Revenge
ABC | Release Date: September 21, 2011
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
11
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Zap2it (Inside the Box)Mikey O'ConnellSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: The ABC drama is one of the best new series to hit TV this fall. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyMelissa MaerzSep 19, 2011
Season 1 Review: Until we find out what happened long ago, we'll just enjoy watching all the beautiful, golden-tanned people say awesomely ridiculous things like: "These guys really put the suck in seersucker." Read full review
83
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertSep 16, 2011
Season 1 Review: This is a classic guilty pleasure, with campy twists and a fabulously diva-esque performance by Stowe. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalDorothy RabinowitzOct 14, 2011
Season 1 Review: The arrival of one pure and unadulterated drama about a passion as old as man is something to celebrate. That's particularly true when that drama is as spellbinding in its satisfyingly gaudy way, as Revenge turns out to be. Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn GarvinSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's a stylish, elegantly plotted tale of a young woman's sociopathic thirst for vengeance. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: Intriguing and genuinely fun. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyTanner StranskySep 27, 2013
Season 3 Review: The once sizzling soap is making strides toward fixing past transgressions. [4 Oct 2013, p.61]
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoNov 1, 2012
Season 2 Review: Revenge's second season recaptured its melodramatic mojo after a muddled month. [12 Nov 2012, p.39]
75
RedEyeCurt WagnerSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: They say Revenge is a dish best served cold, and here it's downright delicious. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandSep 20, 2011
Season 1 Review: Revenge has enough meaty characters and plot possibilities to keep it going for years. And it just may last long enough to explore them all. Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoSep 16, 2011
Season 1 Review: VanCamp goes about her business with a purse-lipped Jodie Foster earnestness that makes her hard to root for. But Stowe coos, scowls, flirts and thunders. She roils Revenge. [26 sep 2011, p.56]
70
The New YorkerEmily NussbaumDec 8, 2011
Season 1 Review: Revenge is too juicy to write off as junk. It's got strong performances, from actors who don't condescend to their flamboyant dialogue. Read full review
70
TimeJames PoniewozikSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: What gives Revenge the potential to last as an ongoing series (after all, doesn't Emily have to run out of victims?) is the well-drawn characters and the sense that Emily does have a conscience beyond the desire for payback. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleySep 20, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's Gossip Girl tailored to this economy, with just enough campy suspense to be enjoyable. Read full review
67
Washington PostHank StueverSep 16, 2011
Season 1 Review: A solid prime-time soap with a burnt-crisp soul. Read full review
63
USA TodayRobert BiancoSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: For fans of soaps, there is reason for hope. The show looks great, and it often sounds good, particularly when Emily is delivering a line we know is nasty but her victim doesn't. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: There's plenty of guilty pleasure to be had in watching she-wolves in Chanel and their sugar daddies go down week after week. But be prepared to put up with cheesy dialogue and spotty acting along the way. Read full review
60
SalonMatt Zoller SeitzSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: Revenge might sound enjoyably soapy in the abstract, but its execution is problematic. Read full review
60
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GraySep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: Way over the top but potentially a guilty pleasure for those with the time to pursue it. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleySep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: The show is asking viewers, then, to invest some time and not expect a clean resolution of some black-and-white drama each week. That's a gamble and a risk. Revenge seems confident it can be taken and won. Read full review
60
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenSep 19, 2011
Season 1 Review: If Revenge can curb its more outlandish tendencies, this soap could become a welcome guilty pleasure. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian LowrySep 19, 2011
Season 1 Review: Even if there are traces of "Desperate Housewives" in "Revenge's" DNA, ABC's latest serial feels oh-so-last decade, which, particularly in the Hamptons, is about as thematically stylish as wearing white after Labor Day. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: There are guilty pleasures and then there are ones for which you just feel guilty about sacrificing your valuable time. Revenge is the latter. Read full review
58
Uncle BarkyEd BarkSep 20, 2011
Season 1 Review: Sometimes you just want a single serving, with the table cleared by episode's end. This one keeps passing its spinning plates while re-stating the obvious. Read full review
50
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: It seems like it could be a fun, if cheesy, soap opera about skulduggery and backstabbing in high society. But Revenge makes the fatal mistakes of wanting to be taken seriously and yet not making its characters worthy of any kind of serious consideration. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: As is often the case with melodrama, I find Revenge essentially unconvincing and also quite likable. Read full review
40
PopMattersBrent McKnightSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: The story is silly, but not trashy enough to make it your latest guilty pleasure. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: Some are embracing this as a juicy guilty pleasure, a return to Dynasty times by way of The Count of Monte Cristo. I found it all a bit predictable and thick, like I was choking on Crisco. Read full review
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