All’s Fair Is Getting Some Terrible Reviews… And That’s Fair Enough

Hulu and Disney+’s new series All’s Fair dropped their first three episodes on November 4 – and the reviews are less than favourable to say the least. With a score of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, and nearly every show critic giving the series zero stars, it seems that series is not off to a fair start!

With the series being created and written by Ryan Murphy, who was involved in many successful shows such as American Horror Story, Glee and The Monster series on Netflix, many had high expectations for this next project.

This new series follows the stories of one successful female divorce lawyer and her all female owned law firm in Los Angles, With drama, comedy and all the glitz and glam, we see how these billionaire-lawyers fight to save women from their toxic relationships all while navigating their own personal problems. Think of it as Selling Sunset meets Law and Order. Kind of.

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They don’t just play the game – they run it. Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash Betts, Teyana Taylor, Sarah Paulson and Glenn Close star in ALL’S FAIR. Streaming November 4 on Disney+.

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At a glance this series has all the qualities of being an easy watch show about female empowerment– which is what we expected to see in the first episode. However, many were extremely disappointed by the portrayal of what a strong independent woman apparently looks like in this world,

The show has 26 producers, which include a mix of Ryan Murphy, Joe Baken, Jon Robin Baitz, and even Momager of the century, Kris Jenner, along with eight writers, only 3 of whom are female. This alone raises questions about the show’s meaning of empowerment, and the ‘She-EO’-ness of it all.

Writing for Variety, Alison Herman says “All’s Fair is a clumsy, condescending take on Rah-Rah girlboss feminism” while Guardian critic Lucy Mangan calls it an “embarrassment.”

Kim Kardashian is All’s Fair series lead, and she plays Allura, the owner of the law firm. Although many were surprised by this choice, Kim previously worked with Murphy when she appeared as a publicist in season 12 of American Horror Story. Many praised her acting in this role, which inspired her to venture into this different career path – but with very different reviews this time around, viewers are beginning to question her credibility.

Nevertheless, if her previous performance was something to praise maybe it’s the directing and writing to blame, after all Kelly Lawlor from USA Today called the All’s Fair script “worse than what Chat GPT was spitting out years ago”.

Similar has been said about Sarah Paulson’s performance as the show’s villain, as well as Glenn Close and Naomi Watts’ roles in the series. Niecy Nash, however, who plays office manager Emerald Greene, has been praised for her comedic relief.

In the midst of all these bad reviews, there are some people out there who seem to be enjoying the show for what it is – easy to watch, stylish trash. And hey, that’s okay! We all need a good background show to binge on our WFH days, right?

Season 2 of All’s Fair is yet to be confirmed, and with all of these negative reviews rolling in, it seems unlikely that we will ever get to see what happens next. But with more episodes still yet to be released, tghere may still be some redeeming qualities, who knows!

If you’re like me and intrigued by all the commotion this show has caused and want to watch it for yourself, it’s available to stream now on Disney+.