- Network: FOX
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 14, 2008
Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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- By date
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Potential pours from the screen, but the premiere has plenty of problems. People seem to be uncomfortable and trying too hard, just as they do on their first day in school or on the job.
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This is dicey subject matter (especially for those viewers who have struggled to become pregnant or know someone who has), and at times the tone seems blasé, even offensive.
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Sherman-Palladino forces the sisters on each other out of an almost crippling sense of joint self-interest that's as painful as it is illogical.
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Plaudits to Ambrose for her effort to bring some honesty to her scenes, but it isn't enough to keep the show from imploding.
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There is too little Ambrose/Posey interaction in the pilot, but in the second episode--when Coco moves in and the two start haggling over the surrogacy contract--Sherman-Palladino's knack for chick dialogue shows some of its old promise.
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Even without a death slot on Fridays, this strained story would be a tough sell.
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Jezebel James might have fared better shaped into an hourlong dramedy, instead of being shoehorned into a lightly serialized sitcom format that plays poorly to her strengths as a writer.
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Sadly, although Jezebel is packed with Sherman-Palladino’s trademark snappy banter, it’s a cold, brittle misfire.
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All evidence to the contrary, the show has the potential of being very funny, but only if the writers can choose subtlety over shtick even a quarter of the time.
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It's a very special, frustrating kind of bad, one with the power to actually change history.
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Everything about Jezebel feels too broad.
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It's a weird, tone-deaf mismatch of talents, styles and genre.
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Not many women will want to come back after seeing it because the first 30 minutes are a complete and utter mess.
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Everything feels forced, right down to the dialogue, wherein the characters all talk the way writers write when they're stretching to set up a joke.
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Even rousing viewers to stay awake would be a big accomplishment.
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Even if the performances were better and the scripts were funnier, Jezebel would still be saddled with one of the most preposterous, off-putting setups in sitcom history.
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Despite the cast, Jezebel James is not a momentous arrival.
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Miscast and only intermittently funny, Jezebel James misfires on all cylinders.
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Somewhere, things went very wrong, and the comedy turns out to be a flat, unappealing mess.
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The show is a full-fledged Fox flop.
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As for the lack of laughs, you're just going to have to take my word for it, unless you want to risk serious brain damage.
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Our mouths may be open, but more likely agape than laughing.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 13
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Mixed: 1 out of 13
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Negative: 6 out of 13
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SeanF.Nov 22, 2008
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AmandaE.Apr 23, 2008
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BrandonS.Mar 25, 2008Canceled already! Thank God.