HOLLYWOOD - It's clear that HBO could use another hit these days--and they're hoping it'll be Eastbound and Down, starring Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder's Danny McBride. McBride will star as a Major League baseball pitcher whose bad behavior gets him sent back home to North Carolina. There, he winds up teaching P.E. at the middle school he once attended.
The show is set to air some time in 2009--presumably to coincide with the return of
Curb Your Enthusiasm during the second half of the year, although that’s just my opinion. Adding to the pedigree: Co-gods of mainstream comedy
Will Ferrell and
Adam McKay, the duo behind the hugely popular Web site funnyordie.com and hit movies like
Anchorman,
Talladega Nights and this summer's
Step Brothers, among the team of exec producers.
HBO’s ratings struggles have been well-documented--perhaps even overblown--ever since its flagship series
The Sopranos came to an end in 2007. Despite loads of critical acclaim and Emmys, the network’s current slate of shows doesn’t boast a megahit to rival the viewership of
The Sopranos,
Sex and the City or even
Six Feet Under.