Is The Hawk the worst TV comedy of 2026?
While watching it, I had a lot of opportunity to think broadly about new Netflix comedy The Hawk during all the time that I wasn’t laughing.
Will Ferrell stars in the scripted comedy show which runs for ten episodes across its first, and hopefully, only season.
Ultimately, I got stuck on the question: How does this show exist?
The show was co-created by Will Ferrell, former SNL writer Harper Steele (you may have seen her friendship with Ferrell featured in the documentary Will & Harper on Netflix a few years back), and longtime Ferrell collaborator Chris Henchy. All three have released patchy work in the past, but can deliver the funny.
And then you have Netflix, which I’m sure are very happy to be working with Will Ferrell, but are ultimately the ones responsible for greenlighting the show.
Looking at this show at face value, there are nothing but alarm bells:
There’s nothing especially compelling about the premise of the show, which is about a former great golfer/terrible person trying to make a return against the younger generation of golfing greats (which includes his son).
That premise is pretty much the premise of every golfing movie and TV show - most notably Happy Gilmore, but also recently Apple TV show Stick. At least Stick had the innovation of having former golf pro Owen Wilson now trying to mentor a young talent he found.
The shadow of Happy Gilmore looms large over this, with that fronted by another former SNL star in the form of Adam Sandler.
Is the audience even after another golf show so soon after Netflix’s Happy Gilmore 2 sequel from last year?
I appreciate that the original creative for the show was very different. Will Ferrell had created a golfing comedy alongside the very funny Ramy Youssef comedy writer-producer Josh Rabinowitz. Youssef and Rabinowitz had joined the show during the development process, but soon left the project over “creative differences.”
Youssef and Rabinowitz are seemingly the only credited people with the good sense to get off this production.
The jokes are practically non-existent, the premise is tired and overdone, and it has a star who is routinely attached to undercooked productions. I am of the very firm belief that cinema audiences abandoned seeing comedies in the cinema largely off the back of the horrible 2017 comedy The House.
I went into watching the show with high hopes. A good half hour comedy to blitz through this weekend as counter-programming to The Odyssey in cinemas? That seemed great to me. But gosh… this show stinks.
News Desk
Shareholders are suing David and Larry Ellison, accusing them of striking an illegal deal with President Trump for approval of the Paramount-WBD merger. Read: THR
Gaming market insights firm Newzoo expects that Grand Theft Auto 6 will actually earn closer to $4.5 billion in sales by launch week, selling about 51 million units. Just as a point of comparison, The Odyssey this weekend is on track to make around $200 million globally. Read: Polygon
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters says that they are not planning to launch a free advertising-supported version of Netflix at the moment, but that the idea makes sense in some markets and they’re not ruling it out. Read: THR
The first series developed by the Netflix ANZ team to be filmed and set in New Zealand has started production in Queenstown. The show, also titled Queenstown, will star Rufus Sewell and Frances O’Connor. Read: Deadline
New Netflix drama The Roman, a Las Vegas-set drama starring Oscar Isaac from the team who made Billions, has just announced a bunch of actors for the show and it has me very keen: Vincent D’Onofrio (Daredevil: Born Again), Kate Mara (A Teacher), Clancy Brown (I Will Find You), Thomas Sadoski (The Newsroom) and Jason Schwartzman (Mountainhead). Good cast. Read: Deadline
Chloe Fineman is leaving SNL after seven seasons. Read: THR
Australian series Scrublands will return for a third season on Stan. Read: Deadline
Karl Gajdusek, an Ep on the first season of Stranger Things, will be the showrunner of a new indie European TV series Odysseus, taking advantage of interest post-The Odyssey. And yes… I’m interested. Read: Deadline
Netflix is launching Minigolf, a mobile game with Stranger Things, Squid Game, and Bridgerton-inspired levels. Read: Variety
The Claudia Winkleman Show has been cancelled after one season at the BBC. Ratings weren’t good and Claudia says she was too nervous to enjoy it. Read: Radio Times
Stillwater, one of the absolute best kids TV shows of the moment… which no one seems to know about… will be back for season five on Apple TV. Read: Deadline
NYC cops arrested a man inside 30 Rockefeller Center who had gotten past security and onto the set of the Today Show, where he reportedly lunged at host Craig Melvin. The man had been reportedly been looking for Al Roker. Read: THR
Marvel is moving its publishing arm to California from New York, integrating it fully into its broader entertainment division. Staff, numbering around 100, are being asked to move. Read: The Wrap
William Jackson Harper will star opposite Elisabeth Moss in new Hulu legal drama Conviction. Read: Deadline
As an aside… I really liked Harper in the second season of the completely forgotten 2021 HBO Max anthology show Love Life… that show deserves to be streaming somewhere…
Trailer Park
Lioness returns for season 3 on Paramount+ August 2.
Power: Origins debuts ON STARZ at a date TBA.
Video game Marvel’s Wolverine debuts on PS5 September 15.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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Scrolling through Ferrell’s IMDB, I’m surprised by how few things of his I’ve seen. Not really an accident, as I personally can’t stand the kind of hacky improv comedy that was big in the naughts and teens (and yes, I include Anchorman under that umbrella). I do like him when he reins it in, ala Melinda & Melinda or Stranger Than Fiction. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed him as the bastard car dealer in Eastbound and Down, too. But otherwise, nah.
Thank you for braving this show so I don’t have to, Dan. 🫡
Not that I was ever going to, but the sentiment matters.