Turn Up Charlie
Netflix | Release Date: March 15, 2019
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
10
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyKristen BaldwinMar 11, 2019
Season 1 Review: As a vehicle for Elba-as-funny-guy, Turn Up Charlie does its job. Read full review
70
The New YorkerTroy PattersonMar 19, 2019
Season 1 Review: The slightness and lightness are soothing, in this quiet-storm remix of a sitcom pastiche. You feel that he has been wise enough to delight in the foolishness of Charlie’s situation, and you feel charmed to be let in on his boondoggle. Read full review
60
ColliderAllison KeeneMar 15, 2019
Season 1 Review: Turn Up Charlie, like Charlie himself, is admittedly a bit of a mess. As is the case with his 1997 hit “LUV,” there is some good stuff in the series. But if it returns, it might need a remix. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardMar 13, 2019
Season 1 Review: Idris Elba is a star. The least his TV show can do is reflect that. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydMar 14, 2019
Season 1 Review: What we have in Turn Up Charlie is an amiable, ambling, eagerly conventional, fairly superficial comedy, not hard to watch, although much longer than it needs to be. Read full review
50
CNNBrian LowryMar 13, 2019
Season 1 Review: While the show is breezy and mildly pleasant, in a less profligate streaming-TV environment the logical move would have been to turn down "Charlie." Read full review
45
Paste MagazineLaToya FergusonMar 15, 2019
Season 1 Review: As is, the series does many things, few of them well, despite containing all or most of the necessary ingredients. I suppose there’s a DJ analogy in there somewhere, but Turn Up Charlie can’t seem to find it, and neither can I. Read full review
42
TVLineDave NemetzMar 5, 2019
Season 1 Review: A thoroughly mild, easily digestible sitcom that unfortunately dips into Disney Channel levels of saccharine too often to merit a recommendation. It’s a hard show to hate, but without Elba to anchor it, it’d be so lightweight, it’d disintegrate in the air like a dandelion. Read full review
42
IndieWireBen TraversMar 5, 2019
Season 1 Review: There’s a dozen better versions of Turn Up Charlie, and, for all it offers its star, the one that exists simply isn’t worth hearing. Read full review
40
The New York TimesMike HaleMar 15, 2019
Season 1 Review: Elba is admirably committed to the drab, sentimental material (written by Georgia Lester, Victoria Asare-Archer, Laura Neal and Femi Oyeniran), and his portrayal is unfailingly gracious and warm. ... One problem, though: He’s just not funny. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneAlan SepinwallMar 13, 2019
Season 1 Review: Turn Up Charlie isn’t good, but it at least makes plausible the idea of a funnier or more laid-back Elba than we’re used to seeing. Read full review
40
VarietyCaroline FramkeMar 6, 2019
Season 1 Review: When the series focuses on [Charlie and Gabby's] dynamic and Sara’s growing unease with her transient lifestyle, it’s perfectly fine and fun. ... But over its eight episodes, Turn Up Charlie keeps indulging its clumsier instincts. Its broad themes of learning to value others and balance ambition with family spill out in sporadic bursts. Its dialogue gets clumsier and clumsier. ... Its plots get lost in big set pieces and interpersonal DJ drama that’s nowhere near as interesting as the show wants it to be. Read full review
30
Washington PostHank StueverMar 14, 2019
Season 1 Review: Clunky. ... Though it can be binge-watched painlessly enough (especially by those looking for Elba eye-candy), Turn Up Charlie is such a disassembled example of a “Welcome to my world” TV show that it ought to come with its own Allen wrench. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanMar 13, 2019
Season 1 Review: Turn Up Charlie isn't [a watchable series], mostly because of all the ridiculous conceits added to the premise, which effectively shift the lead of the series to a child actress written to be insanely annoying and who delivers on that in every scene she's in. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeMar 14, 2019
Season 1 Review: In other words, not even Turn Up Charlie can totally kill Elba’s natural charisma by bludgeoning it to death with a turntable. But as Charlie careens from one baffling decision to the next, it sure seems determined to try. Read full review
20
The TelegraphMichael HoganJan 3, 2020
Season 1 Review: Like a garage remix of Nick Hornby’s About a Boy, feckless Charlie and friendless Gabby begin to bond, learn from each other and become (pass the sick bucket) better people. Unfortunately, the early episodes are so unremittingly awful that surely only masochists or Elba family members will make it that far. Read full review
Current TV Shows
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 92 The Pitt: Season 2
2 90 The Celebrity Traitors UK: Season 1
3 87 Hacks: Season 5
4 87 Industry: Season 4
5 87 Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal:...
6 85 The Beatles Anthology
7 85 The Traitors [UK]: Season 4
8 85 Bait: Season 1
9 84 Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
10 83 Lord of the Flies
11 83 Riot Women: Season 1
12 83 For All Mankind: Season 5
13 81 The Muppet Show (2026)
14 80 Outlander (2014): Season 8
15 80 The Other Bennet Sister: Season 1
16 80 The Mighty Nein: Season 1
17 80 The Comeback: Season 3
18 80 The American Revolution
19 80 One Piece (2023): Season 2
20 80 Dark Winds: Season 4
SEE ALL