"Vice Principals" is an Underrated Television Masterpiece

After finishing "Eastbound and Down" I decided I was going to go back and watch another one of my favorite Danny McBride, Jody Hill fronted shows, "Vice Principals".

I watched it when it first aired on tv. I devoured it in fact. "Eastbound and Down" is an all time classic, next level comedy show, and I figured it would be next to impossible to follow it up with anything remotely close. "Vice Principals" is the rare exception to the rule that the second thing that is made by an artist is not as good. I do firmly believe that "Vice Principals", while a different style of show, is as good as "Eastbound and Down". It just bums me out how incredibly underrated this show was when it was on TV. Hell, it is still underrated now. All three shows that McBride and Hill have done for HBO are incredible, but no one seems to talk about "Vice Principals". "Eastbound and Down" and "The Righteous Gemstones" get much deserved credit, again they are great. But, as I said, how many people actually talk about "Vice Principals"? Not too many in my circle of friends and family. My dad talks about it, and so does RD, but that seems to be it. I have friends who like these types of shows who have never watched it before, or watched it and have never revisited it. I think it got kind of lost in the shuffle. With the success of "Eastbound and Down", and this show being only two seasons, I think too many people just let it pass. That is a mistake. This show needs to be revisited and needs to be celebrated for how great it truly was.

I think what makes this show so great in my opinion is the tonal change from "Eastbound and Down". "Eastbound and Down" was more of a straight forward comedy about a professional athlete who fell on hard times and still thought they were as great as they once were. "Vice Principals" is much darker in tone. There are some heavy, nasty things that happen in this show. The heavy scenes are underscored with comedic stuff, but there is definitely more darkness and bleakness in this show. I also think that making McBride the "good guy" maybe threw some people off. It shouldn't have. He is very good as the foil. It actually is a nice change of pace. But making Walton Goggins the star, the mean guy, the villain, that was a stroke of genius. Goggins is so, so, so good on this show. He should have won multiple Emmys. There are scenes where he is the only person and he absolutely crushes it. He is so vindictive and conniving and cruel and pathetic all at once. It is truly a powerhouse performance.

I also think people may not have been as into the other characters on "Vice Principals" like they were with "Eastbound and Down". April and Stevie and Jason Sudeikes and Andy Daly and so many more are memorable and awesome. But so are Georgia King and Kimberly Herbert Gregory and Edi Patterson and Busy Phillips and Shea Wigham and all the other side characters on "Vice Principals". Edi Patterson, in particular, is phenomenal. This was my first exposure to her acting, and she is hilarious. It is a great jumping off point to now seeing her playing Judy Gemstone now.

"Vice Principals" is dark and funny and just a very, very good show. It did not get its justice when it was on. I think people should go and check this show out once again, especially if you like McBride's other work. "Vice Principals" is a tremendous, and underrated, show. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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