Every HBO Comedy Ranked From Worst To Best
41. Avenue 5
The jury, thus far, is out on this one. In any sane world Avenue 5 should overcome a slightly shaky debut season to become something great. It’s created by the fantastic Armando Iannucci, and has a cast that includes Rebecca Front and Zach Woods. It’s a daffy space comedy with a lot to like about it, but there’s a strong argument to be made that it’s underperformed thus far.
The strangest thing about Avenue 5 is that it doesn’t seem to put its setting to the best of use. The show is based on an interplanetary cruise ship, a unique locale with the possibility for a load of fresh comedy fun, but most of the comedy takes the form of the quips and one liners that could have appeared on Iannucci’s earlier, earth-bound work.
To that end there are still plenty of laughs, but if we’re grading on a curve, we expected a bit more from the guy behind so much of the best comedy of the past 30 years. It’s only one season in, though, so things could easily turn around.