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Critics Call Tim Robinson’s The Chair Company Ambitious and Polarizing Ahead of HBO Debut

The eight-episode surreal conspiracy comedy extends Robinson’s sketch-born anxiety into a serialized investigation.

Overview

  • The Chair Company premieres Oct. 12 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with eight half-hour episodes airing weekly.
  • Tim Robinson stars as Ron Trosper, a mall project manager whose humiliating workplace mishap spirals into an obsessive probe of the chair maker Tecca and the opaque systems of modern corporate life.
  • The series is created by Robinson and longtime collaborator Zach Kanin, with early episodes directed by executive producer Andrew DeYoung and additional directing by Aaron Schimberg.
  • The ensemble features Lake Bell, Sophia Lillis, Will Price, Joseph Tudisco, Jim Downey, and Lou Diamond Phillips.
  • Early reviews praise the show’s absurdist, Lynchian-tinged tone and bold expansion of Robinson’s voice, while noting it may prove divisive and less cohesive for newcomers.