Who Watches 'Dave' Besides Brad Pitt and Rachel McAdams' Husband?

By Dustin Rowles | TV | June 2, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | June 2, 2023 |

I’ve watched all three seasons of FXX’s Dave. It is often funny, and sometimes deeply uncomfortable for those of us who are squicked out by the masturbation habits of grown men. Watching Dave, however, has never felt communal, like Succession or Ted Lasso. I don’t think anyone else even on our current staff watches the series, and I doubt most people I encounter in the real world have even heard of it. Maybe it should be, but Dave has never been much of a water cooler series — I’ve probably read more about Donald Glover’s thoughts on how Atlanta should not be compared to Dave than I have read about the series itself.

The first season received solid streaming numbers, but it’s unclear to me how well the series did in its third season. Overnight ratings are mostly meaningless these days, but it might be worth noting that — while I suspect that most of the series’ viewership comes via Hulu — it does air on FXX, where it is the lowest-rated series on a network of low-rated series. Overnight ratings for the third season averaged about 100,000 viewers. Vulture recaps the show, but that’s it. Entertainment Weekly hasn’t mentioned it since season two, and the AV Club hasn’t since the first season. I don’t think hardly anyone else wrote about the series in its third season until the finale.

And yet, Dave has managed — in its third season — to pull the kind of celebrity cameos that Friends did in its later seasons (in fact, both featured Brad Pitt). There were a few cameos in the first two seasons, mostly from the hip-hop world (including a Bieber, plus a Kardashian). The third season, however, not only managed to snag Chloe Bennett for a recurring role, but landed cameos from Usher, Rick Ross, Demi Lovato, Don Cheadle, Machine Gun Kelly, Megan Fox, Killer Mike, Travis Barker, Drake, and Jack Harlow.

But also, Rachel McAdams, playing a version of herself that could be romantically interested in Dave, a guy who spent $7,000 on a sex doll and couldn’t wait for his girlfriend (played by Bennett) to leave so he could use it. Dave writes a song about his obsession with McAdams called “Mr. McAdams,” which includes lyrics poking fun at Ryan Gosling and Taylor Kitsch. McAdams not only loves it but agrees to be in the music video for it.

She’s not the only person who appears in the video, either: Brad Pitt makes a small cameo in the music video, befriends Dave, and then shows up at his house to make music with him. When he arrives at Dave’s house, however, he has to help Dave navigate an obsessed stalker with a gun. It is one of Brad Pitt’s most amusing roles, ever. He white-boy raps. Obviously, Pitt is not as likable as he once was, but he’s still Brad Pitt, and Rachel McAdams is still Rachel McAdams. Why would they do extended cameos as themselves on a series that barely anyone writes about?

Alan Sepinwall asks that very question of Dave Burd over on Rolling Stone in what appears the be the first-ever article written in a magazine about the music industry about a television show about the music industry. Pitt said yes because he’s a fan of the series, according to Burd.

“But a guy like Brad Pitt isn’t going to get in a show that he doesn’t think is one of the best shows. Because I have this show out, it’s a lot easier for a guy on Brad’s level to believe in it. It didn’t take me moving mountains to get Brad Pitt in the show. I just knew Brad Pitt really loved the show.” The same for Rachel McAdams. “I think she and her husband, it’s one of their favorite shows. They love the show.”

So, despite the relative lack of buzz outside of the hip-hop community, Rachel McAdams and Brad Pitt love a series about a white rapper who faked his death for clout and likes to stick his messed-up dick into inanimate objects. Good. Maybe Rachel McAdams and Don Cheadle can bring a larger audience to Lil Dicky’s uncomfortable sexual escapades and ensure a fourth-season renewal.

via Rolling Stone