SERIES PREMIERE: Armando Iannucci, creator of
Veep, concocted this new spacebound comedy series, which sort of takes the dysfunctional co-workers and appointed, vapid bosses typical of
Veep and shoots them into outer space. Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad, as two of the token figureheads of this ill-fated space ship, are just right (Laurie also was pitch-perfect hilarious on
Veep), but this new series doesn’t open as strongly, or humorously, as it could. Yet I want to like it, and plan to stay with it for a while, hoping it’ll gel. It has more to say, and more ways to say it, than Seth MacFarlane’s
The Orville… but so far,
Avenue 5 hasn’t escaped from TV’s gravitational pull to really soar.
For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower, and
for background info from TCA, see Mike Hughes' Open Mike.