Hulu's 'Chad Powers' Has a 'Mrs Doubtfire' Problem

I like Glen Powell. I thought Eli Manning’s “Chad Powers” video, on which the new Hulu series is based, was fantastic, and there’s an entertaining premise at the heart of the show. The Mannings even hired a great writer to run it — Michael Waldron (Heels, Loki) — and you almost can’t miss with the underdog sports movie formula.

And to its credit, Chad Powers is fun. Mostly. But it’s one of those classic cases of a television series that should be a movie. They’ve stretched Eli Manning’s seven-minute video into a six-episode series, and there isn’t enough material for that.

The biggest problem is the prosthetics used to transform Glen Powell’s character, Russ Holliday, into Chad Powers. Holliday was a star college quarterback who dropped the ball while celebrating a touchdown before he crossed the end zone, something that happened to Adonai Mitchell of the Colts just this past weekend, costing them the game. In Holliday’s case, it cost his team the National Championship. He then lashed out at a fan on the sideline whose son had cancer, punching the dad, who fell into his son’s wheelchair and knocked him over. Holliday’s career was instantly cancelled.

Cut to several years later. After the viral incident finally died down, Holliday landed a contract with the XFL, only for the league to cancel him again when the kid with cancer died, resurfacing the old video. Depressed and stuck living at home with his dad, an Oscar-nominated makeup artist played by Toby Huss, Holliday gets the idea to disguise himself and audition as a quarterback during open tryouts for a struggling Southern college football team.

Where the show falters is in Holliday’s transformation from arrogant, cocky jock to dim-witted hick with a strong arm. The character is so slow that the quarterbacks coach (Clayne Crawford) calls him “Radio,” and far too much of the comedy leans on Chad’s flimsy excuses to avoid exposing his prosthetics. He won’t shower with the team because his pee hole is “too big” and risks infection. He refuses to get into a swimming pool at a team BBQ. He even balks at water balloon dodgeball, a contrived game created solely to put his disguise at risk.

That’s the core issue with Chad Powers: one or two prosthetic jokes would have been fine, but they dominate half of the first two episodes. That wasn’t an issue for Eli Manning (his problem was actually getting the prosthetics off during the reveal). Powell’s Chad Powers is such a dolt that it kills any chemistry with his romantic interest, Ricky (Perry Mattfeld), the head coach’s daughter and a coach herself.

Everything else is fine, even fun at times. Steve Zahn plays the weary head coach. It’s surreal seeing Clayne Crawford in a series about a cancelled guy, given that he was cancelled himself a few years ago (though what a talent he was on Rectify). Frankie A. Rodriguez (High School Musical: The Series) is great as the team mascot who knows Holliday’s secret, and it’s always a pleasure to see Toby Huss.

The ingredients for a fun sports comedy are here. I just hope the rest of the series shifts its focus back to what we actually want to see — this strange guy lighting it up on the football field — and less on the endless prosthetic gags. Even Robin Williams’ considerable talents couldn’t have sustained six episodes of prosthetic jokes in Mrs. Doubtfire.