When “Woody Harrelson” parks his roach coach family truckster at the Texas ranch of best buddy “Matthew McConaughey,” what could possibly *go right*?? That’s the loose premise for Brothers on Apple TV, an eight-episode comedy created by McConaughey and Harrelson with Lee Eisenberg (Jury Duty) and David West Read (The Big Door Prize). 

BROTHERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: “Based on a true rumor,” titles tell us of Brothers. And look, here’s one of the rumored bros now! Woody Harrelson’s in Malibu, smoking a J, when his wife Joy (Brittany Ishibashi) and daughters Olive (Highdee Kuan) and Kai (Oona Yafee) get mad at his clueless dad act.  

The Gist: In Brothers, the versions of Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey played by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are close enough for horseshoes and the basic parameters of television. McConaughey has a TV family, too, and with his wife Valentina (Natalie Martinez), they welcome the Harrelsons to their ranch, where Matthew is working on a speech in tribute to his late father. “Big Mac,” as he was known, just like Matthew’s mother, played with Kahlúa-at-9AM panache by Holland Taylor, is “Ma Mac.” We’re sure the speech isn’t the only thing Woody will disrupt.

How different is Brothers from famous real-life bffs visiting each other to goof off? With a few ticks toward reality, it could be Ewan McGregor riding motorcycles. But a few tweaks the other way, and these TV families are hanging out with Carter from Dutton Ranch. Maybe the sweet spot for Brothers is somewhere in between, in the ether, in the Texas heat, ringed with the weed smoke where it was inspired.  

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Did it all start with “‘I just want you to stop saying odd shit?’” Maybe Brothers inspires a True Detective Season 1 rewatch as the source of Harrelson and McConaughey’s symbiosis. See also their many commercials as co-pitchmen. It kind of all runs together, and Brothers feeds on this notion.   

Our Take: We don’t care if it’s all based on a cheeky social media rumor, whether these guys really ever were brothers, or whether they’ve written it that way for this show’s purposes. Brothers is a series of hangout scenes between two dudes people typically enjoy hanging out with in search of being an actual TV series — and that’s probably okay, depending on how long you got to hang out. Episodes are 30-ish minutes, Harrelson pops up say things like “I’m an anarchist” and “What’s better for creativity than gourd soup,” or generally be the rodeo clown to his friend’s rodeo rider-philosopher, they’ll entertain rumors of a genetic link — what Ma Mac calls “not a total coinkydink” — and possibly see McConaughey run for governor of Texas. Not really sure how all that will fill eight episodes, but at least the bar in McConaughey’s garage looks cool.

Performance Worth Watching: That’s the way we all became the Mc-Harrelson Bunch? There’s some young-gen banter between Woody and Joy’s daughter Kai and Matthew and Valentina’s son Wyatt (Nolan Almeida).

Parting Shot: The universe has shown Matthew his purpose — “I’m gonna run for governor!” — and he wants Woody by his side for the campaign.

Our Call: STREAM IT, because you’ve already been streaming the hang-out flow state of Harrelson and McConaughey – in films, in ads, in other TV shows – and Brothers just puts a frame around these famously bro-y celebrities’ bro-y vibe. 

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.