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The Ex List
SERIES: CBS, Friday 9:00p (60 minutes)
Starring
Elizabeth Reaser,
Rachel Boston,
Adam Rothenberg,
Alexandra Breckenridge,
and
Amir Talai
A remake of a hit Israeli show about a woman who is told she must find her soul mate among her exes in the next year or she will never be in love again.
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy,
Drama
|
| CREATED BY: |
Segahl Avin
Rinat Ydor
|
| FIRST AIR DATE: |
October 3, 2008 |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn
The Ex List could be one of the more charming new shows of the fall.
80
Hollywood Reporter Ray Richmond
The Ex List is one of those rare new season surprises that consistently charms straight out of the box, boasting a clever premise (borrowed from Israeli television) and a disarmingly appealing lead in Elizabeth Reaser (a recurring player on "Grey's Anatomy").
80
Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray
A sassy, slightly raunchy comedy about a serial dater who's told by a fortune teller that if she marries, it will be within a year--to a guy she's already met.
80
Wall Street Journal Nancy DeWolf Smith
There is enough lively (if sometimes explicit) dialogue and reliable sexual appeal in all this to keep intuitive male viewers interested.
80
Time James Poniewozik
This My Name Is Girl concept may be outlandish, but Ex List is also fresh and raunchily funny (there's a scene in the pilot comparing feminine waxing choices to historical figures--the "Hitler," the "Gandhi") and Reaser is winning and adorable.
75
San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman
It stars Elizabeth Reaser ("Grey's Anatomy"), as Bella, who strikes the right balance of snide, seasoned relationship survivor and romantic hopeful. There's a winning cast, particularly Rachel Boston who plays Bella's sister and Amir Talai ("Campus Ladies") as one of Bella's male buddies.
75
Chicago Sun-Times Misha Davenport
The show succeeds best when it focuses on its main plot. A subplot involving her best friend and an extreme bikini waxing is crude for an otherwise lighthearted and romantic show.
75
New York Post Linda Stasi
The slightly-altered version that arrived for review more recently left me charmed.
70
Variety Phil Gallo
Dialogue by Diane Ruggiero is sharply written and realistic, observational and unhurried. It remains to be seen, though, whether 9 p.m. Friday viewers are ready for the debate over Vivian's new Brazilian.
70
Los Angeles Times Mary McNamara
Lust because something's almost unforgivably cute ("Holy hottie, Batman" is an actual line) doesn't mean it can't also be very good and very funny, which The Ex List is.
70
Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall
The Ex List has the kind of silly romantic comedy premise that makes you feel dumber just for hearing it, but the show itself is actually fairly smart and funny--for the time being, at least.
70
The New York Times Ginia Bellafante
The Ex List doesn’t solicit analysis, and it has no ambition to be debated. And yet, or rather because of, this narrower vision it is about as charming an hour of television as anyone female could hope to stay home for.
70
PopMatters Marisa Carroll
The supernatural premise underlying Bella’s quest may be fantastic, but the urgent desire to find a husband “before it’s too late” is unfortunately all too common.
60
Slate Troy Patterson
We bailed after the first of these dudes entered the frame, jolted by his frankly cheesy display of torso--"infomercial abs" was the damning phrase. But, until that moment, The Ex List had commanded our full attention in a way that the previous shows hadn't.
60
Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker
This slight but charming comedy, which debuts at 9 p.m. Friday, offers a good cast along with questionable dialogue and a dicey premise.
50
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
It’s more unfortunate when good actors are stranded in shows that don’t quite work, as is the case in The Ex List.
50
USA Today Robert Bianco
Unfortunately, when the show wanders off to the personality-deprived supporting characters, it collapses.
50
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
Despite a poor job of establishing its characters and their relationships (wait, those two aren't a couple?), The Ex-List begins with a strong, romantic premise.
42
Newsday Verne Gay
The Ex List--based on an Israeli hit ("Mythological Ex"), with whiffs of "How I Met Your Mother" and "My Name Is Earl" - is a flat-out great idea for a TV series. But Ruggiero (who's since left the show) needed a strong partner to reign in her worst impulses, like a running gag about shaved genitalia.
40
Salon Heather Havrilesky
The Ex List tries to pull off an impossible balancing act: We're supposed to believe that Bella is at once pathetic and admirable, hapless and perkily resilient. As a result, this scrounging-single fable is an unrealistic, clumsy, cringe-inducing mess.
40
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
There's probably a good, breezy romantic comedy somewhere inside The Ex List. But the premiere just made me cranky.
40
Washington Post Tom Shales
It has a promotable gimmick that could help it find a few fans--literally. If only the premise or the show were as bright as the light in the heroine's eyes.
40
New York Daily News David Hinckley
Bella, played by Elizabeth Reaser of "Grey's Anatomy," is pleasant, and viewers will appreciate how she works to keep urgency from devolving into desperation. But she's stuck in this guy-of-the-week plot that leaves little room to do anything but hope each guy has enough unique quirks so the jokes can change.
30
Miami Herald Glenn Garvin
CBS' new comedy-drama The Ex List is a descent to the most profound levels of Chick Flick Hell, where the damned and those with Y chromosomes cry out in agony through all eternity.
 The average user rating for this tv show is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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