The Jerry Reed song "East Bound and Down" was the theme song for the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. It's also kind of where we find Danny McBride's Kenny Powers at the beginning of the first episode of HBO's new adult comedy Eastbound & Down. Eastbound is the tale of a narcissistic and self-destructive Major League pitcher, Powers, who flees in shame to his small North Carolina hometown and takes a job as the gym teacher at his old high school. Will Powers be able to reclaim his celebrity status back in a town where most people knew him before his rise to glory, and subsequently hate his guts? HBO will give us 6 episodes of crass and mature humor to explore this story of humiliation and humility.

McBride has had quite the banner year, having had delectable supporting roles in both Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder last summer. In 2006, McBride and his partner Ben Best had a Sundance darling with their film The Foot Fist Way that enabled them to line up some famous fans in the form of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Ferrell and McKay acted as executive producers of Eastbound and at the recent TCA press tour, Danny McBride and Ben Best spoke to the association about their new series.

What gave the boys their motivation for this show? "We weren't really happy with the way the South was portrayed in a lot of film and television. It seemed like it kind of stopped at the Hee-Haw kind of deal, which is overalls and Billy Bob," said McBride. "And so we kind of wanted to find new things to make fun of in the South."

After watching the first episode of Eastbound, it can be guaranteed that, when presented with opportunities for redemption, Kenny Powers will most often make the wrong choices. McBride confessed "You know, it's definitely structured to be a story of redemption. I think that his redemption kind of lies in his own hands." Best added to that - "He's in the moment that he could redeem himself, but he always chooses the path that would lead him further down. So I think in each episode he's thinking, this is the lowest a man can get. And then you'll see it's like, oh, no, wait, this is the lowest a man can get."

As far the boys own inspiration for the show goes…well they were never really into sports all that much. But as McBride puts it, "I didn't know how to throw a baseball. But when we write things, especially to act in, you kind of want to write something to kind of fulfill fantasies and being semi-athletic has always been a fantasy of mine, and so this is a way to act that out." On the show, Powers winds up moving in with his brother Dustin (John Hawkes) while trying to get back on his feet, and even feebly tries to re-ignite the fire with his old High School "sweetheart" April (Katy Mixon). But of course, this is a raunchy comedy so most everything will go wrong before it goes right. What's Kenny Power's biggest problem? That's easy. "Kenny Powers," Best answered.