Danny McBride plays Neal Gamby, a foul-mouthed vice principal at North Jackson High School who wants to be the principal. When the longtime principal steps down to care for his ailing wife, the school hires an outsider, Dr. Belinda Brown, over both of them. That sets up the whole show: McBride and Walton Goggins, as his co-vice principal Lee Russell, have to stop hating each other long enough to bring down the woman who beat them.
This is a comedy about two men who can barely stand each other trying to destroy a woman who doesn’t deserve it. The setup is simple. The execution is not.
Trailer, via HBO.
Neal and Lee’s Mutual Disdain
Neal and Lee are not friends. They are rivals, bitter ones, who have spent years competing for the same job. When the principal announces he is stepping down, he makes it clear he trusts neither of them. He hires Belinda instead, and that decision sends Neal into a panic. He tries to get the faculty to veto the appointment, but Belinda wins them over with her goal-driven approach and her popularity with the students.
That attempt fails, so Neal turns to Lee. He asks Lee to join him in ruining Belinda’s reputation. The problem is that Neal and Lee are both deeply unpleasant people. Their own biases and loathsome behavior start to alienate everyone around them, including Belinda and the rest of the faculty.
The show spends its eighteen episodes tracing how Neal and Lee’s plan unfolds, and how badly it goes for both of them. The scheme eats away at them from within, and the show’s dark humor comes from watching two desperate men dig their own graves.
The Cast and the Chemistry
The show’s strength is its cast. McBride and Goggins play Neal and Lee as two men who are constantly circling each other, ready to strike at any moment. Dale Dickey plays Nash, Busy Philipps plays Gale Liptrapp, Georgia King plays Amanda Snodgrass, Sheaun McKinney plays Dayshawn, and Shea Whigham plays Ray Liptrapp. Each of these actors brings their own energy to the proceedings, and the ensemble is consistently funny.
Walton Goggins in particular stands out. He plays Lee as the more calculating of the two, the one who is willing to manipulate and lie to get what he wants. His performance anchors the show’s darker edges, giving Lee a menace that Neal lacks.
The show also benefits from its supporting cast. Georgia King’s Amanda Snodgrass and Busy Philipps’s Gale Liptrapp are both given real moments to shine, even when they are being used as pawns in Neal and Lee’s scheme. The show treats its female characters with a mix of respect and cruelty, which is a mixed bag but still better than most comedies manage.
The Dark Comedy
“Vice Principals” is a dark comedy, and it is dark in the way McBride has made his name. There is violence, there is profanity, and there is a willingness to let the jokes land uncomfortably. The show is not afraid to be mean, and it is not always clear whether that meanness is a joke or a statement.
The show’s tone is consistent across its two seasons. It does not soften its edges, and it does not pull back when things get uncomfortable. That consistency is a credit to the creators, Danny McBride and Jody Hill, who built the show around a central conflict that never really resolves.
The show’s humor is based on watching two terrible people fail at everything they try. Neal and Lee are so bad at their jobs that they are almost funny, but the show never lets them off easy. Even when they succeed, they pay for it later.
The Scheme Unfolds
Neal and Lee’s scheme is the engine of the show. It starts with a simple idea: bring Belinda down. But as the show progresses, the scheme becomes more complicated, and Neal and Lee find themselves caught in a trap of their own making. The show tracks their slow self-destruction, showing how their own biases and loathsome behavior alienate Belinda and the rest of their co-workers.
The show’s second season picks up where the first left off, with Neal and Lee still trying to sabotage Belinda. But the stakes have changed. The show is now focused on the damage Neal and Lee have done to themselves, and the show’s final episodes lean into that darkness.
The show’s ending is a fitting conclusion to a show about failure. Neal and Lee are left with nothing, having destroyed the one person who could have helped them and ruined their own lives in the process.
The Production Team
The show was produced by HBO Entertainment, and McBride, Hill, and David Gordon Green served as executive producers through their production company Rough House Pictures. The show’s direction is sharp, and its writing is full of clever lines. The show is well-made, but it is also limited by its own premise.
The Show’s Legacy
“Vice Principals” ran for two seasons, with eighteen episodes in total. It premiered on HBO on July 17, 2016, and concluded on November 12, 2017. The show was a cultural moment, even if it was not a massive hit. It captured a moment in television history, a time when dark comedy was becoming more acceptable.
The show’s style of humor, its focus on two terrible men, and its willingness to let the jokes land uncomfortably became part of the landscape of American television.
The Verdict
“Vice Principals” is a show that is better than its premise suggests. It takes two terrible men and makes them funny, even when they are doing terrible things. The show is a dark comedy that is genuinely funny, and it is a show that rewards attention.
But the show is also limited. It is a show about two men who are terrible to everyone around them, and that limitation eventually catches up with it. The show’s final episodes lean into its darkness, and the show ends on a note of despair that some viewers may find too bleak.
The show is a product of its creators, and it wears that label proudly. It is a show about failure, and it is a show about the consequences of being a terrible person. The show is not for everyone, but for those who enjoy dark comedy, it is a worthy entry in the genre.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 17, 2016 | Premiere on HBO |
| November 12, 2017 | Conclusion on HBO |
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