Most critics like Eastbound & Down, and nearly all of them like it for the same reason: Danny McBride. His Kenny Powers, a washed-up pitcher who cannot see how far he has fallen, is praised as clueless, profane and precisely played, and several reviews single out the performance as the thing that makes the series work. The praise extends to the writing, with the show credited for turning a crude premise into something darker, a study of a man clinging to fame that has gone, and for keeping that tone steady across later seasons.
The reservations are few. Variety is the lone dissent, finding the premise tired and the comedy juvenile, leaning on crudity where it should have wit. Some of the admirers concede a related point: the humour is raw and cynical, and viewers who do not take to it early are unlikely to be won over. Beyond that, the spread is narrow, with the positive reviews clustered close together.