The Chair

Plot

Professor Ji-Yoon Kim is the newly appointed chair of the English department at Pembroke University. The first woman chosen for the position, she attempts to ensure the tenure of a young black colleague, negotiate her relationship with her crush, friend, and well-known colleague Bill Dobson, and parent her strong-willed adopted daughter.

Cast and characters

Main

Sandra Oh as Ji-Yoon Kim, the new English department chair at Pembroke University

Jay Duplass as Bill Dobson, Kim's friend and colleague who is a mess after his wife died and his daughter left for college

Bob Balaban as Elliot Rentz, a senior faculty member of the English department

Nana Mensah as Yaz McKay, a young faculty member of English department who is up for tenure

Everly Carganilla as Ju-Hee "Ju Ju" Kim, Ji-Yoon's adopted daughter

David Morse as Paul Larson, a dean at Pembroke University who oversees the English department

Holland Taylor as Joan Hambling, a senior faculty member of the English department

Recurring

Ji Lee as Habi, Ji-Yoon's father

Ron Crawford as Professor McHale, a senior faculty member of the English department

Ella Rubin as Dafna Eisenstadt, an English student

Mallory Low as Lila, Dobson's teaching assistant

Jordan Tyson as Capri

Simone Joy Jones as Joy

Marcia Debonis as Laurie, the English department chair's assistant

Bob Stephenson as IT Support technician

Cliff Chamberlain as Ronny

Guest

David Duchovny as himself

Production

The Chair was created by Amanda Peet and Annie Julia Wyman. Peet also served as an executive producer, alongside David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bernie Caulfield, Daniel Gray Longino, and Sandra Oh. Peet and Annie Julia Wyman co-wrote the pilot episode. Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and the Shadyside campus of Chatham University in Pittsburgh were used to represent Pembroke University, with the Shadyside neighborhood standing in for the town of Pembroke.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 86% based on 69 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Chair is too short to achieve all of its ambitions, but spot-on observations about academia and a sturdy ensemble led by an empathetic—and hilarious—performance from Sandra Oh ensure it's never less than watchable." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on 33 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Reviewing the series for USA Today, Kelly Lawler gave the series a rating of three out of four stars and said, "Like most college students, The Chair is incredibly ambitious at what it will achieve in its short time and occasionally falls flat, but overall the series beats the metaphorical curve."

Ben Travers of IndieWire gave the series a B and wrote, "If The Chair were just a collegiate-level romantic-comedy, it would be a delight, boosted further by its brevity, but the show's eagerness to cover more ground is both exciting and a bit much."