also said that there are some emotional beats in the show worth exploring, but they were done too late in the episode to count. I read an interview The Hollywood Reporter did with showrunner Michael Waldron, and he spoke about the writing and why they decided to have the first season unfold as it did.
While I have written a TV show, I imagine it’s like writing a novel or even a short story. You might have an idea where the story might be heading, but as you go along the journey, things change. I believe that’s what happened in the ‘Chad Powers’ writing room.
Is there going to be a second season?
The short answer is yes, there will be a second season. Disney announced in December that there would be a second season.
Waldron said in the interview with THR that he knows that there will not be 150 episodes (there are only six in season one), but he knows when it will be time to wrap up the show. Let’s hope it’s Waldron and crew who get the chance to finish the story.
All episodes of ‘Chad Powers’ are available on Disney+ in Australia.
