Ray Donovan

The trick to Ray Donovan, its gift to TV art, is to make almost every character emerge fully formed, and each scene a stunning vignette: of tragedy.

Occupying familiar anti-hero territory with grim and often outrageous resolve, Ray Donovan is a sun-bleached noir and a character actor's paradise.

Uncompromising and funny stuff so far. [10/17 Jul 2015, p.102]

Viewers may find it takes some concentration to sort out the lineup and the dramas here. The payoff is worth the investment.

The first four episodes supplied to critics are engaging, but especially in the aftermath of his passing, the shadow of James Gandolfini is, sadly, everywhere.

There's enough strong raw material on hand that Ray Donovan could eventually be built into something great. Right now, though, it's raw material in search of a series.

Moments [of rampant product placement] cheapen an already paper-thin premise and unstable narrative trajectory that means to measure masculinity by how tortured a man acts and how miserable he feels each time he beats the shit out of someone.

Great show but at some point the fact that everybody is always completely drunk, it become annoying!! Especially Ray, I mean, the guy is 95% of the time totally drunk.

I have seriously mixed feelings about Ray Donovan. The first season was great and I had high hopes for the second season. I stayed with it up until the end of the fourth season. I even liked the shows messiness but found it irritatingly over the top at times. By season four, I had developed a serious death wish for the character of Abby who I found annoyingly self-absorbed, not to mention hysterical. By the third episode of season five, I was ready to give up on the series, Abby having died but refusing to go away. The heavy reliance on nonlinear timelines exacerbated my annoyance with this fifth season and it seemed to me that the writing was noticeable weaker. Not yet decided if I'll continue watching.

Like watching The Sopranos IF it were made by the WALKER, TEXAS RANGER guys. One of the most talented casts..SQUANDERED by MIND NUMBINGLY PATHETIC writing! Watched ALL of 1st season just to see if it could salvage itself (IMO it didn't). John Voight actually SOMEHOW manages to shine despite these CLOWN scripts..James Woods? he must'a really needed the money.

Who ever decided to change the writing skills for season 5 should be fired. I started watching it and thought I may have missed something in season 4. Nope! Some writer thought it would be fun to write like he or she was bio polar. I found myself going back and fourth in time warp. Not happy and just started season 6 and

Un très bon acteur ici, Liev Schreiber, un habitué des seconds et troisièmes rôles au cinéma et qui se retrouve comme un poisson dans l’eau ici, sans oublier ce bon Jon Voight le vieux briscard qu’on ne présente plus et qui s’amuse comme un petit fou… Malheureusement, c’est un feu de paille, car le rythme du début s’effondre brutalement et ne parvient jamais à se relever… et continue de pédaler dans la semoule. Mais le problème majeur et rédhibitoire réside dans les accents tarantineux insupportables par leur lourdeur et la caricature permanente de tous les personnages et intervenants dont les gaudrioles soûlent considérablement. Pire, on a cette détestable impression de se taper un GTA (oui, les jeux de merde de Rocktarte) en série télévisée avec tout ce que ça implique de situations forcées et outrées complètement à côté de la plaque. Par ailleurs, l’histoire n’est qu’une baudruche qui se traîne comme une limace épouvantable de lenteur, une histoire en vérité très mince, répétitive et agitée par les mêmes tics et stéréotypes d’un épisode à l’autre. Quel échec cuisant, donc !