Sally4Ever

Julia Davis impressively keeps believable the more outrageous she gets. All this is imbued with the muted, knowing style of humor the Brits love so much and do so well, and fans of that style will enjoy this to bits.

Potentially cataclysmic. I’m not certain U.S. viewers are--or will ever be--ready. ... The funniest moments in Sally4Ever, though, tend to be not so outrageous. They’re the way Emma pronounces “Pilates” (pill-ah-tez), and the face Sally makes watching David’s a cappella group sing George Michael’s “Faith,” and the robotic selfie stick that appears in one scene out of nowhere. ... These interludes aren’t scandalizing so much as hilarious and horrifying in equal measure, just like Davis intended.

A wonderfully sinister look at what happens when a mostly unhappy person in a mostly unhappy life opens the door to a manic pixie dream girl who also happens to be toxically awful and hard to shake upon further inspection. ... Davis is always doing something audacious with her comedy and it works because she doesn't ever blink or water it down, or laden it with sympathy. She's the master of how to do unlikable characters.

Characters as fully rounded as Emma and Sally, drawn to one another despite each one’s manifold flaws, could not be made to feel so complete had they not been written and performed by people who felt a certain amount of love for them. Like the very best characters, both are perpetually consistent and yet retain the capability to surprise. ... Its piquancy in service of characters and relationships makes it the funniest new show of the fall, and the stateside arrival of a voice whose brashness makes clear how overdue it is to break out.

[Julia Davis'] work is dark and acid, bold to the point of abandon, and never sentimental. It's the antithesis of heartwarming, but it can leave you feeling oddly refreshed, like a bracing chill wind.

The true stars here, though, are the failings of human nature. Sally4Ever is the kind of comedy so dark it pushes straight through bleakness to a morality-play clarity: It’s an unflattering, fluorescent light on the manifestations of human self-interest and weakness. This works better than HBO’s translation of “Camping.”

Sally4Ever isn’t necessarily bursting apart established conventions, but some moments challenge a person’s appetite. Although Davis draws our focus with her character’s outrageous selfishness, Shepherd is tasked with carrying Sally4Ever simply by reacting to all the attention in a way any sensible person would. ... Her subdued performance is a welcome counterbalance to Emma’s audacious egomania and David’s simpering foolery.

It’s not quite as consistently funny as that discomfort-inducing work [the original Office], though it does get more amusing as it goes on.

The laughs Sally4Ever provides--and there are big ones--come precisely because Emma, David and the rest are so terrible in such exaggerated fashion. ... But I was already wearying of it by the third episode, because Emma is that unapologetically appalling. This problem is one of sensibility rather than execution, and Sally4Ever certainly commits to its goals. The next two Sunday nights on HBO will do a nice job of illustrating some of the core differences between comedy here versus over there.

Too uneven in tone to recommend a committed viewing relationship.