Season 1
The Chair
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.
86%
TOMATOMETER
Critic Ratings: 7379%
Audience Score
User Ratings: 316Where to watch
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Episodes
With the department facing budget cuts and low enrollment, Ji-Yoon vows to make some changes as chair while one professor struggles to keep it together.
Tired of the lack of diversity in Pembroke's staff, Ji-Yoon makes a bold decision during a faculty soiree; a video from Bill's lecture causes a stir.
Bill hosts a town hall with the students that quickly takes a turn; Joan starts a fire; a dinner with the dean puts Ji-Yoon in an awkward position.
Pressure mounts for Ji-Yoon to turn the department around after Bill's suspension; the hiring of a new professor undermines Yaz's chance at tenure.
Ji-Yoon visits Pembroke's new lecturer as Bill joins in on a Korean tradition; the tenured professors band together, and Yaz receives an enticing offer.
As his hearing approaches, Bill's academic future comes into question; Ji-Yoon's revelation puts the board on the spot and shakes up the department.
The Chair: Season 1 Videos
The Chair: Season 1 Photos
Tv Season Info
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Genres:Comedy, Drama
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Network:Netflix
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Premiere Date:Aug 20, 2021
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News & Interviews for The Chair
Episodes
With the department facing budget cuts and low enrollment, Ji-Yoon vows to make some changes as chair while one professor struggles to keep it together.
Tired of the lack of diversity in Pembroke's staff, Ji-Yoon makes a bold decision during a faculty soiree; a video from Bill's lecture causes a stir.
Bill hosts a town hall with the students that quickly takes a turn; Joan starts a fire; a dinner with the dean puts Ji-Yoon in an awkward position.
Pressure mounts for Ji-Yoon to turn the department around after Bill's suspension; the hiring of a new professor undermines Yaz's chance at tenure.
Ji-Yoon visits Pembroke's new lecturer as Bill joins in on a Korean tradition; the tenured professors band together, and Yaz receives an enticing offer.
As his hearing approaches, Bill's academic future comes into question; Ji-Yoon's revelation puts the board on the spot and shakes up the department.
Critic Reviews for The Chair: Season 1
Audience Reviews for The Chair: Season 1
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3d agoIt's very tricky to bring up important subject matters with enough levity that it's easily digestible, without minimising the issues. The Chair does this wonderfully. Casting did a phenomenal job, the chemistry between the lead cast is so well executed. There's a Perfect balance of sincere performances and connections, layered with curve ball laugh out loud moments to keep things light. 'Dramedy' is balancing act that's much easier to get it wrong than right. The Chair got it right. Such a beautiful job blending the genres.
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Mar 26, 2022Fun to watch, great cast, and writers that avoid cliches and "woke" nonsense.
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Mar 19, 2022Out of touch with the realities of being a university student nowadays: for context, I'm talking as a student whose university just faced a sexual assault scandal last fall and saw a tenured education professor get fired without explanation (although many proposed his outspokenness on racism as a reason), after which students protested against victim silencing, lack of action and attempting to save face without real transparency. While the Chair explores many contemporary crucial issues in academia, it falls incredibly short of fully representing any of them: the script was written by a playwright and it shows as the entire season feels like it would have been better represented on stage. The whole Nazi arc was a waste of screen time that depicts students as vengeful idiotic kids, which took away from Joan's, Ji-Yoon's and Yaz's more relevant arcs. I understand the satirical attempt, but I just couldn't care about Bill's stupid decisions and he would have been better left to grieve his wife in a corner. Focusing on the daily challenges of the first woman of colour elected as chair of an aging department would have been more worthwhile and could then justify a second season. So, overall, it had a great cast, delivering amazing performances, and the script had some great lines (especially for Ju-Ju), but the entire plot felt irrelevant while it touched just enough interesting points to leave me desiring more. The ending was perfectly suited as it suggested an upbeat sentiment to a conclusion that resolved nothing. I expected more.
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Feb 12, 2022This is an intelligent real-life comedy mixed with natural drama. Nothing about this is unbelievable or stretched to the point of ridiculousness. Being a university student, I feel like they encapsulate a college semester perfectly. Especially at my school! "The Chair" is so human, sometimes frustrating, sometimes perfectly lovely, just enough to keep me watching. I'm obsessed. Plus the cast is outstanding!
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Jan 26, 2022Cast was amazing, very fun storyline all the way thru.
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Jan 19, 2022Very snarky, funny, tightly done, and enjoyable.
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Jan 11, 2022Season 1. (6 30-minute episodes) Reasonably well done. Interesting personal story lines intertwined with social issues of today. I'd watch another season.
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Jan 05, 2022Dont really think it has any potential to be "great" with it current script. There are worse things on netflix so ... maybe im overly harsh but exactly what was it going for?
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Dec 30, 2021I don't understand how the controversy with Prof. Dobson got so out of hand. There were several students in the class at the time he made the Nazi gesture and all of them knew the context in which it was made. Many of them were recording the lecture and had no objections at the time. The whole mess could have been quelled by showing the tape of the entire lecture. The students in the class should have spoken out for the professor. The writers could have used a more realistic plot element, such as a questionable statue or author to rally for or against. Instead, the students looked like the idiots we see at Trump rallies.
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Dec 29, 2021entretenida y original en su apuesta por mostrarnos como se ven los profesores de universidad en la actualidad cuando no se renuevan, cuando ya su conocimiento puede sentirse obsoleto, es ligera y perfecta para maratonearla un domingo.
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