Avenue 5

{Initial Impression} Completely and utterly ridiculous and entertaining. Bizarre concept. Great comedic timing. The absurdity is matched by a keen understanding of human behaviour and social constructs, so much so, as to be a commentary on both. Hugh Laurie is the anchor of the show but is surrounded by some brilliant work by the support cast. I give this HBO series an 8 (oddly clever) out of 10. {SciFi Comedy}

This type of comedy is not readily accessible to everyone. It only pretends to be lighthearted. I think this is the reason why it has a low rating and polarized reviews.

The show is about a space cruise-ship that faces an ever-increasing cascade of errors and unfortunate events. The decisions and reactions from crew and passengers seem almost preposterous, but strangely plausible.

The absurdity of some situations makes you laugh, while making you think about what you are actually laughing about. The stark and serious soundtrack highlights this feeling, especially during the credits roll.

There seem to be some reviews here panning this show for not being true sci-fi. It's not sci-fi, it was never sci-fi, it's social satire. A terrific cast working well together from scene one, although it is true there isn't a lot of warmth or likeable characters. Life has very few of those, either. A couple, maybe. I might know one of them. Not me, but I know one.

The target here is the incompetence of so-called leaders and their inane systems running society and how society seems just fine with that. In real life, people are apparently are not bothered when politicians and captains of industry without skills or knowledge or empathy or investment in the future of humanity send the world crashing sideways into oblivion. But in this show the public are immediately upset that their holiday has gone dangerously wrong. In this sense, Avenue 5 is taking an artistic liberty.

The writing is not as sharp as it could be. Time has been spent instead setting up a much more involved scenario than, say Veep or In The Thick Of It. All we need to know for those shows was that manipulative jerks run the show in London and Washington. For this, the creators are trying to set up a larger theme. Will it work, will it not, I don't know. But the bones are there for better things, and I trust the cast and writers to know where they are going. Based on their track record of past shows I trust them more than I trust us, the viewers.

Ignore the haters. S1 was great. Hugh Laurie & cast were all very good, even annoying characters Karen , who played that part to MAX bc she's supposed to annoying!!.

Sadly S2 became more tame & mainstream. I wanted S3 but it was cancelled bc of overhyped hate reviews. So many formula, NOT funny, Unoriginal "comedy" shows that get YRS of new seasons. The Simpson's is one of them- I never thought that cartoon was remotely funny but I know many who love it. It's not for me but I don't write "hate reviews" of Simpsons.

Sadly, Ave 5 was cancelled. It reminded of when old creative HBO had most creative producers & good writing- thus GOT. Even the tiny but strong Korean aide of billionaire ship owner was spot on. Do u think billionaires retain those who refuse to do their every bidding? & she was HIS rock too, flipping the "meek timid non speaking" Asian stereotype Hollywood populates everywhere.

As many who truly like the quirkiness & satire of this show have already commented, if U don't like it , THIS show is NOT for you. Leave those who DO WANT NEW FLAVORS, writing, original witty shows alone. U can have ALL boring dull formula shows spewed everywhere for YRS. We don't complain about those to remove them off the air.

So many people seem to think that if they don't like something, then it must be bad. That is not true. Something can be good and, at the same time, not enjoyable for everybody. I don't like the music of Mariah Carey. That doesn't make her a bad singer. I'm not interested in boxing, so I didn't care for "Raging Bull." That doesn't make it a bad movie, it just wasn't for me.

If you don't like dark humor, you won't like this show. That doesn't make it bad, it's just not for you. I've read reviews in which the humor has been called "forced" and "not witty." I'm wondering if these people actually watched the same show that I watched, because I find the humor to be a good mix of wit and slapstick.

It seems that some people also get extremely angry when a show isn't what they expected it to be. It's not "The Orville," it's not "Spaceballs," and it's not "Veep." I read someone complain about the character actors. Why? If you want an actor to play a certain type of character, why not cast someone who's good at it?

Ignore the bad reviews. If you haven't seen it, give it a try. If you like it, great! If you don't, then it's just not meant for you. You don't have to come here and give it one star and rant, thus potentially ruining it for those of us who do enjoy it.