Dirty John: Season 1

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Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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6.3

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6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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Season Details & Credits

USA | Bravo | USA Network | Season Premiere Date: November 25, 2018

Summary: The first season of the anthology series created by Alexandra Cunningham and based on Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard true crime podcast focuses on Newport Beach interior designer and single mother Debra Newell (Connie Britton) who falls for a con man posing as a doctor named John Meehan (Eric Bana).

Creator: Alexandra Cunningham

Genre(s): Drama, Suspense

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Season 1 Episodes

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S1:E9. Dirty John Special Preview
Air Date: May 25, 2020

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Critic Reviews

Kristen Baldwin

Nov 12, 2018

A dazzling matchup of pulp and prestige. ... Britton is perfectly cast as Debra. ... As Meehan, the actor [Eric Bana] pivots from charming to chilling and back with astonishing ease. [16 Nov 2018, p.45] Read full review

Robert Abele

Nov 26, 2018

Glossy and well-acted, its transfer from your daily commute’s most suspenseful listening stretch ever to serviceable wine-and-laundry-folding companion show feels, all in all, a smooth one. Read full review

Rob Owen

Nov 20, 2018

Viewers accustomed to Connie Britton playing Teflon-strong characters on “Friday Night Lights” and “Nashville” may take a minute to adjust to her role as a soft-spoken, breathy interior designer who falls for a scam artist in Bravo’s pulpy, addictive “Dirty John.” Read full review

Kristi Turnquist

Nov 19, 2018

This dramatization feels less like “The Jinx” or “Making a Murderer,” and more like a weird mix of Southern California lifestyle satire and a “Dateline” episode. Read full review

Bruce Miller

Nov 26, 2018

Director Jeffrey Reiner gives this a ‘90s soap patina that works--to a point. The intelligence that Britton and Bana provide gets shoved aside in favor of scenes that look like they couldn’t possibly be true (but are). When “Dirty John” begins to unravel, we lose interest and feel as duped as Debra. Read full review

Matthew Gilbert

Nov 20, 2018

Dirty John is little more than a fancy Lifetime movie. ... There is some pleasure in watching the inevitable unfold, particularly since the cast is solid. Britton is, as usual, a sympathetic lead, even if her character is written to be shallow. And, as her daughters, Juno Temple and Julia Garner are formidable. ... As with Debra, John is written as a flat bad guy whose deeper drives are inscrutable. Read full review

Dave Nemetz

Nov 14, 2018

There’s not a lot of nuance to be found here, with any trace of psychological depth replaced by cheesy love montages and paint-by-numbers confrontations. We’re given no sense of why Debra is making these terrible decisions... over and over and over again. Read full review

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User Reviews

dean09199

Aug 24, 2020

Very interesting, very tense and very good acting. I got hooked on it from the very first episode.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

mrcovarrubius

Feb 13, 2019

I enjoyed this after listening to the podcast - which I would recommend that everyone do first. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be nearly as believable and I would’ve probably given up at some of the ridiculous writing and story lines. But the events did actually happen, and were quoted verbatim fromI enjoyed this after listening to the podcast - which I would recommend that everyone do first. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be nearly as believable and I would’ve probably given up at some of the ridiculous writing and story lines. But the events did actually happen, and were quoted verbatim from the real victims. I think the podcast is more suspenseful and gritty, but the show expands on it by showing how Eric Bana as John can be seen as the charming ladies man who conned a lonely Deborah before showing his true colors. And I really enjoyed how spoiled and bratty the show made Deborah’s daughters, allowing John to attack their credibility when they were warning their mother and trying to distance themselves from him. I thought Deborah ignoring them in the podcast was head scratching, but see it more believable with how the daughters were portrayed in the show. l think overall the show gave me a better perspective of what happened than just the podcast. Really unbelievable that this story is a true event - zombie kill and all!… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

frankrog29

Jun 1, 2021

I’m not sure why Dirty John Season 1 has such low ratings. I enjoyed it. It seems like it’s trying to emulate American Crime Story, which is significantly better in my opinion. Jumping around in time, the plot gradually reveals the nefarious and tragic circumstances and develops theI’m not sure why Dirty John Season 1 has such low ratings. I enjoyed it. It seems like it’s trying to emulate American Crime Story, which is significantly better in my opinion. Jumping around in time, the plot gradually reveals the nefarious and tragic circumstances and develops the characters, notching up the suspense episode after episode. It’s a fascinating character study of a self-destructive con man and sociopath who won’t accept charity when it’s offered to him. Apparently some viewers didn’t like season 1 because they listened to the podcast and liked it better. I did not listen to the podcast, but I think Dirty John Season 1 is a gleefully suspenseful and deranged character study and a portrait of a family whose bonds are being pushed to their breaking point by an intruder seeking to divide and conquer.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

buddhalou

Jan 27, 2019

Airing on Bravo, though it feels like Lifetime. Really feels like everyone from the writers to the crew to the cast just kind of phoned this one in.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

feranflo

Feb 24, 2019

The plot is kinda thrilling but the storyline and the characters are very underwhelming. There are also several continuity mistakes and slips, for example, when Debra picks up her phone and the next scene she's using another phone model. The characters are very unlikeable and not-relatableThe plot is kinda thrilling but the storyline and the characters are very underwhelming. There are also several continuity mistakes and slips, for example, when Debra picks up her phone and the next scene she's using another phone model. The characters are very unlikeable and not-relatable at all, specially Debra's daughters who just come up as spoiled brats.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JennetP

Dec 17, 2018

I think I would have liked this series better as a true-crime podcast because, as a hybrid drama, it disappoints. Its high gloss and star power promise deft characterization and skillful plotting, but don't deliver those things. Instead, as so often in life, terrible things happen for noI think I would have liked this series better as a true-crime podcast because, as a hybrid drama, it disappoints. Its high gloss and star power promise deft characterization and skillful plotting, but don't deliver those things. Instead, as so often in life, terrible things happen for no apparent reason to people who are hard to understand and harder to like. The overall story is most interesting at the beginning, when the audience isn't quite sure that the Eric Bana character is a con man because the people accusing him are so petty and smug that viewers want them to be wrong. Once the Connie Britton character discovers his collection of restraining orders (helpfully stashed where she can easily find it), all mystery vanishes, and the series becomes very predictable, melodramatic, and steeped in pop-psychological cliches.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

rinanci

Dec 26, 2018

I am not sure which is worse...the writing or the acting. I believe Eric Bana and Jean Smart are collateral damage. Connie Britton, Julia Garner and Juno Temple play the most unlikable characters in the most unbelievable manner....
Watching this reminds me of reading 50 Shades...HORRIBLEI am not sure which is worse...the writing or the acting. I believe Eric Bana and Jean Smart are collateral damage. Connie Britton, Julia Garner and Juno Temple play the most unlikable characters in the most unbelievable manner....
Watching this reminds me of reading 50 Shades...HORRIBLE WRITING, but like a bad accident you just have to keep watching to see what happens… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

Seasons & Episodes

64

Series Overview
Season 2

73
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: June 2, 2020
Season 1

58
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: November 25, 2018
- tbd
  S1:E9. Dirty John Special Preview
  Air Date: May 25, 2020