Light spoilers below for the first two episodes of The Chair Company, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched on HBO or via HBO Max subscription.
Only one show on the 2025 TV schedule is equipped to send a chill up audiences’ spines at the same time as making them want to run out of the room with highly amused discomfort. No, it’s not Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, which is a really strange guess, but rather HBO’s The Chair Company, whose not-so-secret weapon is cringe-comedy architect Tim Robinson. He and co-creator Zach Kanin have really pulled off something incredibly weird and unique that won over critics, and it looks like audiences were eager to try out something different.
The Chair Company’s Mix Of Cringe, Thrills, Psychological Horror, And Comedy Feels Like A New Subgenre
Though he may not be the most household-y name by and large, Tim Robinson broke into the mainstream in the most hilariously awkward way in recent years thanks to Netflix’s atypical I Think You Should Leave, one of the best sketch series ever. Across that show’s three seasons so far, the former SNL writer has exclusively portrayed clueless, confrontational and calamitous characters who are genuinely difficult to watch at times.
Robinson branched his social provocateur approach out with 2024’s Friendship opposite Paul Rudd, a film that definitely laid the genre-mashing foundation for The Chair Company to rise from. However, that film was presented more as either an offbeat horror-drama with bizarrely comedic elements, or an offbeat comedy-drama with a horror undertone, while the HBO series is a true mish-mash in the best sense.
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In the series, Robinson’s Ron Trosper is surprisingly capable as a professional and family man, at least at first. He soon starts spiraling into paranoia after experiencing an on-stage accident during which a chair collapses beneath him, and his attempts to reach out to the titular manufacturer don’t go as planned. Instead, he gets quickly roped into a seemingly conspiratorial situation involving secretive factions, home invasions, and a giant red inflatable ball. You know, like the ones all the good conspiracies have.
The second episode took Robinson’s Ron even further from his comfort zone, which strains his home life with wife Barb (Lake Bell), daughter Natalie (Sophia Lillis) and son Seth (Will Price), and deepens his connection with Joseph Tudisco’s easily agitated man-for-hire. Only two episodes in, and I don’t even care if this story gets wrapped up in a meaningful way; I’m just here for the wild and unpredictable ride.
HBO Viewers Apparently Approve The New Genre, As Ratings Look Solid
Given Netflix’s secretive nature with its viewership totals, it was never 100% clear exactly how well I Think You Should Leave did in any of its three seasons. (Though it’s easy to assume the show does well enough, since Netflix is seemingly still interested in more seasons.) However, HBO is more transparent than all that, and the first week of viewership stats for The Chair Company makes it clear that fans are loving the show.
According to the network (via THR), 1.4 million viewers tuned in to watch The Chair Company‘s premiere through interlaced fingers across its first three days of availability on both HBO and HBO Max. It’s likely that its Sunday-night viewer totals were helped in part by the strong viewership that Mark Ruffalo’s Task built up, as that night’s new episode captured more than 4 million pairs of eyeballs across the same three-day period, and ahead of its finale, the action-drama averaged 6.7 million viewers for each episode, with delayed viewing accounted for.
I’d never discount the fact that people showed up specifically to watch Robinson muck everything up, though. While obviously not as sizable a total vewiership as broadcast’s biggest hits, that total is indeed impressive, given The Chair Company‘s genre fluidity and lack of A-list stars. In fact, the series boasted HBO’s biggest comedy premiere in the past five years, with Hugh Laurie’s Avenue 5 having held the distinction since it debuted in January 2020.
It’s unclear if The Chair Company is being set up for a multi-season release, or if Ron’s hunt for the titular business is purposefully a one-and-done affair. But I can only imagine that HBO will want to keep its relationship with Robinson going if this audience keeps building up the way Task‘s has.
The Chair Company airs Sunday nights on HBO at 10:00 p.m., with eps releasing on HBO Max at the same time.