Matthew Jacobs

Feud doesn't overcome its lack of restraint, but it has enough fluttery touches to soar.

If the ending veers toward the trauma buffet that pop culture has finally done away with, it's offset by the swoony love story that grounds the show.

But for all its watchability, Lessons in Chemistry never totally gels. There's wit bubbling around the edges, but it hesitates to be too funny for fear of reducing its heavier themes. As a result, the show feels like a less deft rendering of Garmus' sensibility, which avoided hammy overreach at every turn.

What once was butts up against what's no longer meant to be. There's pleasure in seeing RHONY attempt to remodel itself in 2023's image, but this facsimile can't yet muster the intrigue of the original. In a world overrun with content, it's hard to be influential.

Even if the show can feel rushed, it's a winsome treat in a summer that isn't brimming with breakout hits.

Ava and Nathan's coterie of friends feel like a distraction, there to stretch out the plot rather than provide worthwhile color. It's far more compelling to watch two semi-hapless people realign their world now that there's a serial murderer in it. Fortunately, most episodes don't run longer than 25 minutes. It never takes much time to get to the good stuff. And there's a lot of good stuff.

Sometimes a dusty cultural artifact is meant to be appreciated as just that, a product of its time that anyone is free to embrace or dismiss. Instead, this one has been tidied up, making the attraction feel a lot less fatal.

The whole thing lacks a certain crackle, its sepia palette begging for literal and figurative color.

Charlie Cale may be too similar to Lyonne's other characters to make the impression that Jessica Fletcher or Lieutenant Columbo did, but this is a worthy use of the esteem Lyonne has generated as she hits middle age. Some episodes ramble on a bit long, but it's hard to mind when there's so much going for them.

On the continuum of scandal-based TV, Welcome to Chippendales is among the more effective offerings. It doesn't overplay its final stretch or try to be more penetrating than it's capable of. The show dresses its sorrowful core in spandex and bow ties, painting a portrait of prosperity undone by pride.