It seems like the AppleTV television model these days is just to throw money at it. Their shows all look incredible and expensive. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are good. Underneath the glossy surface is actually, well nothing. Style over substance is the defining mantra for Palm Royale. The show follows Kristen Wiig as Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons, an outsider striving to attain a place in the high society of Palm Beach, Florida in 1969 through the town’s most exclusive country club. And it really does look sensational. Every scene, every shot is a spectacle in itself. The colors, the set design, the costuming, the many moving parts, you can see all of the money that went into it. The vibe of it all gave me echoes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which took place in a similar time period, but also played like a musical without the music (even both do have some smaller musical numbers). 

But once the awe of the aesthetic wears off, you start to wonder what the show is actually about. It doesn’t seem like the creators themselves even know the answer to that question. Each tiny plot thread feels like it lasts for a scene or two before something different happens and everything changes. This format is actually what kept me mildly invested for a few episodes because I would be totally uninterested in a plotline but then there would be a new twist or reveal and I was pulled back in. But after 4 or 5 episodes of this, I realized that I ultimately didn’t really care about any of the plotlines or the characters for that matter. There was nothing and no one to grow attached to because nothing and no one was fully formed. 

I liked seeing Kristen Wiig take on a larger, not purely comedic role but at times her Tennessee accent felt like it slipped into her SNL Target lady voice. Honestly, if this entire series had been boiled down to a 3 minute SNL sketch I think it might have worked better. Some moments from this series leaned so far into the absurdist that they could have been taken straight from rejected SNL sketches (that were rejected for good reason). 

I really wanted to like show because I thought the premise had a lot of potential, the cast is stacked (Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, Leslie Bibb, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Carol Burnett, Bruce Dern, Kaia Gerber), and the visual world is a beautiful, aspirational place to live in. But the series just couldn’t deliver on any of the excitement or tension it tried to build. Even the ending which seemed manufactured for shock value (and to set up a second season that likely will never come) created more confusion than impact. What was it all for? What was this entire show trying to say? I think AppleTV needs to give audiences a little more credit than thinking they can just distract us from bad writing with pretty imagery and maybe they should divert some of their show budgets into ensuring that the product they’re making is good and not just making sure that whatever they do make looks good. I would recommend not wasting your time on this show.

2024 Count: 13 seasons/specials, 26 movies