Kim Kardashian has ruled the reality TV realm for two decades but her foray into fictional small screen drama has already been dubbed a crime against television, Daily Mail reports.
The multifaceted star has joined a powerhouse female line-up including Glenn Close, Sarah Paulson and Teyana Taylor in Ryan Murphy’s legal thriller All’s Fair.
The series, which dropped its first three episodes on Disney+ and Hulu this week, has been heavily promoted for months.
It was over a year ago that viewers of Kim’s family reality show (another Disney/Hulu production) saw Murphy and Kim’s Momager Kris Jenner pitch her the idea, whilst in recent days the cast, which also includes Naomi Watts and Niecy Nash, have embarked on a globetrotting publicity blitz with social media lapping up viral videos and slick trailers.
But in the end no amount of carefully orchestrated TV crossovers and glossy promo could save the show from the critics’ reviews.
The signs were there with no press preview screenings scheduled, and so critics settled in to watch the first three installments upon their release on Tuesday, and it wasn’t long before the zero star reviews came rolling in.
So far the show has earned a rarely seen 0% ‘rotten’ rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
The Times’ Ben Dowell declared in his zero star review: ‘This may be the worst TV drama ever’ whilst USA Today’s Kelly Lawler decided the drama was at the very least ‘the worst TV show of the year.’
According to the report by Daily Mail, many took aim at Kim Kardashian, who also served as an executive producer, with Dowell writing: ‘Does Kardashian make a convincing lawyer? No, she does not. She is to acting what Genghis Khan is to a peaceful liberal democracy.’
Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter writes that ‘Kardashian’s performance, stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, is exactly what the writing, also stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, merits.’
Lucy Mangan for The Guardian opened her review with the musing ‘I did not know it was still possible to make television this bad… But I was wrong. All’s Fair is terrible. Fascinatingly, incomprehensibly, existentially terrible.’
Whilst she called Kim ‘inoffensively useless,’ Mangan set her sights on two time Oscar nominee Naomi Watts, who she says ‘preens and pouts and poses in search of a character, and reminds you of nothing so much as Ally McBeal at her very worst, delivering her lines so archly that you can almost hear her joints cracking.’
Ed Power of The Telegraph is one of the few reviewers to bestow one star on the drama, but his write-up isn’t any less scathing, and he blames Murphy.
‘Ryan Murphy is the high priest of tacky, tasteless television, and this year he has outdone himself with a show of mind-bending horror sure to trigger nightmares in the unsuspecting viewer.’
The takedown has gone global with Anisha Rao of India Today offering a half star review and the declaration: ‘This isn’t law and order – it’s just luxury, loud and lost in translation.
All’s Fair is a style statement disguised as storytelling, a glossy courtroom where contour wins over content.’
Viewer reaction wasn’t any less scathing. After watching the pilot, many viewers were left baffled by Kim’s prominent role in a series starring award-winning actresses.
Her performance was called ‘stiff’ and ‘monotone’ with another fan writing on X, ‘Kim Kardashian cannot act and she need to stop touching her face.’
‘Lmao Kim is so monotone I can’t,’ another wrote.
‘Trying to watch All’s Fair but I cant with Kim Kardashian,’ another added.
‘All those amazing actors and Ryan Murphy puts Kim Kardashian in it too…. WTAF?????#AllsFair’
‘Why is she so stiff?’ one questioned.
‘Damn Kim K really can’t act lol, she’s so monotone… you can tell she’s acting nth comes natural.’
The show follows a team of high-powered female lawyers who leave their firm to start their own company as fierce divorce attorney Allura (Kardashian) vows to destroy her younger husband who married her for money.
Big name guest stars including Brooke Shields, Elizabeth Berkley, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Judith Light appear in the series as the attorneys’ clients.
Kim Kardashian was in London last week to plug the new show with co-star Sarah, 50.
While appearing on The Graham Norton Show, she said: ‘Working with a cast like this I wanted to make sure I was completely prepared.’
‘What I could control was absolutely knowing my lines, being on time and being super professional.
‘These women are the greatest at what they do, and I just watched and learned every day.’
She added, ‘It was an honor, and I have just had the best time. Working with these women was like summer camp.’