The Idol branded ‘one of the worst programmes ever made’ after disastrous finale

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “It is not just that The Idol is one of the worst programmes ever made – it’s also possibly the most squandered opportunity ever,” Leila Latif wrote in her one-star review for The Guardian. “Giant budget aside, post-Britney Spears, Kesha and Amy Winehouse, it’s high time to satirise pop starlet tragedies – and with this production featuring Hank Azaria, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Hari Nef and Rachel Sennott, it had more than enough talent to do so.” “Instead,” she argued, “we get the limp, glazed-over, chain-smoking nothingness of Lily-Rose Depp and a performance from Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye that should be tried at The Hague.” Latif added that despite viewers being braced for shocks, “nothing can prepare you to be so incredibly bored.” Although Latif’s review is perhaps the harshest, fellow critics shared similar sentiments. Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn in ‘The Idol’ Ed Power called The Idol “the worst TV show of the year” in his one-star review for The Telegraph. The New York Times’s Esther Zuckerman found that the series finale “had shockingly little to say about either pop music or power dynamics”, leading her to question: “What was the point of all that?” Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only.