Stick

Interesting characters, decent writing, good acting and one snotty millennial actress Lilly Kay just destroys the show and renders it unwatchable. The chemistry between the rest of the cast is good, she is like a permanent oil stain on a racetrack.

Good portrayal of what it is like to be a golfer, the precarious balance between confidence and coming off the rails at any moment. The precarious balance between letting a teenager test himself and providing the safety net when he predictably fails. Owen Wilson is the perfect "former great golfer" - equal measure of chaos, arrogance and neediness.

I really enjoyed Stick through the first three episodes. The characters were interesting, and the story was engrossing. But then the cracks started to show and the characters became less and less likable, and more importantly they stopped being reasonable.

I have no issue with the introduction of a non-binary character in episode 3, my issue is that the character is irritating and blatantly hypocritical. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem if the show acknowledged it but they seem like they're presented in a way like I'm suppose to like them?

The show was at its best early on, when Stick was clearly the most morally flawed character. But, ironically, he ends up becoming one of the more grounded and sympathetic people in the entire cast. Everyone else has become so incredibly ungrateful that it's hard to root for anyone.

It suffers from a lot the same issues that plagued Ted Lasso Season 3 and the occasional episode of Shrinking, where everything becomes overly sentimental, and every character's feelings are treated as valid and something needs to be discussed right now. The difference is Stick never earns that emotional payoff, not even a little. Unlike those other shows, these characters' feelings actually aren't valid, they're just being selfish, and the show doesn't do the work to justify their behavior.

By the middle of episode five, I realized the show was never going to live up to its potential, it was going to continually annoy me, and that I had no one to root for. That's what makes it so frustrating, because there really was a great show here.

The show started off promising. Owen Wilson is playing his stock likable lead character well enough, but the supporting characters are going to tank this show fast if something doesn't change.

At first, the stereotypical smart alec teen and the sassy Latina mom are okay, but their shticks quickly wear thin. Both are spoiled and unlikable, and by the fourth episode, I found myself fast-forwarding through most of their scenes since they mostly consisted of Pryce (Wilson's character) begging them for one thing or another. You'll find yourself getting angry on his behalf that he has to beg people he's paid $100k for basic respect and to hold up their end of the contract.

I haven't even mentioned yet the caddy-"Zero" is (her?) name-who is some compilation of every radical woke stereotype wrapped up in one. The identity wouldn't matter if the person was even semi-likable. But she too is insufferable and mean and bratty. (Why does one show need to stack up with so many unlikable characters? Every single character must be mean and snarky and pile on to bully the lowly main character? Why did the writers themselves not get how lopsided and hard to watch that would be for the viewer?)

I will give it a little more time, but I have one foot out of the proverbial door at this point. When I'm having to fast forward scenes of a new show because they're predictable and redundant and frustrating, that's not a good sign. I hope the writers course-correct before it's too late.

Firstly, this miniseries has been likened to "Ted Lasso" about golf. I guess that's only because it's on AppleTV+, tries to be funny, and has intermittently funny Owen Wilson in the title role. But comparing this to the Ted Lasso series is giving this way too much credit. So, secondly: this miniseries has an OK character actor in his 30s playing a golfer in his teens w/ a character actress hardly any older than him playing his mom. Did no one check any of the cast's drivers licenses? So, thirdly, is there anything that I like about the show? Well, playing Wilson's old buddy and his ex-caddy is Marc Maron, who hit a home run in a miniseries about women's professional wrestling (GLOW) not knowing anything about it, and now tackles the world of men's amateur golf, and I'll bet money he knows nothing about it either! But Maron does know about comedy, and so he manages to be genuine amusing here. I'll tentatively rate this as a 6 out of 10 stars for him, but I reserve the right to reduce the rating if the series spirals lower as we go!

I only lasted this long because Owen Wilson's onscreen charisma and likability, but even that isn't enough to keep me around anymore.

The show actually started off well. A total Ted Lasso feel but for golf. Enjoyable. The mother/son combo carried some attitude and annoyance that I expected to simmer down as each episode progressed, but it honestly gets so much worse. The mother comes around a little, but the son gets FAR worse and the show introduces the most INSUFFERABLE character in existence as the love interest / caddy.

Overall, the mother/son and girlfriend just ruined the show for me. They're the most unlikable, ungrateful, disrespectful, self-entitled bunch I've seen in a show... maybe ever... and it really just makes the show impossible to watch.