Work in Progress

Whip-smart and provocative and hilarious new Showtime comedy. ... What should be one of the breakout new TV series of 2019-2020.

At the moment, Chris seems too good to be true, and a character put to work mostly in the service of enlightening the lead, everything else about Work in Progress suggests that this minor flaw will soon be remedied. Abby may say she feels like an eternally unfinished person, but this show is already fully fledged.

Smartly edited, full of odd little montages and visual juxtapositions. It has its own distinctive, salty vibe, driven by McEnany’s simultaneously self-loathing and self-aggrandizing swagger.

The best part about all of this is that McEnany, Mason, and Wachowski design Abby’s adventures, which grow ever more ridiculous, with an emphasis on believability.

Tightly, smartly written and with the enormously sympathetic Ms. McEnany at its center, “Work in Progress” exists mostly within an LGBTQ galaxy, but its universe will be familiar to everyone.

Work in Progress never loses sight of its premise, though it remains bleak without beating you over the head.

Having only watched three episodes, I’m not entirely sure where the season is going (though the end of the almond line seems like a natural climax). And yet, from what I’ve seen, “Work in Progress” is a remarkably solid debut from a comedian who knows her own voice, knows it’s funny, and is nonetheless unafraid to admit when she doesn’t like it.

By the time the four Work in Progress screeners (out of eight episodes) ran out, I wasn’t hugely worried about what choice Abby would make, but I did very much want to spend more time with her and that dwindling nut collection.