Within 15 minutes of the first episode, I was ready to switch off and watch something else. This was truly awful television. The acting wasn't particularly terrible, but the script was dire, the jokes were so flat and so unoriginal and cliched I wasn't aware if most were supposed to be intentional. The whole direction was simply woeful. The programme appeared to struggle with what kind of show it wanted to be. Unfortunately, the campy, hammy, overblown performances missed the mark so widely, it just appeared a hideous turd of a show, with a hackneyed conceit and one-dimensional characters who were, simply, too unbelievable to suspend your disbelief.
Nevertheless, I persisted.
Nobody was more suprised than me when I found just how much the second episode picks up considerably. Aha! I realise the premise, now: each episode parodies a specific genre. The first failed so spectacularly, I wasn't even sure what it was trying to be. I don't think anyone involved in making it did. The second episode, however, entrenches itself in well-trodden action-thriller territory. It might overdo its parody of the Fast & Furious franchise, with Ike Barinholtz coming across like Mark Wahlberg & Vin Diesel's lovechild, but it's actually good fun, and well done.
I couldn't believe it was made by the same director.
The third episode ('Musicals') appears to have polarized most of the reviewers here, but I actually think it was a pretty good episode; even if Ben Schwartz is a 10-year-older version of Jo Keery from Stranger Things. The songs were catchy, if heavily Hamilton-influenced, and the comedy moments hit the mark more often and with sharper accuracy than any of the hamfisted attempts in episode 1.
Fourth episode brought in dramatic, psychological chiller vibes. It leans too heavily on haunting, swelling orchestral musical cues to set the atmosphere, and out-of-focus cliched camera tricks that have long gone out of style, but it's a solid episode, and gives a wider perspective on the events surrounding the high school reunion and subsequent aftermath.
Dave Franco is the standout actor. He manages to play the Xavier character with great depth and variety, capable of tonally shifting his character from the perspective of individual characters. Sam Richardson and Ilana Glazer go from diabolical to pretty believable in the space of a few episodes. Even Tiffany Hadish's overblown stereotypically sassy (click click) African American schtick becomes less grating as the episodes progress. She plays a remarkable turn of form from cliched to fairly believable by the Chelsea episode. I don't believe Jamie Demetriou is in any way American, but that's because I just see him as the Anglo-Greek Stath.
Overall, though, things improve significantly. NOW I'm invested, and I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm only at ep 5, but I would have happily given this a 1 star or less based on the first episode. It's ballooned to a solid six. Perhaps it might reach a seven by the time I'm finished, but I'll probably watch this, and then never think about it again. Does it make Apple TV worth it? Probably not, but it's no way near as bad as its dire opening suggests.
Nevertheless, I persisted.
Nobody was more suprised than me when I found just how much the second episode picks up considerably. Aha! I realise the premise, now: each episode parodies a specific genre. The first failed so spectacularly, I wasn't even sure what it was trying to be. I don't think anyone involved in making it did. The second episode, however, entrenches itself in well-trodden action-thriller territory. It might overdo its parody of the Fast & Furious franchise, with Ike Barinholtz coming across like Mark Wahlberg & Vin Diesel's lovechild, but it's actually good fun, and well done.
I couldn't believe it was made by the same director.
The third episode ('Musicals') appears to have polarized most of the reviewers here, but I actually think it was a pretty good episode; even if Ben Schwartz is a 10-year-older version of Jo Keery from Stranger Things. The songs were catchy, if heavily Hamilton-influenced, and the comedy moments hit the mark more often and with sharper accuracy than any of the hamfisted attempts in episode 1.
Fourth episode brought in dramatic, psychological chiller vibes. It leans too heavily on haunting, swelling orchestral musical cues to set the atmosphere, and out-of-focus cliched camera tricks that have long gone out of style, but it's a solid episode, and gives a wider perspective on the events surrounding the high school reunion and subsequent aftermath.
Dave Franco is the standout actor. He manages to play the Xavier character with great depth and variety, capable of tonally shifting his character from the perspective of individual characters. Sam Richardson and Ilana Glazer go from diabolical to pretty believable in the space of a few episodes. Even Tiffany Hadish's overblown stereotypically sassy (click click) African American schtick becomes less grating as the episodes progress. She plays a remarkable turn of form from cliched to fairly believable by the Chelsea episode. I don't believe Jamie Demetriou is in any way American, but that's because I just see him as the Anglo-Greek Stath.
Overall, though, things improve significantly. NOW I'm invested, and I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm only at ep 5, but I would have happily given this a 1 star or less based on the first episode. It's ballooned to a solid six. Perhaps it might reach a seven by the time I'm finished, but I'll probably watch this, and then never think about it again. Does it make Apple TV worth it? Probably not, but it's no way near as bad as its dire opening suggests.