Living with Yourself

I made the mistake of believing the top reviews which were very positive. That and the fact that I wanted to like this because I like both the leads. Which is why I am writing this to warn others.

The show started off well enough and the first four or so episodes kept me hooked. Paul Rudd was excellent in his double role. Aisling Bea was likeable. The story took turns which I didn't guess, which kept things interesting. The switching between different character POVs was nice and things were amusing if not laugh-out-loud funny.

But things went downhill from the episode which ends with an office party. From this point the show starts struggling. The story turns into relationship drama and not much else, the humor disappears (it picks up briefly towards the end with the introduction of the FDA), and it becomes dull and even difficult to watch at times. A completely tangential storyline involving a town hall meeting is thrown in which was totally unnecessary and had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story. I didn't mind the ending but by that point the story had ceased to be interesting or entertaining.

------------------------------------------

Looking back, the problem is that sone of the character arcs is quite tragic, but they are trying to fit it into a light dramady. So the tone keeps alternating between comic and tragic so quickly and it becomes genuinely difficult to watch -- you get heartbreaking moments presented in an attempted light tone. Its just bad writing. The idea had potential but the writers needed to make up their minds about what they wanted the story to be.