Critical Condition: A Million Little Things

A Million Little Things | SoHo, 8.30 Tuesday

➢➢ “If you believe in the treacle-down theory when it comes to NBC’s rip-roaring success with This Is Us, then you’re ready for ABC’s drama about the emotional entanglements of a group of four Boston men (Ron Livingston, Romany Malco, David Giuntoli and James Roday) feeling all the feels that bros can feel when their best bro jumps from his skyscraper office balcony in the middle of a workday, without leaving a note.” — The Washington Post.

➢➢ “Things is the rare broadcast drama populated not by doctors, cops or lawyers, but by people dealing with the emotional ins and outs of everyday life. Like Us, the tragedy and emotion is cathartic and generically relatable … On the other hand, Things throws a cliche ticker-tape parade, with a steady onslaught of hammy dialogue, predictable plot twists and scenes so emotionally manipulative that even the characters sometimes reach for tissues.” — USA Today.

➢➢ “A very good cast and a steady vein of humour keep A Million Little Things watchable, while the fetishising of death and a failure to generate consistent complementary emotions keep it from rising above a well-intentioned slog, a derivative Thirtysomething Reasons Why … If you’re a viewer for whom ‘sadness’ was a primary reason to watch This Is Us, or a thing you feel like you require in other TV shows, this will fill that need. To me, great TV is more than just that one thing.” — The Hollywood Reporter.

➢➢ “[The] pilot’s both intriguing, as we see the bits of deception underpinning an all-male clique, and frustrating, as it often strains credulity as well as certain boundaries of taste … You may feel brute-forced bludgeoned into shedding a tear by the extended funeral scene or by the characters’ deep wells of pain. But the heavy-handed mystery elements and the studied way each character is given their capital-P Problem will leave many viewers cold.” — Variety.

➢➢ “The show at once romanticises and minimises suicide, which is something art sometimes does. But even worse, it’s all in the service of a slog of a story about irritating and unspecial characters … It’s fine for a show to be emotionally manipulative — we know what we’re getting, we’re along for the ride … Weepy scenes aren’t a whole show, though. A Million Little Things never finds its way to an authentic moment.” — New York Times.