Critic Reviews

It's a comedy home run. [3-16 Apr 2017, p.19]

Each episode provides everything you would want from a comedy: originality, elegantly crude humor, genuine warmth and heartbreak.

Brockmire is one for the ages, and this rocky road to redemption is a comedic grand slam. [29 Apr - 12 May 2019, p.11]

The one-liners still move at fastball speed, but the show’s sharpened political conscience has only made them land harder. ... It also remains a phenomenal showcase for Azaria, who, simply put, gives the best performance of his career.

As wonderful as Brockmire was over its first three seasons — hilariously vulgar yet also remarkably moving, featuring a career-best performance from Hank Azaria in the title role — this could be viewed as terrible timing for Season Four to premiere. But among the amazing accomplishments of these last eight episodes is how they wind up feeling oddly comforting for this strange and scary moment in which we all find ourselves.

The other half of what makes Brockmire special--raunchy and depraved, but also surprisingly tender and even romantic (imagine Catastrophe if most of it took place at a minor league ballpark)--is how Azaria and the show’s creator, Joel Church-Cooper, are able to find the vulnerable human being underneath the accent and his familiar plaid blazer, even as Brockmire never breaks character or stops talking like he’s doing play-by-play on his own life.

As Brockmire struggles to regain relevance in a modern, anxiety-inducing world, the season even makes an elegant argument for the value of this old and slow sport in the age of smartphones and Peak TV. Both Brockmire the man and Brockmire the show are at their absolute best by the end of this season. We don’t deserve either of them.

The fourth season of Brockmire is actually a tremendous slice of speculative satire, a companion piece of sorts to Idiocracy in its commentary on the descent of human intellect, our inevitable surrender to encroaching technology and tangible consequences of our disrespect of the environment. There are parts of this season that feel like a real heir to Kurt Vonnegut in terms of the blend of rampant silliness and earnest concern.

"Brockmire" has always been able to deliver some of the best jokes around ... but now one of the funniest shows on TV is becoming one of its most thoughtful.

Season 4 finds the ideal line between evoking both the debauchery of his past and squaring one man’s outsized legend with his more understanding current form.