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To me, this show feels like a throw back to an earlier time in comics related media. Unfortunately, not in a good way. The show feels dark and edgy in an effort to seem "grown up" in a way comics did in the eighties and nineties. It's the way teenagers sometimes hate the things they liked as children in an effort to appear grown up. I find it a little disappointing that this show has been reviewed so well at a time when superhero TV shows had appeared to have moved on from that and have grown up and embraced their roots.

I'm not a prude. I don't mind nudity or violence if it serves the story and it's the story that's the problem. It's just too bleak for me. I'm sick of heroes who are cursed by their power and I certainly don't need a villain as vile as Kilgrave, there's enough of that in the real world. Shows like The Flash have shown that it's possible to do great characters with great stories even while utilising some of the stranger elements of their source material. There are even great shows with female leads in Agent Carter and Supergirl. All those shows have an energy to them that Jessica Jones lacks because no one in it has any joy.

I love the MCU and I wanted to see the Netflix shows come together and see how they fit into that universe. So it's really sad that I just don't want to watch this to the end of it's first season. I think it's the first superhero show I've ever quit. But, I'm not going to endure this when there are so many good superhero shows on television right now.

The Kennedys is loosely based on The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy and is set in Stevenage in the late seventies.

I was born in 1979, so the nostalgia for me in this show is minimal. That said, it does remind me of my eighties childhood a little. I have seen some criticism of the show's anachronisms, something I'll admit to not noticing. I'm sure that could be irritating, but this isn't a documentary and shouldn't detract from the show's strengths.

The show focuses on the Kennedys and their friends Jenny and Tim, two young families grappling with the challenges of their era. Trying to be modern and fashionable at a time when lasagne is considered exotic.

Putting the past under the spotlight could easily descend into laughing at their ignorance and feel very mean spirited. Fortunately, Emma Kennedy's writing is much fairer than that. The characters' charm shines through and gives warmth to the humour that allows it to be absurd with out seeming ridiculous. While there are appeals to a sense of nostalgia, The Kennedys doesn't rely on it and allows it's humour to work in it's own right giving it appeal to me in my thirties and my parents who were in their twenties when this show is set.

The cast are fantastic. They manage to use the quirks of their characters to full comedic effect while keeping them grounded and believable as friends and family. This level of quality from the older actors is impressive, the fact that Lucy Hutchinson is up there too is astonishing.

I haven't read the book the show is based on, but the strength of the writing here really does recommend it.

It is easy to be negative about this show. There are some glaring faults, especially in early episodes, that make Spun Out difficult to enjoy. However, the show does have some genuinely funny moments and some of the cast do give strong performances that elevate the humour and bring some needed depth to the show.

I'll deal with the negative elements first. The main office set feels like a set. Lots of sitcoms have that problem, there's no way to completely hide it, but you usually are able to forget it. This set you just can't do that.

The writing needs to tighten up it's focus. There is rarely a main story to an episode and the cast are divided up into two or three unrelated stories. The show would benefit from allowing itself to focus on one story and allow cast members to sometimes play smaller roles for an episode instead of giving nearly everyone equal time.

On the positive side, some of the cast are great. Dave Foley and Holly Deveaux stand out and help bring out better performances from their co-stars. This is most obvious with Rebecca Dalton, who, despite looking nothing like Foley, seems totally natural as his daughter and has genuine rapport with Deveaux. But she has little chemistry with Paul Campbell, especially early on. Campbell has grown into his role, but early on he really did struggle with the focus the show put on his character. Al Mukadam is solid and clearly enjoys it when he's allowed to go a little over the top.

The writing can be genuinely funny and occasionally heart-warming. But it does lack consistency which I believe is due to it trying to force comedy over narrative. Of course the goal is to make us laugh, but sometimes a sitcom needs to back away from that and allow itself time to develop it's characters. Spun Out can do that and is stronger when it does.