Loaded

With hearty doses of British self-flagellation, Loaded wrings brilliant cringe comedy out of its unqualified characters and the wealth they’ve stupidly acquired.

The icing on this amusing cake is Mary McCormack, who plays Casey, an American and the no-nonsense vice president of the company that bought the four misfits’ concept. ... When she flies in to take a hands-on approach to managing their lives, this show (based on the Israeli series “Mesudarim”) really takes off.

Loaded moves along quickly and even when the subject matter gets dark, it doesn't hit very hard. Don't expect too much hilarity, but there are some smiles of recognition, some solid performances and a little bit of currency (both topical and financial), making Loaded one of the better examples of a not-particularly-great genre.

It's not a great show, but it's decent summer viewing. There are some laughs, and I liked it more as it went along.

Loaded succeeds as a likable show, even if it’s one that takes a bit too much self-congratulatory pride in having the boys fail.

Loaded is a nice summer offering, with lightweight humor and a British twist on the startup story that makes it a bit of a novelty. And every now and then there’s insight about wealth--or the lack thereof--that is a little funny and a little heart-rending in its stark truth.

The show’s generally more amiable than it is funny, with most of the overt laughs coming from Mary McCormack as Casey, sarcastic executive from the company that bought Cat Factory. (“Think of me as a sexy Darth Vader,” she tells them.) But the genuine affection the friends have for each other is charming (and in many ways a bigger deviation from Silicon Valley than the size of everyone’s bank accounts), and the better stories find a sweet spot between absurdity and sincerity.

Loaded does exhibit its share of heart, but as for brains, well, it could use a few more of them.

After watching the first four episodes, the protagonists still seem defined more by what they do or possess than by their actual personalities, which is a problem. Another problem for a show that leans more toward comedy than drama: Loaded often strains to get laughs, although those do come a bit more easily as the episodes progress.

The ultimate result is a series that feels like a loose collection of sketches in the lives of people who have come into extravagant wealth unexpectedly.

It’s hard to call Loaded a bad series per se, but it’s a pretty un-involving one.