Powering Down Kenny Powers: 'Eastbound' Down After Third Season

Is "Eastbound and Down" the best show, or what?

Possibly the most offensive thing on television, it manages to give us a totally irredeemable protagonist who we sort of manage to care about, bring the laughs every week, and do it all with a weird sort of existensionalist bend.

The ending of the second season's third episode, which has Kenny Powers and his new girlfriend on a roller coaster, was one of the most surreal moments of television I'd seen since "The Sopranos" went off the air, and the second season finale was oddly brave in its determination to provide nothing in the way of a conclusion or a traditional cliffhanger.

It's not a huge surprise that creators Danny McBride (aka Kenny Powers) and Jody Hill are ending it all after the next season, as they discussed at the Paley Center last night.

The show has only so many places it can go before becoming a one-note joke about an overentitled racist, and they're smart enough to know their limits.

HBO is known for being friendly towards creators, which is why they let their shows get away with so few episodes each season to begin with (two seasons in, "Eastbound" has had only thirteen episodes, a little over half the amount of a network sitcom), and if McBride and Hill have a stopping point, they'll get it.

It'll be interesting to see where they end it. Season one was such a blitzkrieg just to catch up with the show's tone and Kenny himself, so much so that they had to take the show to Mexico for season two. Whether they'll end with a bang or a shrug, we'll see next year.