You don’t have to look too hard at Disney+’s new sitcom to see the stitches. This is a flagrant Frankenstein of a show; a grab bag of elements from things that are already incredibly popular. It’s a good-natured sports comedy in the mould of Ted Lasso. Its star is Glen Powell, a man with the fairly miraculous ability to unite both warring sides of 2025 America. It shamelessly lifts the plot of Mrs Doubtfire (the second highest grossing film worldwide in 1993, fact fans) and, according to the credits, it is based on a funny video of an American football player that went viral in 2022.
It is thin gruel indeed, the sort of programme you imagine gets created after a particularly desperate ChatGPT session. And yet, despite this, Chad Powers is actually good. Better than good, in fact. It’s a funny, touching, deliberately uncomfortable character piece with one of the most magnetic central performances in recent memory. How annoying.
