They called him the biggest loser of recent years. He played a great role again, no one had heard of the series

The players are playing, the fans are cheering, but not everyone is following the European Football Championships taking place in Germany so closely. For those who are looking for other entertainment, every day we recommend something that we have watched, read, listened to and think is worth recommending to others. And if you are now in a football frenzy, save these texts for the second half of July, after Euro 2024. Just in time for the holidays.

But before I recommend you this alternative to the match, a few (maybe even a little more) words about the actor who played the title role in the series. There are not many careers like the one that this extremely talented 61-year-old can boast of. And although the actor has incredible amounts of charisma and an intelligent sense of humor, you don’t hear about him as often as you hear about Zendai, who is always bored on screen, or the blasé Timothé Chalamet (sorry not sorry).

“He’s an incredibly intelligent guy who can combine intelligence with his absurd ideas,” says his colleague Ben Stiller about the actor. Bob Odenkirk chose a difficult but rewarding goal – since his teenage years, he wanted to entertain people. He started his career as a radio DJ, when he created the comedy program “The Prime Time Special”. During improvisation workshops in Chicago, he met Robert Smigel, with whom he co-created “Saturday Night Live” for years.

He could have played Michael Scott on The Office. He became a director of film disasters

Odenkirk’s breakthrough was his collaboration with David Cross on the “Mr. Show” series, which featured many comedians in the early stages of their careers, and Rolling Stone called the show “the American Monty Python.” While improving his comedy skills, the artist began to appear more and more often in popular series. He had to swallow the first significant failure in his career when he didn’t get the role of Michael Scott in “The Office”. The series remains one of the most popular comedy series in the world to this day.

Odenkirk’s relationship with the world of cinema was not the best. His next projects, such as “Let’s Go to Prison” and “The Brothers Solomon”, turned out to be dismal failures. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film’s ratings did not exceed 20%. on the freshness scale, and the last one only made a million dollars. “When you experience so many failures – and I had a long list of failed projects – you start to wonder if you have anything left that has any value,” the actor recalled in his autobiography.

He gained international recognition in his fifties. They call his greatest success a failure

It stayed. 2009 turned out to be a breakthrough year for Odenkirk. The actor was cast as Saul Goodman in the world-famous series “Breaking Bad”. The actor’s career gained momentum, viewers fell in love with the determined, flamboyant lawyer who brought an air of lightness and humor to the series. The supporting character created by Odenkirk was so colorful that she got her own series. The actor started working on “Better Call Saul” and delved into completely different areas of the acting workshop.

“Better Call Saul” exceeded the creators’ expectations. Usually spin-offs and prequels of cult series turn out to be “good” at best. The production with Odenkirk in the main role remains to this day a textbook example of a work that not only reached the level of its beloved predecessor, but, according to many, even surpassed it in terms of quality. “Better Call Saul” is also a phenomenon on Rotten Tomatoes. On the website’s scale, none of the six seasons of the series fell below 97% in viewers’ ratings. freshness, although 10 years will soon have passed since the premiere of the first one.

However, even such a huge success, which the series achieved largely thanks to the phenomenal performance of Bob Odenkirk, did not turn out to be one hundred percent happy for the actor. Work on the set was so demanding for the artist that he had a heart attack while filming one of the episodes. The series’ director, Vince Gilligan, remembers this moment on set very well. “We felt like we were watching him die. I’ve never seen anything like it, except in movies. When Bob returned to the set, we felt nothing but gratitude,” he said.

As if that were not enough, paradoxically, Odenkirk’s greatest professional success was recently also hailed as his greatest failure. “Better Call Saul” has become a global phenomenon when it comes to the Emmy Awards. Over the course of seven years, the series received as many as 53 award nominations, but NONE of the statuettes went to its creators. This year’s Emmy Awards were the last chance to break the bad streak. Unfortunately, despite seven nominations, the award failed to win, and “Better Call Saul” began to be called the biggest loser in the history of awards.

Unlucky “Lucky Hank”

Odenkirk waited many years for his international success. On the day of the premiere of the last episode of “Better Call Saul”, the actor was approaching sixty. Despite this, the artist tries not to be remembered as the actor of one role. And it must be admitted that he is doing it quite well, at least due to his excellent performance in one of the best action films of recent years – the production “Nobody” (the top stars don’t take prisoners anymore!). The film turned out to be so successful, also commercially, that work on its sequel is ongoing.

And just as “Nobody” is quite a popular title among fans of the genre, and even received nominations for the Critics Choice Super Awards, Odenkirk’s next project again went unnoticed. What a pity. The series “Lucky Hank” premiered in 2023 and is really worth watching. Unfortunately, only a few months after the production appeared on streaming, the network received information that there would be no second season. Shame on you, AMC!

The last time I fell in love with a TV character at first sight was when Benedict Cumberbatch said the first line in “Sherlock”. The second time such a situation repeated itself was when the series’ William Henry Devereaux Jr – played by Odenkirk – appeared on my laptop screen. The BBC production inspired by the novels of Arthur Conan Doyle is my favorite series of all time, let that serve as the scale of this compliment.

“Lucky Hank” is not a surprising or innovative series, but it is an extremely funny, wise and well-written drama production that will make you spend a few enjoyable evenings. These are also needed! If you like watching above-averagely intelligent cynics on screen, spiteful people and complainers with sharp tongues and a rather dark sense of humor, who can’t quite cope with interpersonal relationships, and childhood traumas and analysis of daddy issues are an additional incentive to watch – this is the perfect series for mustache.

The production with Bob Odenkirk in the title role was inspired by the novel “Straight Man” by Richard Russo. It’s about a professor who heads the English department at an underfunded college in Pennsylvania. Hank faces a midlife crisis, his inability to form relationships, childhood traumas and professional unfulfillment. In addition to the daily struggles that make his life “80 percent suffering”, there is another problem. The university’s budget is to be reduced, and he must dismiss three faculty members subordinate to him.

Hank hates his life. He sabotages his work, development and relationships with loved ones. He gives the impression of a man who doesn’t need anyone, but in reality, every cell of his body trembles before another abandonment and rejection. One thing has already shaped him. Every conversation with Hank is a fight that cannot be won. Because Hank doesn’t respect anyone. But the viewer likes him anyway, because it is very easy to identify with his sense of injustice, shame and tiredness. And above all, because despite his many flaws, Hank has a good heart and a lot of empathy, but to see them, you need a lot of patience.

Just like for the series. The pace is slow, not much happens in some episodes, and the characters are very stereotypical. However, with each episode we become more involved in their stories, just like the actors who seem to understand their characters better and better. We quickly notice that a seemingly simple and boring story has many layers and wisdom to impart. It’s not obvious entertainment, but it’s definitely valuable. Especially for those who feel unappreciated, average and have reached the stage where they cannot appreciate what they have. Hank couldn’t do it either, and when he found out… well, you’ll see for yourself!