Bupkis

What follows is wildly uneven and at times downright annoying, but it’s also a lot more ambitious and interesting than I was expecting, to the point where I’m curious which creative direction a second season might lean.

Though we come to know Pete’s scars intimately, his inner workings remain opaque perhaps even to himself. But in its raw, chaotic, occasionally disarming attempts to understand it, Bupkis makes it interesting to imagine all the same.

Throughout eight half-hour episodes, Pete Davidson the persona becomes a bit of a distraction. As the show takes on its own life, it doesn’t need to lean on him and could be about some other guy played by Pete Davidson. ... But for those who have delighted in his various personal highs and lows over the past decade, “Bupkis” captures that chaotic enjoyment while sneakily acquainting viewers with Davidson as an artist.

If Pete Davidson can hone his own recklessness — both personally and comedically — then Bupkis can indeed survive.

The series can come alive in specific details, like a flashback episode set at a family wedding Davidson attended just weeks after his father died responding to the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. For the most part, though, “Bupkis” makes the life of a star look as predictable as the show insists it’s exciting.

The star-studded malaise of “Bupkis” teeter-totters between amusing and boring, and it's too apparent how much the scenarios are pleased with themselves but have little depth.

He's not really stretching here, he's adding to the bank of Pete Davidson characterizations he's already done. It's gotten him this far, sure. But with "Bupkis," the well has run dry.

Bupkis is not necessarily a good time, and a lot of it isn't good, period.