Blunt Talk

Blunt Talk’s overall absurdity at times over-reaches and grabs viewers too hard by the throat. Still, its excesses are offset by enough inspired lunacy to carry the day.

The show makes admirable attempts to build out the world beyond Blunt, and the effort yields some dividends.... But most of the time, Stewart is on screen, so most of the time, it’s hard to stop watching.

There is a tenderness that runs through the series and makes the trip worth taking, however improbable the road.

Stewart and Scarborough make Blunt Talk worth watching, as they’re an offbeat co-dependent pair who clearly have great affection and respect for each other, and watching Stewart embrace Walter’s often loony behavior is a treat.

It helps a lot that [Blunt] is played by Patrick Stewart, who brings theatrical majesty to a man who quite sincerely believes words can change the world for the better.

Strange, off-the-wall, and even slightly mad.

Created by Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death), Blunt Talk’s media satire is by turns sly and stale. Blunt isn’t a convincing anchorman avatar, though he works as a metaphor for pampered celebrity. The show begins to find itself as an inspired comedy about redemption in a post-self-help, post-hot-mess culture in the third episode.

Pilot episode aside, Ames doesn’t skimp on the inventively outlandish absurdity. But it’s the simmering, slowly bared pathos--the sense that these clownish people are constantly trying and failing to suppress something all-too-human about themselves--that distinguishes it from the cringe-comedy crop.

Where Stewart is the show's greatest strength, there is very little else to grasp onto. The situations are good for a few awkward giggles, but ultimately Blunt Talk misses the mark on the bigger picture.

Blunt Talk is as wildly uneven as it is occasionally brilliant.

Blunt Talk is a muddled but sometimes endearingly dirty comedy.

[Blunt Talk] is dull, depressing, charm-free, puerile and pointless. You’ll have more fun slapping yourself in the head with a spoon for a half-hour.

Stewart's unbelievable warmth helps, but it's not quite enough to anchor the show. His character is too scattershot.

As the writing on Blunt Talk bounces between inspired insanity and stupidity, Stewart remains enjoyable. With his authoritative chewing of scenery, he rises far above the show’s unevenness and overcrowded flock of supporting characters.

[Patrick Stewart is] a fantastic sport about the silly things asked of him, but that just makes it more of a shame that the show's writing doesn't do better by him.

Scarborough and some of the guest stars (Gelman, Sharon Lawrence, Moby) make Blunt Talk better than its scripts. The problem is that as good as Stewart is, Walter Blunt wears out his welcome, and you can effectively counterbalance that with guest stars only so often.

It is an amusing showcase for Mr. Stewart and for Adrian Scarborough of “Gavin & Stacey” as Blunt’s valet and chief enabler.... But there’s not much else going on--the satire is soft and scattershot, and the elements of farce and physical comedy are routine.

Stewart gives a terrific performance, gliding through a song-and-dance fantasy in the second episode, and, throughout, delivering his lines with astutely timed gusto. It’s too bad the lines aren’t funny.

Walter’s colleagues are just as depraved as he is, but their issues feel forced, more about crass, envelope-pushing jokes than character development. Stewart dives into his role with admirable gusto, but the show around him isn’t worthy of his talents.

The premiere starts with a rambunctious energy that temporarily promotes a sense of good will.... But from there, the series--which Ames produced with the seemingly ubiquitous Seth MacFarlane--pretty rapidly disintegrates, relying too heavily on Stewart’s madcap antics and an assortment of not particularly distinctive supporting players.

To be blunt, Starz’s Blunt Talk is spectacularly unfunny.

Blunt Talk aspires to "Network's" kinetically brilliant madness. It arrives a limp and muddled mess.

What's missing from Blunt Talk is any degree of wit, any genuine character development, any sense of comic structure that delights, rather than depresses, the viewer. What should be winning leaves you wincing.