‘Everyone Is Doing Great’ Is A Stealth Exploration Of Male Friendship

It’s hard to not be fascinated by the lives of celebrities, especially if you, like me, came of age during the tabloid explosion of the late ’90s and Aughts. I used to be one of those people who scrolled through the endless barrage of gossip on sites like Perez Hilton and TMZ, obsessed with the people who inhabited my favorite TV shows and unable to demarcate where fiction ended and where reality began.

At the height of fame, celebrities aren’t given much privacy in their day-to-day life. They’re stalked by paparazzi, their personal lives become public consumption, and every bad decision is scrutinized. But what happens to those who fall out of the spotlight?

Everyone Is Doing Great, a series that is written, directed, produced and stars Stephen Colletti and James Lafferty, explores just that. The One Tree Hill alums appear as fictionalized versions of themselves—that is to say, actors who starred on a mega-successful teen drama (in the show’s case, “Eternal,” a Vampire Diaries knockoff) and are trying to figure out what their next step is years after the show has ended. 

Seth (Colletti) is the half of the duo that is determined to move on, eager to find his next big break and put the “working” back in “working actor.” His love of the craft is deep; acting isn’t just a means to an end for Seth, it’s his passion. Jeremy (Lafferty) on the other hand, is coasting along on the fruits of his “Eternal” labor and his soon-to-be-ex-wife’s salary, subsisting on a lifestyle of weed, afternoon beers, and more weed—until the rug gets pulled out from under him.

Colletti and Lafferty are not shy about the darkside of this business, nor are they shy about portraying themselves in unflattering light. Jeremy is a lonely, lovelorn man with no ambition, who has slid into a self-medicated depressive state without even realizing it—he is affable and charismatic even as you want to slap sense into him at least four times every episode. Seth then has to be the opposite weight on the other side of the scale: responsible but fun, and the one trying to hold it together not only for himself but also his friend.

While the premise may sound a little like “sad rich kids,” the key to its success is the endearing friendship at the core of the show. The relationship between Seth and Jeremy is vulnerable and emotional, and refreshingly sentimental for a male friendship. Seth and Jeremy don’t hide anything about their own feelings. From Seth’s career dejections and his sensitivities in dating, to Jeremy’s palpable depression after being served divorce papers, neither man shies away from openly feeling those feelings. It’s a deeply adult friendship that, at its core, is rooted in maturity. They build each other up, needle one another to aim higher, and recognize that even their fights are meant to make them better people. At one point Jeremy refers to their friendship as “iconic,” and it really is in a way that is surprising. The love between the men is never questioned, and it’s the strongest throughline of the series. 

Everyone is Doing Great is streaming on Hulu, but the project was actually built from the ground up via an Indiegogo campaign. It is as close to indie filmmaking as TV gets these days, and you can sense the small-time nature of the project by the tiny details. Lafferty and Colletti direct the entire series themselves, capably training our eyes on the intimacy of relationships at large: between friends and spouses, with one’s work, and with identity itself. Recycled music interludes feel reminiscent of the early days of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but the result is softer and more welcoming. Even the costuming is humming, as Lafferty regularly blesses the screen with a shorts-and-Uggs combo that feels ripped from a TMZ article. Low budget doesn’t mean a lack of quality, but rather a relatable depiction of life as it actually happens.

The semi-autobiographical nature of the show, peppered with specificity, is really what makes it click; for viewers of a certain age, it feels like reconnecting with old friends and feeling reassured that they’re faking it just as much as you are. As a searing look at celebrity culture from the inside-out — not necessarily critiquing it, but observing its inherent machinations and trappings — it taps into the universal feeling of being stuck. Sure, a group of girls may run after you asking for a picture, but that won’t pay your rent. What do you do when it feels like there’s no way forward? 

For Seth and Jeremy, much like many of us, the way forward is through friendship. Here’s hoping we get to see what comes next for these lovable dummies.

Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed writer based in New York City. Her work has appeared on Paste Magazine, Teen Vogue, and Brown Girl Magazine. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.

Watch Everyone Is Doing Great on Hulu