At a major university, the first woman of color to become chair tries to meet the dizzying demands and high expectations of a failing English department.
Stars: Sandra Oh, Jay Duplass and Bob Balaban
Full Cast: Nana Mensah, Everly Carganilla, David Morse, Holland Taylor, Ron Crawford, Jordan Tyson, Bob Stephenson, Jiyong Lee, Ella Rubin, Mallory Low, Cliff Chamberlain, Marcia DeBonis
Episode Guide
Season 1
August 20, 2021Episode 5 The Last Bus in Town
August 20, 2021Episode 4 Don't Kill Bill
August 20, 2021Episode 3 The Town Hall
August 20, 2021Episode 2 The Faculty Party
August 20, 2021Episode 1 Brilliant Mistake
Best The Chair Episodes
Top 20 (Ranked)
August 20, 2021
7.6 273 votesS1E5 The Last Bus in Town
7.6 273 votesS1E5 The Last Bus in Town August 20, 20217.4 303 votesS1E3 The Town Hall
7.4 303 votesS1E3 The Town Hall August 20, 20217.3 279 votesS1E4 Don't Kill Bill
7.3 279 votesS1E4 Don't Kill Bill August 20, 20217.2 350 votesS1E2 The Faculty Party
7.2 350 votesS1E2 The Faculty Party August 20, 20217.1 424 votesS1E1 Brilliant Mistake
7.1 424 votesS1E1 Brilliant Mistake The Chair Trailer
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User Reviews
Watchseries; It's a comedy without laughs.
A drama without interesting plots.
Just total dross.
The characters are terrible.
Old white men = bad and out of touch.
Women = flawed but lovable.
Black woman = perfect in every way.
Students = smarter than the professors.
My wife stopped watching after one episode. I watched the whole thing. I wish i hadn't.
It's a comedy without laughs.
A drama without interesting plots.
Just total dross.
The characters are terrible.
Old white men = bad and out of touch.
Women = flawed but lovable.
Black woman = perfect in every way.
Students = smarter than the professors.
My wife stopped watching after one episode. I watched the whole thing. I wish i hadn't.
The Chair watchseries. I needed a show like this, right now, with all that is going on in the world. This show is light, funny and simple. It's like Paper Chase meets Back to School.
Sandra Oh is wonderful. The supporting cast just as good and forgive me for not mentioning all of them. There are many of them.
The story is about a college which is having trouble with enrollment. The professors are old and set in their ways. They are about to be forced in to retirement. So Sandra Oh's character, The Chair, has to work to save the college, increase enrollment and save the people who helped her through college.
I would like to mention Jay Duplass. He plays an extremely forgetful professor who is pitiful, but loveable. He sort of is like the character from The Hangover, Alan, played by Zac Galifianakis.
I am looking forward to more episodes. For now, I'll watch and hope the writing doesn't go south like other shows.
The Chair is interesting but doesn't quite work. I had a problem with the fact that the older professors were often played for laughs, while the younger earnest college students were almost always right and could never be criticized no matter how ridiculous their behavior. Sandra Oh was terrific in it though and it's worth watching if you enjoy her. They seem to think it snows in the northeast just before "Day of the Dead" (which is Nov 1 last time I looked). While shot in Pittsburgh, it's set in Massachusetts so no obvious scenes of Pittsburgh anywhere. It was shot at either Chatham College or Carlow College, and not at Pitt or CMU.
Absolutely smashes the zeitgeist of cancel culture. Sandra Oh, (the new and first female chair of an English faculty) is beset on all sides; from the old white male privelidge establishment to the campus fashion of shutting down anyone that doesn't chime with the latest political views. Free speech really is dead. Don't you dare debate classic literature unless it's via twitter with a meme.
I loved it yet shouted at the screen in frustration in equal measure. Bloody millennials.
Although this is purely a work of fiction with some excellent comedic moments it tells many truths. Yes, things have to change, the old ways certainly aren't the best, but to prevent any kind of discourse because of a bad choice of phrase or the wrong word? Utterly immature and counter productive, a bit like a 3 year old with their hands over their ears shouting 'lalalalalalala!' when told not to stick their finger in an electrical socket.
Highly recommended.
As a young faculty member, and woman this pressure really happens, and for the first time I see my self in a show.
I do wished it was longer, it feels like they rushed it and squeeze it in only 6 episodes.
Magnificent work from powerhouse actress Sandra Oh showcasing her incredible comedic talents as Dr. Yi-Joon Kim juggling the impossible task as chair of an English department while trying desperately to keep it all together in a department that will never accept her place in it.
"I feel like someone handed me a ticking time bomb and they wanted to make sure a woman was holding it when it explodes."
Brilliant performances by Holland Taylor, Jay Duplass and rest of cast. The writing feels authentic and fresh filled with nuance. All characters are deeply flawed and there's no "hero mentality". Nothing is black and white in this satirical take on academia.
The magic of Oh's performance holds 'The Chair' together as we get to see her neurotic stressed out self come apart at the seams. I highly recommend this!