Glen Powell and Eli Manning try to conquer TV

As I mentioned the other day, Glen Powell is returning to TV for the first time since starring in Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens in the mid-2010s. Starting September 30, he will star in Chad Powers, a football comedy on Hulu based on a character created by Eli Manning. 

To that end, Powell and Manning are on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter’s “sports issue”, which is a bit like the yearbook kids covering a high school football game.

Not unlike Ted Lasso, Chad Powers started as a commercial goof meant to promote live sports on TV, but that is where everyone involved with Powers would like you to stop comparing it to Lasso. Eli Manning, the least charming of all the Mannings, first portrayed the character for his show Eli’s Places, donning prosthetics to walk onto Penn State’s football tryouts as a retired 40-year-old, which you can see here:

 

Eli and his big brother, Peyton, then decided to turn “Chad Powers” from sketch to scripted series, a first for their Omaha Productions banner. Powell and Michael Waldron, who was previously the showrunner/creator of Loki, paired up to adapt the series. They created the character of Russ Holliday, a washed-up college QB who assumes the persona of “Chad Powers” to try and restart his football career. Powell, a true multi-hyphenate, is also producing and writing on the series. It doesn’t look terrible, but I checked out on football years ago and just cannot muster enthusiasm for this. Here is Glen Powell in the prosthetics as Chad Powers:

 

The Mannings are such anodyne figures in American sports/media that the only even remotely interesting tidbit in this co-profile is that Glen Powell wasn’t pro-quarterback material and had to practice handling a football to pass muster as a college superstar. Gosh, you don’t say! That’s not a knock on Powell, it’s a knock on the Mannings who are boring as f-ck.

What IS a knock on Powell is that he modeled his television character, Russ Holliday, on Johnny Manziel, a one-time college football superstar who flamed out in the pros. Part of his flame out involved a domestic violence charge which, while ultimately dismissed, damaged his “Johnny Football” reputation. (Ignoring serious off-field offenses like domestic violence is a huge reason I quit following football.) Powell calls Manziel a “complicated figure” but also said “this guy is such a blast” after hanging out with Manziel. Of the Russ Holliday/Johnny Manziel connection Powell says, “We wanted Russ Holliday to be extremely likable, but also a guy who represented a really fun, charismatic, wild character to watch that would give in to his best instincts on the football field and his worst instincts off the field, and I think Johnny definitely represented that.”

Cool.

Chad Powers is the next evolution for Powell, though, not only a starring role but also a series he is deeply creatively involved in, adding to his growing resumé as a producer and writer. And for the Mannings, it’s the next step in their post-football empire building—though there is a third-generation Manning, Arch, playing for the University of Texas right now—as they attempt to move into scripted television, not just sports talk series and docuseries. The Mannings are the template the Kelce brothers are following (except the Kelces are likeable and engaging), the question is just whether or not they can get general audiences on board for a sports sitcom. 

Ted Lasso was a huge hit, but it also benefitted from a captive pandemic audience when it launched in 2020. In such a bifurcated television landscape, it’s hard for anything to really break through, and it will be a test of Glen Powell’s appeal, never mind the Mannings’ media planning, to find an audience for Chad Powers. Glen Powell is a movie star now, but can he conquer TV, too?

Also attached - new shots of Glen filming Ghostwriter in New York. 

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