Camping

It’s a waste of a fine cast and a bucolic setting. One possible upside for the series is that Camping might inspire people to go camping themselves, just to get away from TV for awhile.

Garner’s character receives the most significant development of the bunch, and even she’s two-dimensional at best.

Insanely controlling, petty, and pouty Kathryn, played by the poorly cast Jennifer Garner. She’s the kind of Instagram-obsessed, self-centered helicopter mom you’d want to cut off in the after-school pickup-dropoff line of cars. There’s nothing entertaining about her. ... The guests form a loose group riddled with dissent, although somewhat unified in their dislike of Kathryn. It’s like “The Big Chill” gone sour.

The casting comes off like it was just Dunham and Konner picking friends to fill out roles, which results in an across-the-board lack of chemistry (or much interest) as the story unfolds. And while Camping is indeed supposed to be a story of misery (because none of these people seem like campers, which is probably the central joke of the original series), making Walt's birthday weekend a torturous affair doesn't work if the humor that it's supposed to generate doesn't materialize. Watching becomes as big a slog for the viewer as getting through that ill-advised camping trip is for the characters.

It does not improve, and just keeps hammering the same tired joke over and over again. It’s a colossal waste of everyone’s time and talent. Cringe humor without the humor is just cringing.