Monarch

After a big build up, this program turned out to be a complete disappointment. Ridiculous premise, horrible acting. I could hardly get past the first episode. I am a country music fan and found this to be a boring parody with unconvincing scenes and characters that fail to draw you in. If you don't believe me, watch the first episode for yourself! My question is how did such big name entertainers like Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins get roped into this project? They try to create drama by bringing in some side stories but these fail to take off or bring any depth to the story. Maybe it picks up after the next episode, but I doubt I'll be turning in.

Attempted "This Is Us" ripoff with timeline bouncing, three siblings (heck, let's make one overweight), mix character development based on researching "Dallas" reruns,a healthy dose of contrived attempts at stereotypical accents and "big hair for everyone!"...the season with a few saccharine songs, and salinated ballots sung well...and you end up with this.

This is crap.

While there are actors whose films I avoid because of their outspokenness, it's not really their politics that dictate my reaction...it's that they're idiots. While I disagree with much of Susan Sarandon's viewpoints, she seems to be contemplative and sincere. I like her as an actress.

However she couldn't save this crap with a roadmap, a flashlight, a shotgun and a safe word.

If you take Dynasty (new) and Nashville, mash it up and leave the good parts out, I imagine this is what you'd be left with.

It's just incredibly unbelievably cliche. I'm only 10mins in and I'm bored. This isn't typical. Do I keep watching or cut my losses and see if they prove me wrong? Jk, this show won't make it to another season, assuming it doesn't get cancelled mid-season.

It's bad guys. (And that kills me-I love 90s country through and through.)

Maybe DW Moffett will bring some life in? I love that guy! But seriously, not everyone in country music has an accent-in fact, most don't. There's good music played in the background, so that's a plus. Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Tanya Tucker, and Little Big Town make appearances, so there's that.

Because for the most part I have no use for modern C+W, I wouldn't have given this a second look if not for Trace Adkins' appearance on Real Time and Maher falling all over himself with praise. But to be honest, we barely made it through the opening credits before it was clear that it was going to be a sanitized, cookie-cutter, Hallmark-worthy torture session whose every moment made me want to watch the Righteous Gemstones instead. Maybe I shouldn't even be writing this; there's probably some unstated rule about how much of something you actually have to see before dismissing it as junk and putting on something else.

We know that Susan Sarandon still has it - she rocked Ray Donovan. So unless the age ceiling for Hollywood actresses that we keep hearing about has suddenly come down on her hard, I can't for the life of me figure out why she'd sign on to this turkey. Or maybe the producers, desperate to attach the name of an actual "serious actor" (rather than just an array of Nashville twangers), made her an offer she couldn't refuse.

In the end, it doesn't matter why. It has been seen and cannot be unseen. And if it goes on to earn praise from country music fans, it will, as a point of reference, tell you much more about them than about Monarch.

I don't know how this show got picked up. The storyline is awful and the acting is even worse. Nothing but a bunch of remake popular songs from the 90's and early 2000's acting like it was their songs. You'd think they could of at least hired some songwriters to write some original songs.

I can't believe Susan Sarandon agreed to do this. Always been a big fan of Trace Adkins, needs to stick to music. The rest of the cast is like watching a bad high school performance put on film.

I will say the house they filmed in is beautiful, but you can't expect the house to carry a show. I really was hoping this show would have been a hit.