Laight

The basic idea here is a terrific one: what if the citizens of a wealthy, first world country found themselves forced to become immigrants. How would they handle the situation, how would the rest of the world handle it?

Well, we never know, because for some godforsaken reason the creators of the show decided to ignore the larger issue of immigration and instead concentrate on a Danish family consisting of possibly the dumbest humans beings who have ever lived. Each decision these people make is worse than the last decision they've made, and they have no capacity to learn from any of their foolishness. On top of that, they're all irrational, they react like children, and they have no moral compass.

The final problem is Amaryllis April Maltha August. Outside of possessing possibility the best name on TV, the poor girl has either been given poor direction or she simply was miscast. She's only allowed to have one expression on her face throughout the entire ordeal. Considering that she's the show's anchor, it's just another of many misfires in what, again, started off with a wonderful concept.

Simply not worth spending so many hours with so little to enjoy.

Murderbot has so much going for it: Skarsgard is a terrific actor, and the sets and the costumes are all spot on. The other actors are good too, but it's hard to know how good because there are so many of them and so little time for each of them to become a real character -- there are a few whose roles never cleared up as to who they really are.

That's the problem with this show: it's trying to do an hour-long comedy-drama sci-fi horror-fantasy-space-opera as a quick 20 minute-segment hodgepodge. It would be a relief, if there's a second season (which it deserves) if the producers minimize the story and strengthen the characters -- or perhaps weed a few out.

There's been a spate of shows recently about the suffering of the very rich (not sure what's going on, particularly given the current climate in America). This is one of the least interesting of the lot. The reason: it's as shallow as the people it portrays. Jon Hamm's character is insufferably self-involved; he notices nothing in life but his own place in it. Amanda Peet (and bravo to her for allowing her once beauty to completely fade) portrays a woman whose only notable character trait is flirtatiousness. All the other characters compete for the title of most unsympathetic, including the stock character of the crazy sister who somehow is the least crazy (wow, that's never been done before!).

All in all, it's hard not to compare this to Madmen, one of the best tv shows of all time, portraying 1960s upper middle class life perfectly -- noted for its depth, complexity, and beautiful writing. Here we get a show so poorly written, containing so many plot holes, it feels as though the entire season was put together in one hour. Which is about as much time as you should devote to it.