“Fortunate Hank” is Bob Odenkirk, in his first tv outing since leaving “Higher Name Saul.” The premier episode of the AMC+ sequence premiered at SXSW on March twelfth (Oscar day), displaying as soon as, and solely as soon as, on the Stateside Theater in Austin.

The sequence owes a lot to the Pulitzer Prize-winning e-book on which it’s primarily based, “Straight Man,” by Richard Russo.

The synopsis for the sequence reads: “An English division chairman at an underfunded school, Professor Hank Devereaux toes the road between midlife disaster and full-blown meltdown, navigating the offbeat chaos in his private {and professional} life.”  As IMDB additional says, William Henry Devereaux, Jr., spiritually suited to taking part in left area however compelled by a nasty hamstring to attempt first base, is the unlikely chairman of the English division at Railton East College. Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a duck, has his nostril slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes higher fiction than he does, suspects his spouse of getting an affair together with his dean, and at last confronts his philandering aged father, the one-time king of American Literary Idea, at an deserted amusement park”

If this seems like a great Bob Odenkirk car, you’re proper.

THE GOOD

Bob Odenkirk & Mireille Enos onstage at SXSW after the premiere of “Fortunate Hank” on March eleventh, 2023.

The solid, headed by Odenkirk, is stellar. Mireille Enos (“World Struggle Z,” “The Killing”) performs Hanks’ spouse, Lily, and he or she is a revelation. Within the Q&A following the screening, she admitted that she “wished to play a much less closeted girl.” Her critical function in “The Killing” made her a pure alternative for screenwriters Paul Lieberstein and Aaron Zelman. They labored together with her on “The Killing.” These representing the premiere in Austin referred to the solid as “spectacular.”

The writers are equally spectacular. Though credit score should even be given to the supply materials, because the writers admit that they continuously “went again to the e-book” whereas additionally including depth to Hank’s character.

Bob Odenkirk got here onstage after the screening and talked about how he ended up working this tough so quickly after “Higher Name Saul” ended. “I had stated sure to the present. I actually thought it will take endlessly. It didn’t.” Think about a coronary heart assault that Odenkirk described as, “what occurs while you don’t take your coronary heart medicine” and right here he’s in an 8-episode sequence that he praised as “A spot for everybody to do their finest” and “Plenty of selection on a journey that goes someplace.” Odenkirk added that it was a “Nice use of recent TV. We had 4 totally different administrators and journey alterations. The tales and characters progress and it’s extra like an 8-episode film.”

Solid of “Fortunate Hank” onstage at SXSW on March eleventh, 2023.

He additionally praised the dream solid and stated, of his character, “He’s so totally different from Saul, who was a loner. There are individuals in the proper relationships. You like your spouse after which, in case you’re married lengthy sufficient, you hate them.” (This introduced laughter and an admonition from the writers, “Bob! Your spouse is within the viewers.”) Odenkirk continued, “If it’s a terrific relationship, you discover your means again and also you don’t even know the way.” He felt that Saul and Kim in “Higher Name Saul” have been loners, however “I appreciated the best way this man pertains to different individuals.” Stating the elemental variations between his Saul character and Hank he stated, “It’s enjoyable to do wildly various things. It’s one of many causes I went into this enterprise.”

THE BAD

For me, the unhealthy is that I at present don’t have AMC+. With a view to watch this wildly entertaining sequence, I’m going to must subscribe, which implies that my partner (of 55 years) goes to be gifted with a subscription to the sequence (which premieres on March nineteenth). Since his birthday is March twenty first, thanks, Hank, for determining what to provide the person who has every part. This seems to be like a very pleasurable, witty, well-written, and well-acted 8-episode sequence that may entertain mightily.