Praise Petey

It’s clear that Drezen not only understands but treasures both the conventions of cult camp (references to Jonestown, Waco, and Rajneeshpuram abound) and the frothy touchstones of female-oriented entertainment, from Sex and the City to The Bachelor.

The first five episodes of its first season are generally strong, if crowded with much work to do to get us to know these characters. I suspect its third season might be really something.

Praise Petey is undeniably charming, with mile-a-minute jokes that land at least … mmm … 70 percent of the time. And heavyweights like Murphy, Cho, Root, and Clemons—not to mention Christine Baranski in a deliciously acidic turn as Petey’s ice-cold mom—make us care at least a little bit about the characters, even if the script doesn’t.

The art is pleasant but generic. .... “Praise Petey” [is] a little edgy, or creepy, but also a trifle unbalanced, given the job of making New Utopia somewhat appealing — “acceptable” might be the better word — to the viewer and finding something charming in its members’ deluded self-abasement.

STREAM IT, but we’re definitely giving you the head’s up that the gag-heavy first few episodes of Praise Petey may turn you off as you also realize that you haven’t laughed much during a particular episode.

Were the series sharper or more ambitious in other areas, these occasional giggles might feel like enough. But it’s not, and so the parts of Praise Petey that work are spread through long stretches of stuff that’s just kind of there. This includes the show’s attempts to grapple with its own core premise.