Created by Armando Iannucci, this comedy series follows a journey through the space by a spaceship called Avenue 5. When Avenue 5 suddenly broke down, captain Ryan Clark and his crew have to reassure the passengers and keep them safe specially when they know that the return journey to Earth will take years.
[S]ome of the performances are promising and, in the case of Hugh Laurie, Zach Woods, and Suzy Nakamura, instantly indelible. I'm in wait-and-see mode, with a side of optimism.
Avenue 5 is not meant to be particularly thought-provoking. Instead, the show channels the kind of acerbic banter you'd find in Selina Meyer's Oval Office on the deck of a wayward spaceship.
A lot of Avenue 5's issues do boil down to the growing pains of a high-concept comedy and how that hinders the rapid-fire joke machine one would expect from Iannucci.
It takes several episodes before Avenue 5 finds its feet and for it to become clear what's actually happening to the ship and its passengers - and it's worth waiting for.
Given the glee with which Iannucci sets these characters against one another in the first four episodes - and his willingness to make increasingly grim physics jokes - the voyage of the Avenue 5 looks very promising...
Be patient and you'll find that Avenue 5 develops into its own bizarre creation, a commentary with memorable characters on how disaster makes actors of us all.
Being trapped in space with these people for three years seems like it would be sheer torture, and spending half an hour a week with them on TV isn't really much better.
It's a bland allegorical satire built on an obvious point that unfolds in outer space where days (or nights) never end, and the passengers are irritating, and the ship is girdled by stiffs and human excreta.
