Departure

I can't quite put my finger on why, but there is never the slightest doubt you are watching actors performing a script in a sound stage. It's so bad I found myself yelling "cut" at the screen when one of the actors flubbed their line. It's hard to be invested when you can all but smell the tuna fish sandwiches on the craft services table. It's like they accidentally released the making-of behind-the-scenes version.

The concept was decent but the execution was not. The writers must have had a cliche checklist and orders to shoehorn in every. Single. One. The actors - and there is never any doubt you are watching actors - said some of the silliest things imaginable in the name of fulfilling some cliched trope.

I made it to the end, mostly by making a game of it: looking for boom mic and steadicam reflections, watching actor sight lines when reading cue cards, etc.

Five stars for some good actors and a potentially compelling premise. No stars for a cast who appear to actively detest the script and one another, and the "you're watching a TV show" feel of the program. Five stars.