Flesh and Bone

:

Season 1
  • Network: Starz
  • Series Premiere Date: Nov 8, 2015
Metascore
52

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 19
  3. Negative: 4 out of 19
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Critic Reviews

  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Melissa Maerz
    Nov 5, 2015
    83
    The show is too thoughtful to be dismissed as kitschy fun.
  2. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Ellen Dunkel
    Nov 9, 2015
    80
    As a drama, Flesh and Bone is compelling and ripe for binge-watching.
  3. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Gail Pennington
    Nov 9, 2015
    75
    As Flesh and Bone unfolds, though, the story gets darker and more warped, not just for self-destructive Claire but also for the rest of the troupe.... All [of] this is frequently hard to watch, but also impossibly addictive.
  5. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    Nov 6, 2015
    70
    It’s intriguing for its setting and some of its stories--although the fine arts world in New York does call to mind the lighter “Mozart in the Jungle” on Amazon--and yet at the same time it’s often predictable in its premium cable-style plotting and pretentiousness, which is where the irritation comes in.... And yet, Flesh and Bone proved highly addictive, encouraging a binge of all its episodes in just a few days.
  6. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    Nov 5, 2015
    70
    If German expressionism is your thing—and the sensation of emotional battering feels real here for the characters and viewers alike--the eight-episode series will be searingly satisfying. Everyone else, be warned and encouraged: This is a long walk on the dark side pierced by occasional moments of glittering, breath-stopping beauty.
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Sep 16, 2015
    67
    Creator Moira Walley-Beckett’s eight-episode limited series about the depressing and excessively cruel world of professional ballet has moments that are sublime and engrossing but not always sustainable. Flesh and Bone can also be ham-handed in both narrative and dialogue.

Awards & Rankings

64
#64 Most Shared TV Season of 2015

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 59 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 59
  3. Negative: 15 out of 59
  1. DakotaFred
    Nov 15, 2015
    0
    Absolutely, completely and utterly one of, if not the largest pieces of horse pucky to ever be aired.

    Entirely unrealistic. Boring.    Absolutely, completely and utterly one of, if not the largest pieces of horse pucky to ever be aired.

    Entirely unrealistic. Boring. Offensive. On and on.. it tries SO hard to insult, um.. EVERYONE! But miserably fails, instead coming off like a horribly written, directed and acted bunch of poor wanna-be idiotic privileged little snowflakes chasing the stereotypical American everything-for-nuthin generation now dream. Pathetic I tell you.

    Nudity, incest, rape, domestic abuse, violence, child sex slavery, racism, language, drug use, alcoholism, sexual deviancy, strippers, backstreet hookers, mobsters, murder, embezzlers, mentally retarded deranged homeless angle etc etc etc.. yeah, it somehow manages to incorporate all of the above and more. Yeah, thats the wonderful world of ballet alright! LOL... please.

    Get a life Starz. Take your wanna-be shock for ratings, desensitizing, dumbed down, trash TV and shove it.    … Full Review »
  2. archierouge
    Nov 11, 2015
    1
    I'm sorry but after watching the first episode of Flesh and Bone--- how do you cast this show in a feminist light? Flesh and Bone is toI'm sorry but after watching the first episode of Flesh and Bone--- how do you cast this show in a feminist light? Flesh and Bone is to feminism what the TV show Revenge is to Macbeth. The longest screen time devoted to choreography was the pole dancing scene, which actually and with a straight face tries to convey that the ballet dancer lives in a $18-million Manhattan condo cause she's moonlighting as a stripper/lapdancer.

    "Clare" comes across like a timid rabbit, on the verge of tears with trembling lips half of the time, doesn't get a single smart line of dialogue and willingly lets herself be used as a tool for seduction.Hey, did she clean that stain off the guy's tie yet?

    And of course the company director is a gay monster-Caligula who lords over his female slaves like there's no tomorrow.

    "This crazy thing happened that sort of felt like a lightning strike and the Muse showed up, and I knew what the whole thing was. I started writing it down longhand as fast as I could."

    May be Ms. Walley- Beckett would have a better script on her hands if she had actually spend some time with a real company after leaving that motel room.

    Flesh and Bone is another trashy exploitation drama dressed up as a show about female protagonists.

    Watch Save The Last Dance or Centerstage for honest, superior storytelling about the world of dance and young women.    … Full Review »
  3. Lisawalls
    Nov 9, 2015
    0
    This has to be the absolute worst television show ever produced. The opportunity to showcase talent, reveal a Realistic glimpse into theThis has to be the absolute worst television show ever produced. The opportunity to showcase talent, reveal a Realistic glimpse into the professional ballet world and demonstrate the beauty of dance was completely wasted. The show is unrealistic, pornographic, moronic and senseless. The storyline spirals senselessly from one jaded cliche to another. BTW there is NO WAY I can encourage my dance students to watch this series. I would be arrested for child endangerment.… Full Review »
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