The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window - General Discussion

[CCTC]

I liked that a lot of the parody was more subtle and not over the top.  The actors' bad acting was spot-on and really not that far from what you see in the Lifetime movies.  The little girl was a good actor, and even in the early episodes played the generic overly sweet precocious kid with just a touch of parody (although she might have been influenced more by the Hallmark movies than Lifetime).

I liked a lot of Anna's inner monologs - when all you have are nightmares you forget how to dream (or something similar) and "There is no I in Heaven".  

Another favorite line "You are no longer in my prayers Anna!"

I think it maybe could have been an episode shorter, but it amused me.

And you really cannot go wrong with a closing cameo of

Spoiler

Glenn Close.

 

[MBayGal]

On 1/31/2022 at 3:04 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

) I guess one could say that Anna wasn't trying to be a closet drinker, or she was pretty bad at it. Why she retained the corks from bottles past doesn't make any real sense other than maybe that she's mentally ill/a hoarder. 

I have a lot of friends who collect their wine corks.Some glue them in a frame to make a bulletin board. But one couple had their son make them a wood and glass end table with an opening in which they drop their corks.  Last I saw them, it was pretty damn full!

[Ms Blue Jay]

Yeah I think I saw something like this on Property Brothers: Forever Home.  The winos that had their place renovated asked for the brothers to make a clear box holding all of their corks as a showpiece in their kitchen or pantry.

[tennisgurl]

I'm snowed in so I watched this in about a day, it was a fun easy binge watch. I am quite familiar with the sort of genre they were parodying, its most obvious influence being Girl on the Train, but also Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, The Woman in the Window, a lot of those "a person in a location" thrillers. I think that the tone felt off at times, sometimes they seemed to be playing it somewhat straight, especially with the dead daughter, but then they would switch to being an over the top parody, it felt like whiplash, like they couldn't quite decide how far they wanted to take the parody. That being said, I thought the more subtle jokes were the funniest, and the rambling monologues were really on point for a lot of those sorts of books/movies. I also laughed every time Anna just flopped to the ground and started crawling through the rain for no reason, I swear someone dramatically crawls in every single one of those. And that bread conversation was amazing. And Anna's dramatic mental reenactments of the murders.

I admit that they got me on who the murderer was, I was sure it was the husband and he was gaslighting Anna. That little girl really leaned into the crazy, she might have been the actor who hit the perfect tone. 

Just the title itself cracks me up. If there is a season two I'll watch, especially if 

Spoiler

Glenn Close comes back.

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Kristi800]

Quote

its most obvious influence being Girl on the Train, but also Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, The Woman in the Window, a lot of those "a person in a location" thrillers. 

I recently finished The Flight Attendant with Kaley Cuocco and she was another (drunk) "unreliable" narrator. Sad that women are usually not taken seriously, even if they aren't drinkers due to some trauma or not.

[Miss Chevious]

You know what sticks with me after watching this? Chicken casserole. Haven’t made it in a long time. Now I can’t wait to make some. In my vintage Corning Ware baking dish. 

[chediavolo]

9 hours ago, Miss Chevious said:

You know what sticks with me after watching this? Chicken casserole. Haven’t made it in a long time. Now I can’t wait to make some. In my vintage Corning Ware baking dish. 

She sure had a lot of those! 

[Miss Chevious]

3 hours ago, chediavolo said:

She sure had a lot of those! 

Like someone up thread said, she probably buys them in bulk, lol. 

[S. Lindsey]

I loved the limited series. I think Kristen Bell pulled off the entire vibe. The show had mystery, comedy (“I feel like I was hit by a MAC truck driven by a 9 yr old”) funny when she calls Lisa a bitch but backs down quickly when Lisa asks her what she said. It wasn’t meant to be serious, it wasn’t for an audience of grieving mothers or spouse. In my opinion it hit the mark with an audience that wanted something with a mystery twist and that would enjoy a parody spoof.

 

[Avabelle]

I loved this. It was hilarious. Silly, easy to follow and we flew through the season in one day. I’d love and assume we’ll get a season two as Merfliz has renewed much worse. 
 

I couldn’t believe sexy rexy was only on one episode. For the amount of publicity Kristen Bell and the actor got from hanging out while this show was being filmed I expected him to feature a lot more.

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, Avabelle said:

I couldn’t believe sexy rexy was only on one episode. For the amount of publicity Kristen Bell and the actor got from hanging out while this show was being filmed I expected him to feature a lot more.

What the heck!  She is married to Dex!  There are like a thousand pictures of Kristen and Benjamin together.......  is there something scandalous happening?

I watched the whole series at once so I didn't realize he was only in one episode.  It felt like more!

Edited February 7, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[DrSpaceman73]

On 1/28/2022 at 3:53 PM, Snapdragon said:

So I think this show is supposed to be a parody of all the "Woman in the.../Girl who..." mysteries that has been so popular lately but the tone is all wrong for that.  There are a some over the top things (the circumstances of the daughter's death, the constant drinking, etc) but they don't go far enough with it to be funny and the rest of the scenes are so serious that it comes off way more as straight muder thriller.  Some of the things they do, I'm not even sure if they're supposed to be a parody or not.  For instance, the epitaph on the daughter's gravestone changes between episode 1 & 2.  Is that supposed to be parody humor or clue that Anna is having hallucinations?  I'm halfway though so I'll finish it out but I doubt it'll be something I recommend to others.

This is the problem I had too. It couldn't decide to be a parody or a real mystery.  It got more parody at the end but up to then it was a little parody and the rest seemed serious.  

It's the same problem I had with the Orville. 

[CrystalBlue]

I enjoyed the ride of this show because I didn't have any expectations beyond the trailer.  I'm neither a KB fan or hater, so she didn't affect me one way or the other.  I rewound for the episode description which said it is a dark comedy.  It was news to me that it was a comedy, black or otherwise, and then read something about the show being a parody of all things of the genre.  So for me it was a mashup of a dramedy, dark comedy/black comedy and the parody parts in a whodunit.

Spoiler

I didn't see the little girl being the murderer coming.  Had no idea that ex-hubby was also Therapist.

I would watch a second season, but I guess they'd have to retitle it "The Woman on The Airplane Who Saw The Seatmate Passenger in The Lavatory."

Such fun!

[Avabelle]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

What the heck!  She is married to Dex!  There are like a thousand pictures of Kristen and Benjamin together.......  is there something scandalous happening?

I know. The media really tried to get people talking but it never caught on. I’ve no idea what, if anything even, went on as she appears happily married so it could have been nothing. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

5 hours ago, Avabelle said:

I know. The media really tried to get people talking but it never caught on. I’ve no idea what, if anything even, went on as she appears happily married so it could have been nothing. 

Wow .  Maybe they really were just promoting the show this way.  You're so savvy!  😁

[SoMuchTV]

Kristen Bell was on a recent "Bullseye with Jesse Thorn" podcast (and it might also be a radio show?)  Bonus for anyone who might care, the guest interviewer was Helen Zaltzman, who had a long-running podcast dedicated to Veronica Mars.

Insider info on the casserole dishes:  They went through about 40, and no vintage Corningware was harmed - they were specially painted white dishes.

[ichbin]

On 1/30/2022 at 3:45 AM, Zonk said:

A lot of things were too on the nose. I get that the daughter being eaten by a cannibal is to parody the implausible tragedies that befall families in these movies, but that is just not far enough removed from the original to be funny. I could see that happening in a slightly different way, played totally straight. What would have been funny would have been if they subverted that expectation and the daughter would have died by slipping in the parkinglot on the way home or something. They already had a perfect setup with KB stoping the story midway through in the first episode.

If they do a second season, I hope they steer way more into the absurde.

I agree.  The way it played out it seemed more like the change in tone was decided upon mid-way through filming or that the genre itself was a red herring.  I think I would have enjoyed it more as an actual crime drama. The comedy and parody was too weak.

[foxfreakinmulder]

2 hours ago, ichbin said:

 I think I would have enjoyed it more as an actual crime drama. The comedy and parody was too weak.

I agree. I haven't watched the movies or read the books this was supposed to be a parody of and didn't know that's what it was. It was listed as a dark comedy and I kept waiting for that but I didn't find it funny at all. For me it started out interesting, not knowing if she was hallucinating or what. I was even thinking it was her in the attic but in her mind she's hearing someone else up there. Yeah, I would've enjoyed this more if it was an actual murder mystery and not a parody.

[MicheleinPhilly]

I enjoyed this. It's not great television and certainly won't win any awards but it was a fine weekend binge to take me out of my head for a couple of days. 

I tend to avoid "The Woman", "The Girl" books like the plague these days after reading a few and realizing they all rely on the same tropes. They also like to throw in an M. Night Shymalamadingdong type twist at the end that is usually laughable so seeing a send-up was great fun for me. 

I wouldn't be mad if they made a second series but seeing as how this one worked because she was a lonely drunk, I don't know how they could replicate it. 

[nora1992]

On 2/4/2022 at 9:02 PM, Miss Chevious said:

You know what sticks with me after watching this? Chicken casserole. Haven’t made it in a long time. Now I can’t wait to make some. In my vintage Corning Ware baking dish. 

Just remember your potholders!

By episode 5, I sarcastically predicted the killer.  Really surprised to be right.

[libgirl2]

WE started this last night and so far we are enjoying it. 

[peachmangosteen]

12 hours ago, nora1992 said:

By episode 5, I sarcastically predicted the killer.  Really surprised to be right.

I did the same in ep 2. I think making Emma the killer was the best thing this show did. It was just perfectly hilarious.

[DrSpaceman73]

I thought the killer would be the friend of hers who owns the art gallery, was weird how'd she'd always pop up at her house. 

I had a passing thought it would be the daughter and thought no, the simpsons already did it. 

[partofme]

22 hours ago, nora1992 said:

Just remember your potholders!

By episode 5, I sarcastically predicted the killer.  Really surprised to be right.

Spoiler

In The Woman in The Window, the killer is the 15 year old son, so I considered it, but thought she was too young.   

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, partofme said:

  Hide contents

In The Woman in The Window, the killer is the 15 year old son, so I considered it, but thought she was too young.   

 

Spoiler

Because she is!  LOL!  It's so outlandish and ridiculous and makes no sense.  I understand it's a parody, but I would have liked for the ending to have made sense a BIT.  If it did, I would have thought much higher of the series overall.  

 

 

[30 Helens]

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, given the advance reviews. But then, I’m a big fan of absurdist humor, so a lot of things that people found ridiculous struck me as funny, because that was the point.

One of my favorite parts was the reveal of how the daughter died. We already knew that Anna found rain very upsetting, because it was raining when her daughter died, and they show the girl getting into a car with her father, and of course this is going to lead to a tragic car crash… But no. The rain is a red herring because the daughter made it to Daddy’s job just fine. And was eaten by a cannibal. That came out of nowhere, was over-the-top unexpected, and made me laugh because of that. It was absurd.

Of course it’s ridiculous and stupid to introduce your child to a serial killer. But again, that’s the point. The renowned doctor is an idiot.

The many broken casserole dishes, the never-ending mailbox repair, the inevitable mid-street clumsiness— these are all absurdist touches that worked for me because they are also callbacks to things in other books/ movies that were presented in a more serious way. I also liked the wine cork bowl— if you’re going to make her an alcoholic, have her embrace it in a big way.

I also called the final twist early on, mostly because of a title that I will spoiler tag in case anyone has plans to read it (or see the movie).

Spoiler

This series drew heavily from The Woman in the Window, right down to the main character’s name. In that book— also a movie on Netflix— the killer turned out to be the teenaged boy who lived in the murder house across the street and who Anna had befriended. So I figured, if you’re going to borrow that premise, why not also make this kid the killer, and while you’re at it, make her even younger and more innocent looking? I’m going to guess they thought about making her a baby, but couldn’t figure out how to make her wield the knife.

This wasn’t the best show I’ve ever seen, and I will agree that not everything landed. But as a fun diversion, I thought it was worth the time spent. 

[Aileen]

On 1/30/2022 at 11:00 AM, peachmangosteen said:

 

 

lol I don’t think they explained that. Hilarious.

She was under the blanket in the wagon she was dragging around. Her foot fell out of it in a flashback.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Aileen

[Red Fields]

I laughed during the sex scene when Anna’s head was pushing against the corks in the bowl.

[libgirl2]

WE finished it last night. It was just harmless fun. Silly at times, but I was really into it. I didn't expect the killer to turn out to be who they were. And yes, I am thinking about making a chicken casserole!

[SoMuchTV]

On 2/8/2022 at 1:26 PM, SoMuchTV said:

Kristen Bell was on a recent "Bullseye with Jesse Thorn" podcast (and it might also be a radio show?)  Bonus for anyone who might care, the guest interviewer was Helen Zaltzman, who had a long-running podcast dedicated to Veronica Mars.

Insider info on the casserole dishes:  They went through about 40, and no vintage Corningware was harmed - they were specially painted white dishes.

Quoting myself to add one other juicy detail I remembered from the interview:  The wine in the bottles she was pouring from was pre-measured so she knew she could pour the contents of the whole bottle without it spilling over the top of her glass.  How she managed to actually carry the full glass is still an accomplishment!

[CrystalBlue]

Since the other movie which has come out at the same time on Netflix was cited in the Spoilers, and not a spoiler about this series TWITHATSFTGITW, I went ahead and read the Spoilers because I had already finished this series.  I had not known about the other movie yet.

[Ms Blue Jay]

9 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Quoting myself to add one other juicy detail I remembered from the interview:  The wine in the bottles she was pouring from was pre-measured so she knew she could pour the contents of the whole bottle without it spilling over the top of her glass.  How she managed to actually carry the full glass is still an accomplishment!

All this wine stuff reminds me of Cougar Town.  CT already seemed to be parodying all the wine moms out there, but this show took it even further, I guess.

3 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Since the other movie which has come out at the same time on Netflix was cited in the Spoilers, and not a spoiler about this series TWITHATSFTGITW, I went ahead and read the Spoilers because I had already finished this series.  I had not known about the other movie yet.

Same.

[Bastet]

On 1/30/2022 at 9:58 AM, iMonrey said:

For something that was billed as a "dark comedy" I didn't think it was funny, at all. I thought overall it worked as a straight-forward murder mystery, but there were some really stupid things that I guess were supposed to be funny but brought the whole story down, drama-wise. Like the way Anna's daughter supposedly died - who the hell brings their daughter to work when they are interviewing serial killers?? Stupid, not funny. And the fact that the handyman was endlessly fixing the mailbox. 

So stuff like this made me think this was going to all turn out to be one giant hallucination. Also, the part at the end where she's in the hospital and everyone comes in to apologize. It would have worked better, and I kept waiting for it - for this whole thing to have been some sort of fever dream. Or have it turn out the ex-husband was gaslighting her. Some kind of twist to explain the inconsistencies and stupid stuff. It just didn't read as parody to me, it read as dumb.

 

On 1/30/2022 at 12:17 PM, sadie said:

I watched to the end waiting for the big twist that this was all a hallucination or she had been in a coma the whole time dreaming, but nope. None of this made any sense, and I didn’t realize it was supposed to be a dark comedy it was not, I like Kristen Bell as an old time Veronica Mars fan, but why she signed on for this dreck is the true mystery. Why have the headstones on the kids grave change from episode to episode if we were supposed to be living in reality, and the final episode with the little kid going nut bar was just kind of disturbing and not in a fun way. This does not need a second season.

I watched this on a lark because the title sounded funny, and I liked Kristen Bell when I watched The Good Place last year (prior to that, I'd only seen her in those commercials with her husband).  But I think that may have been a foolish choice, since I don't read/watch the genre it's parodying and am thus totally unfamiliar with the tropes.  So the tone was all wrong to me - it wasn't a dark comedy, it was a mystery with occasional funny lines, but then all of a sudden in the final episode it's utterly absurd.

Add me to the list who thought this had to all be a giant hallucination, because there is NO WAY someone can decide THAT MORNING to take their nine-year-old child with them into a prison, let alone into the room with an unrestrained serial killer.  I had no doubt she'd made up "my daughter got eaten by a serial killer" as a way of coping with whatever really happened, I just didn't know what really happened.

Plus the changing epitaphs can't possibly be real, so those seemingly normal scenes are false.

And then when the detective immediately believed her and her husband's claim that a little girl had done all these murders and a parade of people came into Anna's hospital room to apologize and she used the same "Like I got run over by a truck, driven by a nine-year-old," I thought, Okay, here's where we find out it's all a [something] and find out what's really going on.

Instead, she's reconciled with her husband, has popped out another kid, is on her way to visit her friend.  So it was real?  But then she sees a dead body that disappears 10 seconds later.

No, thanks - I will not be tuning in for that mystery if there's a second season. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Anyone here a "Heathers" fan?  The same director directed that movie and this series and the tone makes more sense if you think about it like that.  It's just so satirical.  Heathers is even darker than this.  "Heathers" is weird and it took me a few times to "Get".

Edited February 16, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[halkatla]

On 2/13/2022 at 6:10 AM, 30 Helens said:

The rain is a red herring because the daughter made it to Daddy’s job just fine. And was eaten by a cannibal. That came out of nowhere, was over-the-top unexpected, and made me laugh because of that. It was absurd.

That was the funniest thing about the show.

[stewedsquash]

I watched the whole series last night. I went in knowing nothing, thinking it was going to be a real thing with twists and turns and then it dawned on me that the whole show was a deliberate all the tropes all the time premise and it worked for me. 

Did anyone else notice the really large books that started showing up with titles referencing how to become an expert at whatever was being shown in the scene? 

I loved the wine tropes. If they do another season, I can't wait for what will be the vodka tropes. If it lasts beyond season two there is a whole liquor store full of future tropes. 

It probably won't make sense but this had a Portlandia feel for me. All the actors were embracing the parody.

I think I will probably go back and re-watch just to pick up on more of the tropes that I probably missed. 

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, stewedsquash said:

I can't wait for what will be the vodka tropes.

The only vodka trope I know is Anna waking up in a an alley with a five o'clock shadow.

[BellyLaughter]

A bonkers yet entirely enjoyable binge watch!!

2 thumbs up!

Did not pick the killer … not even close! 

[dubbel zout]

I agree with everyone who thought the tone didn't work. As a black comedy, it didn't have enough or be dark enough (save for maybe the daughter being murdered and eaten by a cannibal, but then, who brings their daughter to work if they're going to be talking to someone like that?), and as a satire, there wasn't enough of that, either, though I loved the little touches throughout, like all of the how-to books being some variation of "You Can Be a [insert hobby here]." And the wine corks pile getting ever larger was funny. As was the teacher falling from the lighthouse during the class picture. I'd have been really disappointed if the show hadn't done that. 

But the ultimate reveal of the daughter being the killer didn't work, because how did she dispose of the body? And get the drop on so many grownups? I get she was an unlikely murderer, but she was a 9-year-old girl. Whatever. This wasn't supposed to be true crime.

Loved the Glenn Close cameo—she must have had a riot doing that.

On 2/2/2022 at 4:05 PM, lorbeer said:

Does anybody know the meaning of the casserrole? 😄 I couldn't figure that out, why did she bring it to everyone.

It's a common practice to bring over casseroles to people who just moved in (saves them digging out the kitchen stuff and going shopping to cook that first meal), as well as to people who are sick, grieving, etc. Some people have a signature casserole. I kept thinking the Pyrex CorningWare dish would be some sort of clue, but it ended up as a weapon.

[chaifan]

I'm a bit torn on how I feel about this show.  I really like Kristen Bell, and I liked her in this.  But I felt more confused than amused most of the time.  I knew it was supposed to be a parody/dark comedy, but it still wasn't hitting that tone for me, or not enough. 

I thought the humor mostly came from the props.  Like others have noted, above, the funny "how to be ____" instruction books (a whole pile of them in the attic), the always broken mail box, the ridiculously large wine glasses filled to the brim (props to KB for pouring 2 at one time!), the Buell stuffing the raccoon, the Woman on a ____ books.  Oh, and not really props, but I loved the sex scene montage with all the cliche places to have sex - shower sex, stair sex, more shower sex, kitchen counter sex (with the wine corks), more shower sex...   But with few exceptions (the texting for bread scene being one, the line of apologies in the hospital room another) I thought the rest of the show was played too straight. 

And then there were things that I couldn't figure out if they were parody or continuity errors - the amount of wine in the glasses suddenly changing, in the mani/pedi scene a manicurist would be working on KB's right hand in one shot, and she'd be gesturing with it in the next shot.  Not to mention that KB looked fantastic after a night sleeping on the floor in a jail cell.  Is this a riff on bad editing, or is it bad editing???

I did not see the little girl as the killer.  I really thought it was going to be the nosy neighbor.  And I couldn't watch that fight scene with Emma and Anna.  Sorry, I don't care how fake it is, I can't watch a grown up beat up a small child.  I had to fast forward through it, even though it got more and more ridiculous, I just couldn't watch a kid being beat up. 

But, I will forgive all because they cast Marc Evan Jackson as the lighthouse keeper.  That was the best part of this series, hands down.

 

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, chaifan said:

And I couldn't watch that fight scene with Emma and Anna.  Sorry, I don't care how fake it is, I can't watch a grown up beat up a small child.  I had to fast forward through it, even though it got more and more ridiculous, I just couldn't watch a kid being beat up. 

Make sure you stay away from the TV Show, "The Baby" coming out on April 24th on HBO, about a cute little tiny murder machine who does not discriminate based on people's age.

[dubbel zout]

12 hours ago, chaifan said:

they cast Marc Evan Jackson as the lighthouse keeper.  That was the best part of this series, hands down.

I LOVED that. He was *chef's kiss* in the role.

[Shermie]

On 1/31/2022 at 1:30 PM, Miss Chevious said:

I’m just up to episode 4 but not sure if I can keep going. It’s just too idiotic. Some examples/observations:

1) Who in the hell lets their little daughter go to a maximum security prison full of killers/child molesters in the first place? I don’t care if it’s Take Your Kid To Work Day, that kind of place is not for kids. 

2) How long does it take to install/repair a mailbox? Days, apparently. 

3) How many identical Blue Flower Corningware baking dishes does this chick have?

4) Why didn’t the cops check if the girlfriend Lisa actually showed up at her scheduled flight’s destination the next day? That would’ve been easy to check and would’ve at least alerted them to the possibility of foul play if she hadn’t. 

5) That gigantic bowl of corks cracked me up. Real closet drinkers don’t want to keep souvenirs of how much they’re actually consuming. A real lush would throw each cork in the trash ASAP as each bottle is consumed.

Y’all don’t understand spoof?

I thought it was highly entertaining. I like Kristen Bell, esp in the Bad Moms movies. I don’t understand the comments that it wasn’t parody enough, and then people post all these examples of parody scenes. 

When Glenn Close was sitting next to Kristen Bell, their profiles and hairstyles were so similar, I thought they were going to have some sort of mother-daughter reveal (which wouldn’t make sense, since it would have nothing to do with the plot, so maybe that’s for season 2). Or maybe Glenn Close will be Kristen Bell in the future, her older self. 

[lucindabelle]

Remind me again why she killed the father?

i did enjoy this but did expect it to be bigger in its humor- the faux British accent was so good but then for a long time it was just sad.

After a while I just accepted that the humor was more subtle- the way Meredith’s sister said “your casserole” with so much portent- and went with it.

i liked th e ending.

[DanaMB]

I did not like it. Figured out the killer early on. 
 

Was really hoping for a twist at the end. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by DanaMB

[Blue Plastic]

On 1/28/2022 at 2:53 PM, Snapdragon said:

So I think this show is supposed to be a parody of all the "Woman in the.../Girl who..." mysteries that has been so popular lately but the tone is all wrong for that.  There are a some over the top things (the circumstances of the daughter's death, the constant drinking, etc) but they don't go far enough with it to be funny and the rest of the scenes are so serious that it comes off way more as straight muder thriller.  Some of the things they do, I'm not even sure if they're supposed to be a parody or not.  For instance, the epitaph on the daughter's gravestone changes between episode 1 & 2.  Is that supposed to be parody humor or clue that Anna is having hallucinations?  I'm halfway though so I'll finish it out but I doubt it'll be something I recommend to others.

I'm on the last episode, and this is about where I come down. It followed the pattern of a meant-to-be-serious mystery a lot of the time and then threw in the really over-the-top details that were supposed to be funny but weren't and took me out of the "serious" part of the story.

I probably have a higher-than-average ability to suspend disbelief because I didn't find the circumstances of the daughter Elizabeth's death that out of place. I was figuring there was more to it than meets the eye, so I overlooked it. It wasn't really until the last three episodes that I was completely taken out of the story and it was all just over the top. The acting wasn't believable anymore for a drama/serious mystery but wasn't funny enough for a dramedy, either.

Disappointed because I was liking it until the end there.