As All's Fair season 2 beckons, critical contempt for the hit Kim Kardashian show misses the point entirely

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

It’s important to say from the off that no one sets out to make bad TV; also that any self-professed expert should think long and hard before pouring scorn on anyone else’s creative enterprise. As Theodore Roosevelt opined, “The credit belongs to the man [or woman!] in the arena, who… fails while daring greatly.”

Teddy’s words come to mind with the news that season two of All’s Fair is on its way – despite critics’ valiant attempts to bury it at sea. This is Disney’s all-female legal drama that cost a whopping $69.7million, with a hefty proportion going on the salary of real-life law student Kim Kardashian in her first acting role.

The rest of it has gone on clothes, cars, Oscar-nominated co-stars, but perhaps not the script, hence its rare 0% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Equally rare, The Guardian and The Times both gave it zero stars – which turned out to be generous, after the Daily Mail dug in and awarded it minus three stars. Ouch!

Why so harsh? Well, you could point to the barn-door acting, the bling, the mixed message of sisters doing it for themselves, as long as “it” involves roasting their rich husbands for every last dollar. You could be generous and say the fighting over jewellery is a metaphor for autonomy and emancipation – although I fear it’s really just about the jewellery. If there’s another drama to be made about women’s righteous anger (and after Riot Women I’m not sure there is), this isn’t it.

This comes hot on the heels of Robin Hood, which The Guardian called “the most gloriously bad TV of the year”. Indeed, its Star Wars-esque opening caption hints at what’s to come; no need to film all those wars when they can be explained away. Instead, MGM+’s purse has stretched to casting Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham, who brings us his meting out of medieval justice as perfected in Game of Thrones, very possibly wearing the same cloak.

Young Robin endures his own version of Batman’s origin story, a trauma that hardens him with every ping of his bow, and of course there’s some forbidden young love in the glades. I’m no Aaron Sorkin, but I started mouthing the dialogue before it was delivered. It’s all completely unnecessary but very welcome on a winter night.

Critical contempt misses the point. Shows like these deliberately provide the same kind of nonsensical escape as And Just Like That, Emily in Paris and a dozen reality TV shows that get tagged “guilty pleasures” (no one should ever feel guilty about watching TV!).

I’m guessing Kimmy’s All’s Fair castmates have altered their style to match hers; the result is Made in Chelsea level acting in scenes redolent of the “plays” in Ru Paul’s Drag Race, which is exactly what fans of this show are used to. It’s not just critic-proof, it’s critic-dependent. The more so-called experts put it down, the more curious folk (like me) will seek it out. You couldn’t buy the kind of publicity the Daily Mail gave All’s Fair for free.

Nicole Kidman once said of her marriage to Tom Cruise, “When you’re loved for your faults you feel really safe.” Yes, I know he left her a year later, but I’ve always thought it a sweet sentiment, and true of many TV gems. Blake’s 7 and Crossroads are forever fondly remembered not despite their obvious flaws, but because of them – wobbly background walls and phones that carried on ringing long after being answered, respectively.

Just writing that made me smile, as did the news that All’s Fair’s Tomatometer rating has risen to an impressive 3%. With that, plus its returning A-list line-up, it already has all the stars it needs.

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

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