Succession

:

Season 1
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Jun 3, 2018
Season #: 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 29
  3. Negative: 1 out of 29
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Critic Reviews

  1. Slate
    Reviewed by: Willa Paskin
    Jun 4, 2018
    60
    Very watchable but totally missable: not urgent, not escapist, and not even the best premium cable show about hugely entertaining rich people. ... But the show is not quite scathing or indicting enough to bring a sense of urgency to its study of the super-rich.
  2. Sioux City Journal
    Reviewed by: Bruce Miller
    Jun 4, 2018
    60
    In comparison to [FX's Trust], “Succession” doesn’t hold up. It doesn’t have the same production values or theatricality. This is “Dynasty” without the costumes, “Arrested Development” without the overt comedy.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Mike Hale
    Jun 1, 2018
    60
    The balance shifts away from satire and toward drama as the season progresses. ... It’s an uneasy combination, and while the two sides of the show’s split personality are executed well--the creator is Jesse Armstrong, who worked on the great British comedy “The Thick of It”--they don’t amplify or enrich each other in the way that was presumably intended. You can sense both sides being reined in, especially the satire, which can’t go for broke in this context.
  5. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    May 24, 2018
    60
    A slick but often hollow vehicle. [28 May - 10 Jun 2018, p.17]
    All this critic's reviews
  6. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    May 31, 2018
    58
    Succession makes it clear that the Roys are not especially nice people. They are also, alas, not especially fascinating. Pink slips for everyone.
  7. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    May 31, 2018
    50
    At first engaging, then slowly, inexorably, Succession turns into work.
  8. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Darren Franich
    May 29, 2018
    50
    The actors all got different memos. ... Succession is some kind of success, if the point is to prove the Murdochs are boring as hell. [1/8 Jun 2018, p.78]
  9. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Jun 1, 2018
    40
    Underwhelming in both execution and intent. ... Its occasional attempts at wryness result in a choking dryness, with the only levity coming from the arrival of a green and gullible cousin, Greg (Nicholas Braun), who attempts to ingratiate his way into this inner circle of snakes. The overall tone of cruelty is difficult to overcome.

Awards & Rankings

76
#76 Best TV Season of 2018
41
#41 Most Discussed TV Season of 2018
41
#41 Most Shared TV Season of 2018

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 111 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 89 out of 111
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 111
  3. Negative: 6 out of 111
  1. Eman0221
    Jul 3, 2018
    6
    This show was marketed and positioned as HBO's version of "Billions." Instead, its the Corporate America version of "Death of Stalin, In theThis show was marketed and positioned as HBO's version of "Billions." Instead, its the Corporate America version of "Death of Stalin, In the Loop/Thick of it, and Veep, but its just not as funny, sharp, and witty. Unlike those shows, the unlikeable characters in this one just aren't engaging enough. Just tiresome and boring. We get it, they're terrible, spoiled, entitled people. So what? What is the hook here? Why should we care? Should we laugh? Hate them? Feel pity? The show doesn't seem to give a clear purpose other than hate and maybe laugh. That gets old fast.

    Will continue watching and holding out hope that it'll get better towards the end of the season, but I'm not holding my breath.    … Full Review »
  2. OlivierPiel
    Jun 5, 2018
    5
    Very underwhelming. Each character is more clichéd than the next: The Murdoch old-lion figure, who still has all his cunning despite hisVery underwhelming. Each character is more clichéd than the next: The Murdoch old-lion figure, who still has all his cunning despite his decrepit health, the anointed heir who has daddy issues, the immature bouffon of a little brother who prefers to laugh at everyone than accept taking responsibilities for his incompentence, the older brother who retreated to a ranch to avoid the rat race, the daughter that went into politics to prove she can do it alone, the consigliere who thinks he is part of the family...
    Probably as realistic as an episode of Dallas or Dynasty in the 80's.
    HBO, this is summer, but come on....    … Full Review »
  3. break2bits
    Aug 5, 2018
    4
    Not a great show. It's not funny enough to be a good black comedy and lacks the emotional core that would make it a worthwhile drama. TheNot a great show. It's not funny enough to be a good black comedy and lacks the emotional core that would make it a worthwhile drama. The characters are basically all stereotypes. Tom and Shiv are the only characters nuanced enough to be believable. For all the time spent characterizing the ultra-wealthy the show doesn't actually have anything of any substance to say about them or their world. Instead the show embraces a kind of safe cynicism and tears down each of the overly simplistic "types" — rich and poor, liberal and conservative — that stand in as characters. It gets 4 points for having a relatively engaging narrative, but fails to cohere into anything more than an appeal to the audience's desire to experience vicarious luxury.

    And they waaaay overuse the show's dumb theme song — for some reason it shows up multiple times in every episode in addition to the opening titles. I can't imagine what these scripts look like: "Something dramatic happens. Cue piano music with a hip-hop beat so our idiot viewers know something dramatic happened."    … Full Review »
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