• Network: FOX
  • Series Premiere Date: Jan 23, 2014
User Score
6.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 43 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 43
  2. Negative: 5 out of 43
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User Reviews

  1. Jan 25, 2014
    0
    The original Australian version, going into it's 3rd season is really the >only< version of this series.

    During the Americanization process, the soul of the show was lost in translation. Ideally, FOX would've just bought the rights to the original version and aired it in the states.

    Sorry US audiences, you get the homogenized copy :-(
  2. Jan 25, 2014
    1
    I found the main character unappealing and the plot boring. It's neither a funny comedy nor an interesting lawyer show. It's a bad version of The Defenders that starred Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell. As soon as I finished the first episode, I removed the show from the list of recurring recordings on my DVR.
  3. Feb 25, 2014
    2
    The main character is wholly unlikable and the devices used to ensure he stays forever in gambling debt are frustrating to no end. His collectors are forever disappearing after one episode and every time Keegan gets some money, he loses it in preposterous manners which have nothing to do with his gambling addiction (for example, he puts off delivering a $15k fish for three days for noThe main character is wholly unlikable and the devices used to ensure he stays forever in gambling debt are frustrating to no end. His collectors are forever disappearing after one episode and every time Keegan gets some money, he loses it in preposterous manners which have nothing to do with his gambling addiction (for example, he puts off delivering a $15k fish for three days for no good reason, allowing it to rot or trying to impress his ex-wife at a private school's fundraiser or paying for a prostitute). The only enjoyable part of this show are the cases, and even those are played more for humor than to exhibit any form of brilliance on Keegan's part. This show is nothing like House, save for a string of ill-advised relationships. Expand
  4. Mar 24, 2014
    3
    A middling legal dramedy that spends too little time in the courtroom and too much time focusing on awkward, awful people doing awkward, awful things to, for, or with each other. The American Rake is yet another in a long line of shows that confuses blatant, offensive insensitivity and a lack of common sense for comedy. Nearly every character on the show is some combination of selfish,A middling legal dramedy that spends too little time in the courtroom and too much time focusing on awkward, awful people doing awkward, awful things to, for, or with each other. The American Rake is yet another in a long line of shows that confuses blatant, offensive insensitivity and a lack of common sense for comedy. Nearly every character on the show is some combination of selfish, inept, insensitive, or insecure, and nothing else. The main character is allowed to show some redeeming qualities, but it's almost invariably followed by him making some decision that is either dictator levels of selfish or moronic to the point of endangering his own health, both of which always wind up blowing up in his face. Incredibly frustrating, in other words. Though there are some storylines that have a degree of interest to them, the show is dragged down too strongly by the aforementioned problems. This is another one of those hour-long shows I can watch in 15 minutes: after I fast forward through all the awkward bits, painfully stupid bits, and frustratingly selfish bits, there's maybe 15 minutes of show left. Expand
Metascore
62

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 33
  2. Negative: 1 out of 33
  1. Reviewed by: Jeff Korbelik
    Mar 27, 2014
    75
    Outside the courtroom is where the drama finds its feet.
  2. Reviewed by: Brian Tallerico
    Feb 20, 2014
    40
    [Greg Kinnear's] charming enough and funny enough to make it work. If only the writing can rise to his abilities.
  3. Reviewed by: Vicki Hyman
    Feb 13, 2014
    75
    The pilot is carried on Kinnear's rascally charm and is heavy on quirk.