# Vice Principals (2016)

> Two embittered vice principals at a Southern high school form an unlikely alliance to undermine their new boss.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/57582

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 18
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Danny McBride, Jody Hill
- Network: HBO
- Cast: Danny McBride, Walton Goggins, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Dale Dickey, Georgia King, Busy Philipps, Sheaun McKinney, Shea Whigham
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766376/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: abrasive, profane, cringe-driven, bleak, darkly comic

## What critics say

Critics broadly praise the series' dark, profane humor and the chemistry of its two leads, while noting its crude tone and repetitive escalation.

## Synopsis

Vice Principals (2016-2017) is an American HBO dark comedy created by Danny McBride and Jody Hill, produced by Rough House Pictures. Set at North Jackson High School in the American South, it follows vice principals Neal Gamby (Danny McBride) and Lee Russell (Walton Goggins), two embittered rivals who put their mutual disdain aside after the long-time principal steps away to care for his ailing wife. Their goal is to sabotage the newly appointed principal, Dr. Belinda Brown (Kimberly Hébert Gregory), and their scheming escalates through a season of petty plots, humiliations and self-sabotage. Georgia King, Busy Philipps and Shea Whigham fill out the staff and the surrounding households. The two-season run of eighteen half-hour episodes is a serialized comedy in which each season builds an escalating feud rather than standing alone. The tone is profane, abrasive and cringe-driven, with a bleak undertone beneath the laughs about alcohol, ego and failing masculinity. Fans of Eastbound & Down, Election and Observe and Report will find resonance in its crude, self-destructive antiheroes and its satire of petty authority.

## Shows like Vice Principals

- [Eastbound & Down (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/7994)
- [Bad Education (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/52313)
- [Veep (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/2802)
- [Insatiable (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/69195)
- [Corporate (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/65842)
- [The Righteous Gemstones (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/70688)
- [Disjointed (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/62279)
- [St. Denis Medical (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/167055)
- [Mr. Iglesias (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/75028)
- [Hap and Leonard (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/57303)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt