Queen America

In the first three episodes at least, the series features some surprisingly tense adult moments and some language that was bleeped out. Along the way, there are some cutting observations about the pageant scene.

The series has its share of catty jokes, but its attitude toward the hairspray-clouded milieu it depicts is more earnest and nuanced than the one in Insatiable. It also has some solid performances. Zeta-Jones is always at her best when she’s fiery, and this part gives her plenty of opportunities to shift into beast mode. ... There are also some awkward choices that ring false in Queen America, particularly in the dialogue.

Zeta-Jones feels constrained by the show’s sensibility and its sour lack of ambition. That she fights as hard as she can to avoid being sucked into the eddy of just-good-enough makes the mismatch between star and show, one of the most striking in recent memory, all the more pronounced.

If you make it past the first two Queen America episodes, all a half-hour and none especially funny, you'll eventually get to watch some synchronized scenery-chewing from Zeta-Jones and Judith Light.