Rob Lowe

2023 - 3 - 31

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Variety"

'Unstable' Review: Rob Lowe and Son John Owen Are a Netflix ... (Variety)

The Lowe family unites for 'Unstable,' a new tech-world comedy on Netflix that's sharper, and more charming, than viewers might expect.

And yet it’s hard not to be charmed by “Unstable,” which is so, so much better than it needed to be in order to entice the Lowe-curious. And costars including Sian Clifford — so wonderful as the sister of the protagonist on “Fleabag,” and bringing a similar crispness to her role as Ellis’ CFO, just barely keeping him on track. “Unstable” is not a perfect workplace sitcom — some of its shaggier touches, like Fred Armisen’s wildly oscillating turn as Ellis’ therapist, feel like the product of a creative environment in which a few notes might have kept things a bit more focused. Together, they’re headlining “ [Unstable](https://variety.com/t/unstable/),” a new [Netflix](https://variety.com/t/netflix/) comedy that’s infuriatingly better than it needed to be. The latest distraction is a sorrowful one, as he mourns his late wife — John Owen Lowe plays his son Jackson, a career flautist who’s called into duty at the lab in order to bring his father back to attentiveness. The conversation about “nepo babies” has grown tiresome — and not just because “nepo baby” itself is such an unattractive turn of phrase.

Unstable review – this Rob Lowe nepo-sitcom is staggeringly joke-free (The Guardian)

The actor stars alongside his son (playing his son) in a nauseatingly schmaltzy, second-tier comedy. It's utterly unfunny, but at least its lead is as ...

It’s a harmless way to spend half an hour, but Silicon Valley did the tech stuff much, much better and – along with most other sitcoms – the comedy stuff, too. The other is that the peripheral characters are a few degrees better than expected. Ellis starts to recognise Jackson as his own man by bringing him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter, just the way he likes it! One is the Lowes’ charm and the fact that Jr doesn’t come off too badly in the inevitable comparisons between him and Sr in the acting or the comedy stakes. Deadlines on a carbon-capture project, upon which his survival as the head of the bioengineering company he founded depends, have come and gone. That the name of the eccentric biotech-genius-entrepreneur protagonist of Unstable is Ellis Dragon tells you everything you need to know about this Netflix comedy series.

Original-Cin Q&A: Unstable's Rob Lowe on Simpatico with his Co ... (Original Cin)

The show centers around John Owen's character Jackson Dragon who has to save his eccentric biotech entrepreneur father and his company from disaster. Our Bonnie ...

I feel like Unstable has elements of The Grinder. I know how rare it is and that gives me the energy to do it. LOWE: Yes, I loved The Grinder. People always talk about longevity of careers and if you don't have new fans coming in every year there isn't going to be a long career. I mean, I am so grateful that I'm able to do it. If he cuts a sequence, I'm going to look at it editorially the same and vice versa. I love doing Lonestar because it gives me the opportunity to play sort of that traditional iconic leading-man stuff. I love doing Literally, the podcast. This new series is really funny and I especially love the interaction between you and your son John-Owen. I know you’ve worked together before as he writes for 9-1-1: Lone Star but for Unstable, you two really are in the trenches together 24/7. What I can say is 100% of the show is absolutely based on my relationship with Johnny, how he sees me, how I see him, how I see myself. LOWE: That's the fun of it.

Rob Lowe Naked In 'Unstable' — Review Of Netflix Father-Son ... (TVLine)

Now streaming: 'Unstable,' a father-son Netflix comedy starring Rob Lowe and his actual offspring John Owen.

Ellis couldn’t be more different from Jackson (John Owen), who abandoned his bio-engineering plans to become a professional flutist. Speaking of that insanely put-upon CFO, Anna (played by Sian Clifford) believes the only way to pull Ellis back from the brink is to enlist his son as an emotional anchor. I’d like to be naked again and feel the cold air on my forlorn genitalia,” Ellis tells his CFO Anna in the first episode.

'Unstable' Review: Rob Lowe and Son John Owen Lowe in Netflix ... (Hollywood Reporter)

Rob Lowe stars in Netflix's 'Unstable' alongside real-life son John Owen Lowe, in a comedy created by the Lowes with Victor Fresco.

At a time when TV is cluttered with shows that straddle the line between dark comedy and heart-wrenching drama (sometimes to Particularly when the show’s sense of humor is as well defined as it is, as early as it is. Love interests don’t just happen to be at bars drinking; they happen to be at bars drinking with a “bee society” of insect-obsessed oddballs. By the time everyone’s coming together in episode five for a fake surprise birthday party, that crackling energy has turned into something like sweetness. But this is one of those rare casts where everyone seems to have chemistry and an enjoyably lived-in history with one another, whether it’s the unshakable loyalty between science weirdos Luna (Rachel Marsh) and Ruby (Emma Ferreira), or the underexplored not-quite-friendship between Malcolm, who’s Ellis’ No. (Nepo baby discourse lovers can look forward to comparing the relationship between the Dragons to that between the Lowes, though, I guess.) In practical terms, this means he’s essentially stopped working in favor of more eccentric activities, like sunbathing naked in his office, moonlighting as part of a landscaping crew and doing something unspeakable to make his board-mandated psychiatrist seemingly disappear without a trace. It’s more focused on the evolving dynamic between the two men, but here, too, the series plays things too light to land with any lasting emotional impact. [Undone](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/undone-review-1239016/). But that hardly seems to matter when it’s capable of delivering jokes so effective, I needed to pause the show more than once so I could stop laughing before I continued. Unstable does, however, share with Better Off Ted its single most appealing quality — namely the fact that it’s very, very funny, thanks to a crackling combination of sharp writing, lovably eccentric characters and snappy comedic timing. Or from its premise, which sounds more in line with a dramedy like Apple TV+’s [Shrinking](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/shrinking-review-harrison-ford-jason-segel-apple-tv-1235307287/).

Unstable Interview: Rob Lowe on Family & Working With Fred Armisen (ComingSoon.net)

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Unstable co-creator and star Rob Lowe about the Netflix comedy series.

The minute you get involved in the thinking of it and the crafting of it, it dies. I just struggle to keep up with him and it’s the best. You need a hook at the beginning of it to kind of ground it and to give it relatability. It’s funny — it’s years of doing it so I don’t overthink it and I can trust my instinct and get out of my own way and let it happen. The notion of a family just about to come out of the trauma, of the loss of [a] wife [and] mother felt like a really good way to do it. It makes the comedy just hit so much harder and it’s all so much more impactful.

TV Talk: CMU student competes on 'American Idol;' Netflix debuts ... (TribLIVE)

Tripp Taylor, a freshman studying musical theater at Carnegie Mellon University, impressed the “American Idol” judges in his audition that aired earlier ...

Fresco even cribs from “Ted,” repeating the conceit of two lab techs but with a gender flip from two men to two women. … “The Monkees” reruns will air on cable’s AXS TV at 8:30 p.m. … Anderson Cooper will anchor CNN newsmagazine “The Whole Story” at 8 p.m. [the Rob Lowe-starring “Unstable,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onx7_iRa0Lg) Netflix has managed to put forward a worthwhile comedy again. The father-son dynamics, while familiar, do manage to feel real (for a TV comedy) amongst the whiplash comedy. “But I also have a big passion for music and I never want to give that up. Like those two series, Fresco imbues “Unstable” with a gonzo, almost manic comic energy. But then when Netflix’s originals grew at such a rapid pace that there were multiple new series of every imaginable genre debuting monthly, Netflix transitioned to a quantity-over-quality approach, flooding the market with original series. The teachers were all super-okay with it and all my classmates are impressed by it, all congratulating me.” “The auditions for [‘American Idol’] just kept on popping up on my Instagram and then popping up on all my social media and I was talking to my friends about it, and I didn’t think I was gonna do it. I was trying not to look nervous, but I was nervous out of my mind.” Taylor attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a boarding high school, prior to CMU.