Tires is an American comedy television series created by Shane Gillis, Steve Gerben, and John McKeever.[1] The series stars Gillis, Gerben, and a supporting cast consisting of Chris O'Connor, Kilah Fox, and Stavros Halkias. The series premiered on May 23, 2024, on Netflix. On May 21, 2024, Netflix announced the series had been picked up for a second season, expected to release in 2025.
Plot
The story focuses on Will (played by Gerben), who manages a location of his family's struggling auto-repair chain, "Valley Forge Automotive Center." As Will endeavors to revitalize the business, he's met with persistent harassment from his obnoxious cousin and now employee, Shane (played by Gillis), who frequently torments and undermines Will at every possible chance.
A pilot for Tires was originally uploaded in 2019 on Gillis' YouTube channel, but was removed prior to the show's premiere. Several years later, Gillis invested in a six-episode first season, which was picked up by Netflix for distribution. The show premiered May 23, 2024.[2] It was renewed for a second season on May 21, 2024.[3]
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 43% average "Tomatometer" score, meaning that 6 out of the 14 critic reviews were positive, contrasting with an 87% average score from 216 audience reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Tires gets some chuckles by kicking around Shane Gillis' self-aware persona, but this unambitious sitcom will need to rev up the inspiration to get real traction."[4]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 44 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]
The Netflix comedy isn’t likely to impress anyone with the originality of its perspective or the sharpness of its wit. But it’s not really trying to. By the standards of the low bar it’s set for itself, it does just fine.
Several reviewers found the show to be a mildly amusing diversion but unremarkable in its premise.[6][7][8] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com wrote: "'Tires' breaks no ground, but I have to admit to being somewhat refreshed by a comedy that doesn't aspire to do much more than make people laugh".[7] Writing for The Washington Post, Lili Loofbourow described the stakes as “slim to nonexistent” and the conflict as minimal, declaring the show simply “fine”.[8] In a positive review, John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal wrote that "when [the show] works it's hilarious".[9] He also praised the ability of the writers to find the right mix of offensiveness in jokes, musing that the show might "be a map to the future, or some future, of comedy". In a negative review, Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times described the humor as too "pointedly juvenile" and stated that he "didn't laugh once".[10]
