Betty

Easily the best tv show I've seen in years. Such a strong tone. Every character has so much personality, even the minor ones. Such deep and varied emotions. So many subtle flourishes. Over and over, you'll notice a quick facial expression that makes you understand the entire scene in a different way. Such a powerful pacing and structure. The combination of everything nearly gave me Stendhal syndrome. Cannot wait for season 2!!

P.S. Apparently some reviewers disagree on this last point, but I would just like to say that I liked this even more than Skate Kitchen. Skate Kitchen was solidly good and quite endearing, but hinted at a potential greater than itself. This show achieves that potential.

I'm seeing a lot of very negative reviews here. I can kind of understand where people are coming from. The show has a really loose structure, and the acting sometimes falters a bit. I was pretty skeptical at first myself.

Still, I'm shocked, because overall I really enjoy this show. The thing about it is it's really trying to show us how things are. Sometimes people talk about "representation" like it means sticking non-white, non-straight, non-male characters in where they weren't needed. But in a case like this, representation is clearly just representation, i.e. realism, i.e. trying to portray how things really are.

So unlike a lot of other shows or movies set in NY, this show gives me a clear sense of what it would actually be like to live there. The characters fit into the setting like a hand in a glove. You can understand each character as a part of the overall world. These aren't just disembodied bits of biography.

And I feel like people in general don't get just how hard it is to portray a social milieu. It's a sense of what everyone around you is thinking, how they'll react to things, stuff like that. It's much easier, but less satisfying, to have the characters exist in their own closed-off bubble. This show is so good at represented the overall society the characters live in.

It also conveys the sense of being a freewheeling young person really well. The characters move around the world eager to find something new. They bump into people randomly -- and it doesn't feel like the screenwriters are just pulling strings willy nilly. It's such a fun, breezy feeling, leaving me feeling good after watching the show. And it only works because the world they move through feels so real.

Finally, the skating aspect is cool. I don't know anything about skating, but for this show skating is clearly not just a prop. They want you to like skating as much as the characters do.

Watching Betty feels like nothing else I've ever seen on television. I love that this isn't another empty statement about empowerment and defying expectations in a man's world. It just does it and doesn't feel the need to brag about it. And that is exactly what we need today.

I was so excited to see something like this was coming out and I'm always floored at how real Crystal Moselle's work with these girls feel. So good and so needed. Really wish you could review a review. It's all a matter of opinion I guess but the people here rating this show a 1, well, this kind of show isn't for you. It was not created for you. Periodt. I never do reviews of anything but these uglies kinda set me off.

I never write reviews and when I came onto the IMDB site and saw this was only rated a 6/10 I was shocked. It seems as if the show is like marmite, you either love it or hate it. Luckily I loved it. Such a refreshing programme that is essentially about nothing. But still managed to bring me so much joy. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed watching a programme this much.

Yes some of the acting is questionable but that is part of its charm. I cannot wait for the follow up to this. Definitely going to go back and watch skate kitchen!!