Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

I will keep this short. You should watch this because is is sharp, funny, well written, well acted and engaging on many levels. Yes - I know it's nothing like the books. BBC UK tried that and it failed. Nobody has ever come close to doing Douglas Adams justice on screen because the insane intricacy and sheer scale of his stories make it impossible. BBC America has been very clever. They have taken the core concept and characters and done something utterly different with it. It is its own thing and stands on its own merits, which are many. If you are a person who gets terribly upset when a script is not faithful to the source material down to the last semi-colon, this show will make your brain implode. If, like me, you can let go of those expectations and enjoy what it is, rather than what you would like it to be, you might just enjoy it as much as I do. I love the books too and if I want the books, I read the books. This is a TV show and a pretty damn good one. If you can't separate the two, this is not for you. Try the UK version - but it ain't half as much fun.

I did not expect much from this show, considering the fact that it is a BBC America production, not BBC UK, and because of tons of negative reviews on the web.

When I start a show, I usually watch one or sometimes two episodes a day. The first season of this one I watched in one breath. I didn't even pause it for the bathroom or making coffee. Eight episodes of 40 minutes each felt like one bit longer movie.

The second season, of ten episodes, is done differently and is not as original and hypnotically addictive as the first, but its witty fairytale style quickly won me over.

Ignore fans of Douglas Adams who bash this show for not being faithful to original novels. It is not faithful, that's a fact, but it does not make it a bad show. On the contrary. Adams is tricky for screen adaptation. I don't think anyone has succeeded yet. He's too impossible and abstract. "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" is just roughly Adams, but it's great in every way.

Any attempt of concise retelling is pointless, because this show is one big puzzle, a labyrinth that perplexes more and more and twists happen every few minutes. "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is much more specific and linear, but I dare you to explain what it is about briefly and that it makes any sense.

If you liked "Misfits," "Happy," "Preacher," "Good Omens," or the new "Doctor Who", and if you like Douglas Adams, but you're not an obsessed fanatic, this is a perfect show for you. But if you expect a verbatim adaptation of the books or if you like linear stories, better skip it.

9/10.

I've read lots of negative comments but I'm thoroughly enjoying this after 3 episodes. Completely faithful adaptations of Douglas Adams seem kinda pointless as so much of his greatness was dependent on the ideas and the bizarre and impossible views he would conjure with words. The wit in his books was never heavily concentrated into the dialog and I think much would make visually dull jokes which required constant and tedious exposition (a permanently stuck sofa just looks too everyday and common to ever be funny).

The cast are younger and more attractive than they would have been in a completely British adaptation and everything happens at great pace but I think that was needed because visually you could never present jokes and ideas as densely as Adams did in his books. I really love one character from the trailers and every scene she has been in; she reminds me of a signature I once read along the lines of "Karma is wonderful, I can treat people bad all day confident in the knowledge that they deserved it."

I think this hugely entertaining even if it only borrows ideas and style from the books fairly lightly . I think most people are likely to enjoy both as quite different things however if you can't appreciate both just consider that books get to tell jokes in much the same way as video don't.

I just binge watched the first two seasons in a few days and absolutely loved this quirky way of storytelling, the completely unpredictable world and storylines, and it was clearly set up for a season 3. All the reviews on her seem to suggest that it's loved by almost everyone who watched it, so I cannot understand why it was cancelled. I think perhaps it wasn't advertised very well on Netflix? I only just discovered it and definitely would have watched it years ago if I knew about it. Please please stop wasting money on terrible Noah Centineo rom-coms and crap like more seasons of 13 reasons why and bring this back!

During the last three days I've been speed-watching this gem on Netflix. Granted 2-3 episodes from the first season didn't make much sense, but after that, I couldn't stop watching. This is one of the ,most fulfilling and interesting shows ever. Granted, the characters in the show are highly overpowered, As the whole show is about universe giving them incredible abilities such as create realities in the sleep, a godlike ability, or an ability to kill everything without getting hurt or effectively objected. As a whole it felt like a positive "Final Destination" movie. I really hope some one will pick it up for more seasons.

Update from 04/2022 I decided to rewatch it, and once again couldn't stop watching for two days straight. Please bring it back! It so much better and smarter than most of the shows that are being released nowadays. Netflix, that is your chance to step up and get ahead. Everything in this show works!