Bless This Mess

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Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Apr 16, 2019
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
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Critic Reviews

  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Caroline Framke
    Apr 15, 2019
    60
    Bell and Shepard are fun together, but their enthusiasm can’t quite distract from the fact that, for a show about a couple uprooting their livelihoods to move halfway across the country, the stakes here are remarkably low.
  2. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    Apr 15, 2019
    56
    Much of the humor is of the predictable, fish out of water variety ... but “Bless This Mess” is at its funniest when it gets weird with characters like Rudy (Ed Begley Jr.), who lives in the couple’s barn, and Jacob (JT Neal), the dim-witted son of the neighbors.
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Daniel Fienberg
    Apr 16, 2019
    50
    The first 22 minutes of Bless This Mess rely too heavily on, "Man, I can't believe we're still doing that joke in 2019" tropes and hackneyed beats.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Michael Starr
    Apr 10, 2019
    50
    [Bless This Mess] doesn’t embarrass itself here but also doesn’t do much to push the sitcom needle in a new direction.
  6. CNN
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Apr 16, 2019
    40
    Escapism has its place, but this feels more insubstantial than even the early-21st-century reality-TV version of this idea, "The Simple Life."

Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Most Shared TV Season of 2019

User Reviews

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User Score
3.1

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 17
  3. Negative: 12 out of 17
  1. NotchFilter
    Apr 20, 2019
    1
    Green Acres redone. Poorly.

    Normally I prefer to watch a few episodes before I opine, but this show just did not seem to warrant my time.
  2. Albear
    Apr 24, 2019
    3
    I like the two leads but spend the money and pay some professional writers. The show isn't funny. Will watch it one more time before turningI like the two leads but spend the money and pay some professional writers. The show isn't funny. Will watch it one more time before turning on reruns of Green Acres.… Full Review »
  3. ClariseSamuels
    Apr 20, 2019
    4
    If you’ve seen In A World…, then you will feel obliged to watch the latest Lake Bell endeavor, Bless This Mess. Bell is multitalented and aIf you’ve seen In A World…, then you will feel obliged to watch the latest Lake Bell endeavor, Bless This Mess. Bell is multitalented and a great beauty, but if I were her film studies professor, I would give her a D for this project and write on the front page, “Requires more effort.” Seemingly impatient to have an instant success, Bell is willing to do lame, sophomoric comedy, such as the kind that makes one shudder when watching Childrens Hospital or Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later.

    Bless This Mess has a nice ensemble cast, but the plot is trite and strains the viewer’s patience. Would two city slickers (Lake Bell and Dax Shepard) really give up their hip city lifestyle to become farmers on a farm they’ve never seen? Is it worth it to bother renovating a house that is a broken-down handyman’s special, when real estate in the boonies of Nebraska is so cheap that a professional couple could qualify for a mortgage hands down? Did they really think they were going to grow alfalfa when it’s not clear they even know what it is? Are country folk really just homespun, undereducated bumpkins who occasionally stop by to spout pearls of wisdom? It would seem that country residents are quite capable of reading poetry (they have libraries), learning foreign languages (they have Internet) and shopping for gourmet food in the city. If they are that cut off from the world, they wouldn’t say, “I’m not a Jewish person,” when told they could use psychotherapy. (This remark strikes one as being ever-so-slightly tinged with antisemitism, even though Bell, aka Siegel, is half Jewish through her father.) No, the difference between the city slicker and the country bumpkin is neither culture nor education. The difference is simply wealth versus poverty.

    This poverty is evident in Ed Begley’s character, who lives as a squatter in the barn on the couple’s estate and stops in regularly to use the bathroom. A country sheriff should be able to make a living by being a sheriff alone, and not have to run the general store and the local theater to make ends meet. The inherited house, which belonged previously to a great aunt, was allowed to deteriorate into an utter state of disrepair that is so complete, the house is too dangerous for occupancy. The poverty is present throughout, exaggerated to be sure, but it is not there to make social commentary; it is there because it’s supposed to be funny, and unfortunately, it doesn’t make you laugh.    … Full Review »
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