It’s funny how things can sometimes start a micro-trend, purely by accident. Yesterday I reviewed Vladimir, a comedy set on and around the campus of a small liberal arts college, where a large facet of the plot is a sex scandal. While quite different in tone, focus, and execution, Rooster is also a small liberal arts college-set comedy with a significant sex scandal as a large part of its plot. And sadly, like Vladimir, it doesn’t quite deliver on its promise.

Greg Russo (Steve Carell), a Carl Hiaasen-esque writer with less political insight, has come to Ludlow College to do a reading. If you are trying to picture the vibe of the place, think Mount Holyoke—the front gate is even basically the same—meets Amherst. While he never attended college himself, his ex-wife, Elizabeth (Connie Britton), is a beloved alum. The student center is named after her, even. However, the real draw is his daughter Kaite (Charly Clive), an art history professor on campus. She’s nursing her wounds after her hotshot Russian history professor (is that possible?) Archie (Phil Dunster) cheated on her with a grad student, Sunny (Lauren Tsai). So, Dad’s here to save the day. Or at least ease the pain.

He quickly connects with the college’s President and weirdo health nut Walter Mann (John C. McGinley). Mann sees Russo as a fellow throwback to a mythical better time in academia and, clearly, masculinity. Things are a little less odd with the Poetry professor Dylan Shepard (Danielle Deadwyler), who has been at Ludlow just long enough to start to have power AND feel like it is a prison. When his daughter’s situation goes wildly awry, Russo finds himself the new writer-in-residence thanks to a hasty agreement struck with Mann. Thus, the writer without a college degree finds himself teaching classes with students whose first question after reading one of his books is, “Why do you hate women?”

Reviewing Rooster is a bit of a challenge because, after the six episodes screened for clients, the show doesn’t seem to have found itself yet. There is a structure of something in place, but the new Bill Lawrence/Matt Tarses-created series remains frustratingly out of focus. Typically, in the first handful of episodes of Lawrence-produced comedy, there’s an episode where the series locks into place. In Scrubs, it was episode 4, “My Old Lady”. Ted Lasso also comes together in its fourth episode, “For the Children”. As a season 1 Shrinking skeptic, I’d argue that one takes longer. Still, by episode 6, “Imposter Syndrome,” the series had found its voice. With Rooster, though? Not so much.

That isn’t to say the series is bad, however. If it were, this would be a much easier thing. Unfortunately, there is plenty of good, which reduces my objections to a vague declaration that the show we get through six episodes isn’t its true form yet.

The problem, to be clear, isn’t that the show isn’t funny or well-performed. Carell is nicely in the pocket as Russo, a genuinely sweet if clumsy man who writes books about an alpha man lover and fighter type that he’s never been and will never be. It feels a bit like someone saw his scene in The Four Seasons talking to his daughter at college, and thought, “Yes, that character, but sweeter and funnier”. It was a good call on their part.

McGinley and Deadwyler are similarly on one from the start. Right or wrong, I don’t tend to associate Deadwyler with comedy. Despite my notions, she proves a strong scene partner. She’s made the smart decision to play it straight. In a Lawrence production, where wackiness tends to barge in, that gives her a nice space to score laughs without having to go over the top herself. McGinley does an interesting thing with the President, taking a role that easily could’ve gone into “these damn kids with their wokeness!” and instead guides it into something weirder and more rewarding. Robby Hoffman, Scott MacArthur, and Annie Mumolo get maximum mileage out of small supporting roles. However, it is Maximo Salas, as Greg’s student and biggest fan, who stands out among the smaller players as being both odd and having character depth.

Clive, Dunster, and Tsai all have flashes of good work, but like the show itself, they seem like works in progress. For instance, is Archie an otherwise decent person who made a big mistake? Or is he a self-involved egotist who chooses women based on who seems most impressed with him? Six episodes in, I’m not sure. Rooster doesn’t seem to be either.

 As noted above, the show is frequently funny. However, its attempts at “get a load of these Gen Alphas”/college life these days jokes rarely connect. Many feel like warmed-over takes from a bygone era, such as when two separate groups showed up on the same day at the same time to protest. Those that don’t—a student takes it as body shaming when Greg calls getting her approval his “white whale”—hit like first drafts. More importantly, Rooster’s heart doesn’t seem to be in being that kind of comedy. Like most Lawrence works, it is too generous of heart to be a handwringing take on how the woke mind virus has made kids these days soft and annoying. Hopefully, in becoming its true self, it’ll shed that aspect.

Because everything feels up in the air, my take on Rooster isn’t a yes or a no. It is a wait-and-see. I have confidence in the creators. I have confidence in the actors. The show has a Michael Stipe-sung theme song for goodness sake. So it has at least earned my attention for the rest of the season. But unlike college students, it can’t afford much longer to find itself before I write it off.

Rooster starts doing kegstands all over the U of HBO startin March 8.

Rooster Trailer: