Bust Down was produced by Universal Television and Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video.[4] Michaels was executive producer with Hilary Marx, Andrew Singer, Richie Keen, and Guy Stodel, as well as series creators and stars Langston Kerman, Jak Knight, Chris Redd, and Sam Jay.[5] They described the show as predominantly about friendship and their intention for the show's comedy to be "raunchy, irreverent, and complicated."[5]
The series premiered on Peacock on March 10, 2022. All six episodes were released simultaneously.[6]
The series received mainly positive critical reception. It holds a score of 76/100 on review aggregator Metacritic.[7] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter praised Bust Down: "the series’ comic voice is admirably bold — and if you’re left cold by one joke, there are usually three more coming right on its tail."[1]Ebony's Savannah Taylor described the show: "abandoning the appeal of respectability politics and good-mannered humor, this show...is the definition of doing hood rat stuff with your friends" and praised the comedy as "just straight up, raw Black tomfoolery."[2]Richard Roeper rated the series 3/4 stars and hailed the "biting social commentary, some ridiculously effective over-the-top physical shtick and a steady stream of laugh-out-loud moments" but also noted that the show "“will have some viewers bailing within the first 10 minutes of the premiere episode."[8] Nina Metz gave Bust Down 3/4 stars in the Chicago Tribune and called the creators and stars "goofy as hell, but also intelligent and thoughtful and self-aware, which allows them to take on otherwise touchy subject matter."[3]
