President Curtis S01E01 Does Right By Our Dimension-Hopping Duo

Posted in: Adult Swim, Rick and Morty, TV | Tagged: president curtis

President Curtis S01E01 Does Right By Our Dimension-Hopping Duo

The premiere of President Curtis is a fun introduction to the universe that wastes little time differentiating itself from Rick and Morty.

Published Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:18:09 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

• President Curtis kicks off with a sharp, funny pilot that quickly separates the Adult Swim spinoff from Rick and Morty.
• Keith David, Stephanie Beatriz, and Jim Rash click fast as Curtis, Banks, and O'Doyle tackle wild Earthbound threats.
• The premiere escalates from press conference chaos to moon-baby horror, CIA blackmail, kaiju law, and killer folklore.
• President Curtis still delivers a smart Rick and Morty connection, while proving its own team dynamic and long-game promise.

Tonight, President Andre Curtis (Keith David) and his team – Stephanie Beatriz's (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) Chief of Staff Banks and Jim Rash's (Community) Special Agent O'Doyle – step up to take on the cases that Rick Sanchez can't be bothered with. That's right, after some strong early reviews, a rollout during this weekend's San Diego Comic-Con, and a Season 2 green light, EPs Dan Harmon and James Siciliano's President Curtis is finally hitting Adult Swim screens. Does the "Rick and Morty" spinoff do right by our dimension-hopping duo? Here's a look…

President Curtis Season 1 Episode 1 "Pilot" Real-Time Thoughts

I like how they drop us into the middle of the action with the press conference, giving us a better sense of President Curtis, and a fun introduction to Banks and O'Doyle – already digging their back-and-forth.

Who knew Paul Bunyon was such a psychotic mother-fucker, am I right?

I love/hate that the show has a theme like an NBC sitcom from the 90's.

Hacking Kaiju brains is a violation of international law – interesting.

So, President Curtis is afraid of the CIA – and for very good reason. It seems the CIA has some serious blackmail on him – and they're ready to use it.

Damn. O'Doyle's got some serious skills – dancing an Irish jig to avoid bullets was pretty sweet.

Good news! The moon landing was real. The fine print? There was a fake one filmed as back-up – one that resulted in 20 deaths and a budget twice what the actual moon landing cost.

I'm already loving Janice – who's voicing her?

Banks is going to be that voice in the back of President Curtis' brain, moving forward, nudging him to do the right thing… even if it doesn't always end up that way.

"Chernobyl Circumsicion"? "Florida Education"? LOLOLOLOL

Holy crap! The CIA has a baby, "Adam," on the moon that has superpowers – and now, every nation is after him.

That was a perfect Rick and Morty appearance – did enough to help the plot while also twisting the meta knife a bit.

Holy crap! "Adam" has been eating the other babies that were sent to the moon – and we learn that he was the product of President Kennedy and the CIA to lead Earth.

If you didn't get that MTV flag joke, I feel sad for you.

Though it involved him having to admit that he shit himself in the gym while working out and making a mess of things, the bigger picture saw President Curtis recommitting to his role as POTUS – at least until next week. That montage at the end was especially interesting, teasing some possible themes/storylines we could see play out. Overall, the opening episode was a fun introduction to the spinoff's universe, giving everyone an individual chance to shine while also demonstrating how their team dynamic operates.

With EPs President Curtis set to start hitting screens tonight, we're getting some interesting insights on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty spinoff from the show's creators. Checking in with Deadline Hollywood for an exclusive interview, Harmon and Siciliano discuss why President Curtis was a good choice for a spinoff, how the character differs from his previous appearance, and (officially confirmed) having Rick and Morty appear in the opener.

Harmon on Spotlighting President Andre Curtis: "It was because that was the character who could have their own self-contained world that wouldn't be redundantly overlapping. You can think of him as like a concentric circle: If we wanted Rick to do an X Files-level mission on Earth, like going to find the Hodag in Rhinelander, Wisconsin or the Loch Ness Monsters, he could do that, but his circle is broader. The comparison I make is it's like 'Doctor Who' and 'The X Files.' Both involve aliens, but you have a different perspective there. It allows the tonality to stay the same, but it's not redundant."

Siciliano & Harmon on How the Character Was "Adjusted" for the Spinoff Series:

Siciliano: "The one thing we 'retconned' and adjusted from the Rick and Morty character when we were building our guy out is that in Rick and Morty, he is very approval-driven and craves that. That was the first thing when talking about this show – it is almost the opposite. We wanted him to not be rolling his eyes at the job as part of his duty to protect people."

Harmon: "You go to TV for a little escapism, and the thing that drives us nuts about politics, whether we accept it or not, is that the numbers wag the dog. What do you have to say to win an election? We thought about it pretty hard, and what we needed to change about this guy is if you gave him a chance to have his numbers go up but in order to do it he had to lie or cheat, he wouldn't. He is only doing the job of president because if he doesn't, someone worse will.

"This is canonical stuff that will only be revealed if the show lives long in the tooth, but we know as writers that his ex-wife, who is not in the picture at the start, was the strategist. He is more like a golden retriever. When he walks into the room people say, 'I want to have a beer with him,' which is what gets you elected, but she was the more politically-motivated one. He is divorced from his Yoda. He is not a fraud like Remington Steele, where it was all sizzle, no steak, but it is not the job he would have chosen. He is a soldier and a vampire slayer, and he was a lonely guy who begrudgingly took on this role of serving hundreds of millions of people."

President Curtis Season 1 Episode 1: "Pilot"

Review by Ray Flook

8/10

The premiere of President Curtis is a fun introduction to the universe that wastes little time differentiating itself from Rick and Morty.

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