‘Here And Now’ Is Shaping Up To Be The Worst Reviewed Show HBO Has Launched In Years

The reviews for Here And Now, HBO’s new drama from creator Alan Ball, are coming in, and they’re not great. So far, the multi-racial and darkly comedic series from the creator of Six Feet Under and True Blood that stars Holly Hunter has been getting poor critical scores. The show, which premieres on Sunday night, currently has a 45 on Metacritic and a 38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Because the series doesn’t premiere until February 11, these are far from the full ratings the show will likely receive. Metacritic’s score is based on 12 critical reviews, and Rotten Tomatoes is only based on eight. Also, it’s important to remember that the very premise of review aggregated sites are a bit flawed. Ultimately, these sites force reviews to be interpreted as either good or bad, leaving little room for so-so shows or more complicated and divisive watches. Still, with all of those caveats, Here and Now‘s scores don’t look great. The series has so far received “rotten” ratings from top publications like The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The New York Post, Newsday, and RogerEbert.com. It’s also unusual for an HBO show to have a critical score this low.

For years now, HBO has been synonymous with quality prestige television, and the cable network’s most recent series have largely reflected that. The Deuce, Westworld, Insecure, and Big Little Lies were all met with glowing critical praise. Even more cult gems like High Maintenance and Crashing have achieved historically high scores. High Maintenance currently has a 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and Crashing has a 90 percent. HBO’s mid-range show typically score in the 70s range on Rotten Tomatoes. Mosaic has a 73 percent, Divorce has a 75 percent, and Ballers has a 68 percent. However, Ballers has always been a bit more or a fan favorite than a critical darling.

Even HBO’s “failures” have scored relatively high of the review aggregate site. Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons, which was cancelled after its first season despite HBO’s overall deal with Simmons, scored a 50 percent. Also, True Detective Season 2, which is considered by some to be one of the most hated seasons of television ever made, received a 63 percent. Keeping that in mind, Here and Now‘s 38 percent, which was first pointed out on Reddit, is shocking.

Of course there’s still time for a comeback. Here and Now still doesn’t premiere for another three days, and the series could always become one of the many projects fans adore but critics hate. I guess we’ll just have to wait until Sunday to see.

Here and Now premieres on HBO Sunday, February 11 at 9 p.m. ET.

Stream Here and Now on HBO Go and HBO NOW on February 11