Season 1 (9/10)
When this series came my girlfriend wasn't especially interested. I'm a huge fan of comedy mysteries and loved Steve Martin when I was young, but her enthusiasm for either is mild.
But after five minutes I had to stop and make her watch it, because we are New Yorkers and this series nails New York in five minutes. The weird relationships with by-passers, the artsy types, the justified paranoia, it was all there and immediately hilarious.
The series is about a trio of murder-podcast fanatics who bond over an actual murder in their luxury apartment building. Soon they are investigating and podcasting. But they are also each keeping secrets from one another in a wonderful mysteries-in-a-mystery structure. Everyone has secrets, the series says, and digging deep is fascinating exercise.
The cast is terrific. Martin is low-key funny, Short, who I am generally lukewarm towards, is very funny as a flamboyant theater director, and Selena Gomez more than holds her own as a hilariously snarky temporary tenant.
This show has been a hot-ticket item as far as I know - certainly my friends (and fellow New Yorkers) love it - so I was shocked to see how many user reviews just hate this show, or only find it mediocre, to the point where they insist all favorable reviews are paid for. This response is inexplicable to me. The show is amazing. When a new episode dropped we watched it immediately. It's just so, so, so, so good.
Ignore the naysayers, this is a must watch.
Other seasons:
Season 2 (8/10): A shade weaker than the first season, but still excellent.
Season 3 (6/10):
What the hell happened? Season 3 had Steve Martin playing his character as a complete idiot and after 2 great seasons, Selena Gomez turned lackluster - more glum and less snarkily witty. And when the mystery was solved, oh my God these were the most nonsensical motives you could come up with.
Sure, there were still good moments, good guest stars, surprisingly enjoyable songs. But OMG.
Season 4 (9 stars)
Much to my relief, season 4 was a return to form - Martin was no longer an idiot and Gomez's delightful snark was fully restored.
There are some fun celebrity guest stars - particularly funny is Eva Longoria playing herself as a really awful person - the mystery is solid and keeps you guessing, the plot twists are satisfying, and it's all extremely funny. Probably the second best season after the first one.
