Laid

First.. watch the original 2011 New Zealand show (same title - same premise).

This incarnation of the concept is decent.

Hsu does a fantastic job. No complaints with any of the cast really. The acting across the board is pretty good.

However, the writing is a bit lackluster.. funny in spots for sure, and it shines when the focus is comedy or the dark humor. Unfortunately, this show moves a bit too far into the "sappy" side of things. It's a bit too much of a "love story" overall. Seemingly just sticking with dark humor was not enough. In addition, it gets a tad tiring listening to every single character berate Ruby episode after episode after episode.

If anyone has seen the original NZ version of the show, it's based on the same premise.. "killer v"... but is far, far, far less "sappy" or "love story" oriented. That was the charm of the show originally, the dark nature of the humor without all the over indulgent self-reflection and apparent need to create some drippingly sappy love story.

In this series, by the end of episode 6 the series ending starts getting fairly predictable. It becomes so easy to predict how the last 2 episodes will play out.

Overall.. if they removed all the "love story" stuff it would have been a MUCH better series, but even with that in mind, it wasn't that bad. I don't regret watching it once, but will probably never watch it again. I'd tune in to a renewal, but wouldn't be surprised if one season, ending on that ever-present cliffhanger, is all it gets. The NZ series did have (only) 2 seasons, so there's precedent for that.. we'll see.

Binged worthy entertaining series. The show's humour had me laughing in stitches at times, thanks to good choice of casting who can delivered strong believable performances for unbelievable plot.

The pacing was generally well-balanced, keeping me engaged throughout. I appreciated that the storyline wasn't predictable, keeping me on my toes.

The tone remained consistent throughout the series, which helped maintain the show's momentum. The soundtracks was absolute highlight, perfectly complementing the episodes.

My only criticism lies with the season finale. The approaching climax ending didn't quite match the pace of the preceding episodes and felt it was rewritten to allow for possible renewal.

Overall, I'd highly recommend Laid for its entertaining story, memorable characters, and tracks.

The show was okay for me. It's a fun premise, but it just didn't stick the landing. The cast is good but for the most part, the chemistry between most of the actors seemed off. A lot of the jokes (visual or verbal) didn't land. The story had a habit of forgetting storylines or not fleshing them out. For example: the storyline with the cop never goes anywhere so why bother having it. The show did focus on a lot of banter between characters and little on story development. Ruby didn't do much to save her boyfriends and they were dying in too rapid-fire fashion to have any meaning. There's a lot of pop culture references dropped during the series and quite a few seemed out of place for characters in their 30's. It highlighted the show not being as finely honed as it could've been.

First I want to address the reviews complaining about this show centering around an awful person. This is true. Guess what? That's the premise of Seinfeld, Difficult People, Will and Grace, Curb Your Enthusiasm, VEEP, Girls, Will and Grace, Arrested Development, Strangers with Candy, Archer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia AND Absolutely Faboulous. This is nothing new, it's not specific to this generation, and I would even say that Laid, if it continues to be as hilarious as it is, will stand among these shows as one of the better comedies, particularly *because* it is about an awful person and still manages to make us (eventually) root for her. If people are complaining about this promise now then you can throw out the last thirty years of comedy too.

Beyond that, the premise it super interesting, the show is well paced and the jokes are very funny throughout. There is a scene in first (maybe second?) episode that is one of the funniest thing I've seen in years.

If you need your characters to be selfless angels in unfunny situations this show is not for you. But if you're looking for something extremely funny and fun give this a chance.

I laughed harder at a show than I have in years. (I went to business school...) We had to rewind so many times to hear dialogue we'd missed because we were laughing too hard. Or crying. We did some of that too.

The first one or two episodes moved pretty slowly as the writers took their time in demonstrating the self-involvement of the lead character. But the show picks up quickly and is worth every minute. Every episode brought more laughs than we've had from most comedies. The story arc is almost entirely character-driven, but there is real revelation and development rather than the rinse and repeat cycle of most TV dramas.

We can't wait for a second season.