This show had sat so long in my queue waiting to be watched that I had forgotten why it was there in the first place. I vaguely remembered it was a comedy (maybe) and that Danny Boyle was involved in some way, but that was about it. Watching the season now I am still a bit at a loss.
It is very professionally made for sure; good locations, plenty of famous faces, technically well made, and so on. However it seems quite unsure of what it is trying to do. For spells it seems like it wants to be The Thick of It, then for others it is trying to be a straight drama, and then for large spells it is trying to mix both elements. None of this wholly convinces and it doesn't help that the whole show seems to drift in tone and content as the season goes on. So it is not that there are many things trying to happen at once, it feels like it is just gradually losing its way the longer it goes on.
The performances match this, although to the credit of the cast, they do flex as the show leads them. Nobody really excels though; mostly they have too much caricature in them, whereas in others they do feel like they are doing impressions (I like Nesbit, but he is a bit too Malcolm Tucker at times here). It does not seem like there will be a second season, and it is not really a surprise on the basis of the first. It is professionally made by talented people, so it is not without merit or things to make it watchable, but mostly it is unsuccessful. The tone is variable and seems to drift awkwardly as it goes, and the content goes with it, reducing how engaging, funny, dramatic, whatever, that it may have been.
It is very professionally made for sure; good locations, plenty of famous faces, technically well made, and so on. However it seems quite unsure of what it is trying to do. For spells it seems like it wants to be The Thick of It, then for others it is trying to be a straight drama, and then for large spells it is trying to mix both elements. None of this wholly convinces and it doesn't help that the whole show seems to drift in tone and content as the season goes on. So it is not that there are many things trying to happen at once, it feels like it is just gradually losing its way the longer it goes on.
The performances match this, although to the credit of the cast, they do flex as the show leads them. Nobody really excels though; mostly they have too much caricature in them, whereas in others they do feel like they are doing impressions (I like Nesbit, but he is a bit too Malcolm Tucker at times here). It does not seem like there will be a second season, and it is not really a surprise on the basis of the first. It is professionally made by talented people, so it is not without merit or things to make it watchable, but mostly it is unsuccessful. The tone is variable and seems to drift awkwardly as it goes, and the content goes with it, reducing how engaging, funny, dramatic, whatever, that it may have been.