Apple TV’s “Brothers” is the result of a production that lost its original showrunner with most of the season already in the can. That it’s still watchable and enjoyable to watch is a testament to the charisma of its two leads Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.
McConaughey and Harrelson play fictionalized versions of themselves: longtime friends whose bond frays when Harrelson’s family camps at McConaughey’s Austin ranch and McConaughey’s mother, Ma Mac (Holland Taylor), lets slip that the two men might actually be brothers. A possible McConaughey run for governor of Texas runs alongside the family chaos. Apple’s official trailer, posted August 25, leans hard into that “based on a true rumor” pitch:
The series was announced in 2023 with David West Read (Schitt’s Creek, The Big Door Prize) as writer and showrunner. In June 2025, with eight of a then-ordered 10 episodes already shot in Austin, production paused and the cast was sent home. Deadline and Variety reported that Read had left over creative differences about how to end the season. Lee Eisenberg — an Apple regular via Lessons in Chemistry, Little America, and WeCrashed, and a co-creator of Jury Duty — was in talks to take over the final episodes and likely reshoots. No public date was given for when he formally signed or when cameras rolled again.
The version that premiered is eight episodes, not 10. Both men still share creator credit with the stars; Eisenberg is the credited showrunner. Apple’s August press release lists the series as produced by Paramount Television Studios, with Eisenberg, McConaughey, and Harrelson among the executive producers, alongside Natalie Sandy, Read, Trish Hofmann, Bill Bost, Jason Winer, David Finkel, Brett Baer, and Jeremy Plager. The ensemble includes Natalie Martinez, Brittany Ishibashi, Lisa Gilroy, and the younger regulars Nolan Almeida, Ella Grace Helton, Noah Carganilla, Highdee Kuan, and Oona Yaffe. The first two episodes dropped September 23rd, with the rest weekly through November 4th.
Critics noticed the seams. On Rotten Tomatoes, Season 1 sits around 62% from 39 reviews — mixed, and soft for a pairing last seen together leading True Detective.
Daniel Fienberg at The Hollywood Reporter called it “good for a couple of chuckles, little more,” arguing the scripts would have looked thin on mid-’90s TGIF and that the stars’ chemistry is what keeps it watchable. Alison Herman at Variety wrote that the comic chemistry never turns the premise into a real show, with side plots sagging and the season drifting into schemes of the week. Vulture’s take was similar: a pedestrian comedy, more interesting as a meta curiosity — and as a brochure for McConaughey’s charisma — than as comedy. IGN scored it 5/10, “mediocre,” and “scattershot.” The New York Post called it self-indulgent and aimless. ScreenRant went to 3/10 and ranked the collaboration closer to Surfer, Dude than True Detective.
Warmer reviews do exist. Empire called it an amiable caper propped up by overqualified leads that only needed to be a hangout show. SEAT42F gave it an 8/10. Common Sense Media went 4/5, partly because separating fact from fiction is half the fun. TV Guide scored it 5.8 and said it improves as it goes, with Gilroy’s campaign manager a scene-stealer. Several reviews explicitly tie the uneven tone to the Read-to-Eisenberg handoff.
Audience reaction has split the same way: some viewers treat the caricatures as the point, others as a waste of the cast. The season finale is still weeks out, so the score can move. For now, “Brothers” reads as what the June 2025 pause suggested it might become — a star-driven comedy finished by a second showrunner, carried by two famous friends, and only intermittently sure of what kind of show it is.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, after just two episodes, we like it!
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