Getty Bill Hader attends the premiere of HBO's "Barry" at NeueHouse Hollywood on March 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
Some shows sound odd in a pitch room. Barry definitely does, at least on paper. SNL alum Bill Hader playing a Midwestern hitman that tries to leave his assassin ways behind in the pursuit of low-level acting gigs? With this premise, the HBO show hit a chord with critics, as well as a niche audience.
The dark comedy has earned a 99 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its first season, which was reviewed with the line: “PTSD and comedy make strangely endearing bedfellows in Barry, which proves more poignant than its sketch show premise.”
The audience is growing as well, as the final episode of Season 1 saw a 100 percent gain in viewership in the week between the previous episode. This combination of burgeoning audience and critical acclaim helped earn Hader and co-star Henry Winkler Emmy’s for acting in a comedy series.
It also earned one for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation.
According to HBO’s programming schedule, their HBO and HBO Latino channels will air the Barry season 2 premiere episode Sunday at 7:00 pm EST. It will air a second time on HBO at 9:10 pm EST and on HBO Latino at 9:25pm EST. The episode’s run time is 34 minutes long.
The premiere episode is entitled “The Show Mus Go On, Probably.” Its synopsis per Broadway World reads:
“Barry (Bill Hader) tries to convince Sally (Sarah Goldberg) and the rest of the class to go ahead with a performance, despite the absence of teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler), who’s grief-stricken after the disappearance of Detective Moss. With Goran gone, Noho Hank (Anthony Carrigan) and Cristobal’s (Michael Irby) new partnership faces growing pains and jealousy issues. Back in Cleveland, Fuches (Stephen Root) learns that replacement hitmen don’t come easy.”
Episode 2 in the 8-episode final season airs next Sunday, April 7, at 7:00pm EST. The episode is entitled “The Power of No,” and its description reads:
“Facing pressure from Noho Hank, Barry struggles to pull off an important hit. After asking the class to mine their personal traumas for an original piece, Gene decides to confront his own past. A visit to her agents leaves Sally disappointed. Fuches tries to evade questions in Cleveland.”
Episode 3 is titled “Past = Present x Future Over Yesterday.”
The season stars Bill Hader as Barry Berkman/Barry Block, Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches, Sarah Golberg as Sally Reed, Glenn Fleshler as Goran Pazar, Anthony Carrigan as Noho Hank, and Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau.
The recap of last season (major spoilers removed) is that Barry, a former Marine turned assassin working for Fuches, head to Los Angeles to perform a hit for Goran Pazar, a Chechen mob boss. The job leads him to an acting class, which piques his curiousity. From there, he tries to balance avoiding the police investigating his killings, diving into the therapy of acting and keeping his new passion separate from the seedy underbelly of his crime world.
He starts a romantic relationship with Sally, a fellow actor, and a mentor-mentee relationship with Gene, the leading of the acting class.
Tune in to the second season of Barry on HBO, Sunday nights at 7:00pm EST.