Netflix's Brews Brothers wants to be The League for breweries, but it doesn't work

The Hollywood Reporter

Jeff Schaffer, who created The League with his wife Jackie Schaffer, is executive producer of Brews Brothers, which his brother Greg Schaffer created. "In the pantheon of unlikely great comedies, perhaps we don't talk enough about FX's The League and its complicated achievement in making a quirky and frequently toxic obsession, and its devoted practitioners, seem likable and extremely funny without ever losing sight of its toxicity," says Daniel Fienberg. "Netflix's new comedy Brews Brothers shares some DNA with The League — Jeff Schaffer is an executive producer and directed multiple episodes — and very clearly wants to do for the world of hipster beer brewing what The League did for fantasy football. That's namely to simultaneously mock and respect a subculture with its own rituals and language. It's on that level that Brews Brothers succeeds reasonably. Where it fails, through its eight-episode first season, is in the establishing of enough distinctive characters and voices to keep Brews Brothers interesting as anything more than effective bro-baiting."

ALSO:

• Brews Brothers intrigued executive producer Jeff Schaffer: "Not just because the jackass, arrogant older brother was clearly an homage to me," he deadpans of the Netflix comedy his brother Greg Schaffer created. "He said, 'Look, no one's done a show in this craft brewery world.' And he was right. It's a world that needs to be taken down a peg. I mean, this bubble has just been growing, and now everybody and their dumb uncle is telling you that their IPA is too hoppy or they can taste apricot notes in their stout. Everyone has become a beer expert, and that's completely unnecessary."
• Jeff Schaffer has been busy juggling three shows: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dave and Brews Brothers