Ricky Gervais' new animated sitcom Alley Cats hit Netflix yesterday, and it's fair to say it was a little divisive. The general critical consensus was that the show, about a grumpy, foul-mouthed cat called Gus who's trying to help a lost kitten get home, wasn't very good.
Critical Reception
Metacritic, a site that aggregates review scores, has given the show a rather paltry 39/100. The Independent gave it one star and called it 'abrasive, smug, and completely mirthless,' and The Telegraph said it was 'abysmal' in a zero-star review. Another reviewer wrote that Alley Cats was 'the televisual equivalent of a black hole of bad ideas'.
However, not everyone thought Alley Cats was complete bilge. Variety wrote that it was 'enjoyably low-key binge' and The Guardian claimed it had 'glimmers of potential in this comedy' (although they still only gave it two stars). The Times gave it three out of five, and there's a glowing quote from Heat Magazine on the poster calling it 'delightful and outrageous'.
Gervais' Perspective
Ricky doesn't really care about critics, as he explained during a recent live stream where he was asked what advice he'd give to up-and-coming comedians. Sitting in front of his hoard of gleaming gold prizes and gongs, the Derek star said: 'When I first started out I wanted affirmation. I wanted a five-star review, and I wanted to win an award. Actually, I didn't want to win an award, but when I did I really liked it, but I did want to get good reviews from the posh papers, as opposed to caring how many people watched it or came to the gig. Now I'd tell a young comedian "don't worry about that". It doesn't matter because they're so fickle, everyone gets a turn. They don't mean it. They judge it differently to the people you're trying to make laugh… worry about the public.'
Public Reaction
So with that in mind, did the public like Alley Cats? Well, it depends where you go looking for reaction. On Rotten Tomatoes, the Audience Score is a rather disappointing 45%. Melinda S gave it just half a star and wrote: 'Give me my 15 minutes back, you talentless hack' while @Fbuisuiy added: 'The writing is lazy, the jokes feel recycled, and the cast is basically the same group he's used across his last three projects.'
However, the show's got a far better reception on X. @the_davidhicks shared that he thought Alley Cats was 'wonderful,' asking: 'Why can't all telly be this good?' @billy_knight called it 'another Ricky Gervais masterpiece,' kindly adding that the show had 'made him cry'. @dreyfusjames chimed in to tell Ricky to ignore the critics because he'd made a 'wickedly funny, very rude and unexpectedly moving'.
Over on Reddit (which has accused Ricky of getting a bit complacent in recent years), viewers were less entertained. One post titled 'Alley Cats is exhaustingly bad,' dannyb1996 called it a 'new creative low' for Ricky, explaining how the show is lazy and 'incomprehensibly empty' while confusing swearing for jokes. But not everyone on Reddit hates the show. Username42101 wrote: 'My expectations were so low that I was actually pleasantly surprised that I found some bits quite funny.'
Viewership
It's worth pointing out as well that the show is (in the UK at least) second on the Netflix top ten, so people are clearly watching it. Alley Cats is available to watch now on Netflix.
