Meghan Markle’s With Love show has a lowly 11 per cent rating from viewers with it behind wrestling and sitcoms on Netflix’s chart.
The delayed lifestyle series was slammed by critics yesterday after its premiere as ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’.
It currently sits at number six on the streaming channel’s top 10 behind Kate Hudson’s basketball comedy series Running Point and WWE.
Hollywood bible magazine Variety panned the Duchess of Sussex’s series as ‘a Montecito ego trip not worth taking’ in a no holds barred review.
Critics have described the show as a rigid and scripted production, comparing it to a military-like procession where guests are expected to shower Meghan with compliments in exchange for a chance to be on her TV set.
‘”With Love, Meghan” is made with a great deal of love — in the sense that the greatest love of all is the one that a person has for herself.’
The series has a lowly 11 per cent rating from more than 250 ratings from viewers on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes.
A scathing one star reviewer quipped: ‘This isn’t even a fun hate watch. It’s just bad.’
Meghan Markle ‘s With Love show has a lowly 11 per cent rating from viewers with it behind wrestling and sitcoms on Netflix ‘s chart
Meghan pictured with Prince Harry who makes a fleeting appearance in his wife’s lifestyle series
The series has a lowly 11 per cent rating from more than 250 ratings from viewers on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes
A fellow low scorer said watching With Love was the ‘worst few minutes of my life’.
One viewer expressed their discontent by stating that they found the first episode unwatchable due to its lack of excitement and originality, leading them to the brink of boredom. The viewer decided to stop watching the show altogether, feeling overwhelmed by its monotony.
Another individual criticized the show for being shallow and self-centered, emphasizing that it failed to deliver engaging content in either cooking or design. The critique highlighted the discomfort felt while watching the show, labeling it as a complete waste of time.
It doesn’t get much better on IMDb where it has a 2.6 out of 10 rating from more than 1,000 reviews.
Meghan, 43, last night shared a new photograph with Gloria Steinem on Instagram where she revealed that she’s ‘filmed something fun’ while in New York.
Taking to Instagram, she shared a clip of her walking in a hallway from behind while dressed in a pair of wide-leg trousers and a simple white vest, with the words: ‘Filmed something fun in the city today’.
But her new lifestyle series could be the last TV show she makes for Netflix as part of her $100million deal, commentators said, after the programme received a raft of withering reviews from critics.
While the Sussexes’ first documentary Harry & Meghan about their lives in 2022 was a major success in terms of audience numbers, two further productions about other subjects – Heart of Invictus in 2023 and Polo last December – slumped in the ratings.
‘With Love, Meghan’ currently sits at number six in Netflix’s top 10 – behind WWE wrestling and Kate Hudson’s comedy Running Point
Rotten Tomatoes reviewers have left scathing comments about the new series in a new blow for the Duchess
Prince Harry tells his wife Meghan: ‘Well done. You did a great job.’ in the new Netflix show
‘With Love, Meghan’ lands on Netflix is aimed at showing a new side to the Duchess of Sussex
Now, the couple will be desperate for Meghan’s new show to be a hit as questions remain over the future of their Netflix deal if their content is not popular enough.
Experts say a lack of revelations from the Sussexes about the monarchy – which were a major feature of their 2022 show – will likely lead to less interest from viewers.
While Harry and Meghan are hoping the new show will be a hit, reception in Britain has been poor so far and it is unclear whether it will be the success they desire.
The series was slammed by TV reviewers yesterday as ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’ as well as being ‘so awful it is almost compelling’.
In Amanda Platell’s Mail+ column, which you can read here, she said Harry would be as ‘desperate’ as Meghan for the show to be successful so they can continue their ‘millionaire LA lifestyles’.
Others from left-leaning publications such as the Guardian have warned this could be the last show Meghan and her husband Prince Harry ever make for Netflix if it is not a ratings success – describing it as ‘pointless’.
One said it shows the Duchess is ‘attempting to cling to fame by any means possible’, while another described how she was ‘joylessly filling kids’ party bags with seeds’.
Reacting to the negative reception, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline: ‘This, after the Hearts of Invictus series failed to grab viewers’ attention and the Polo series predictably didn’t either, is make or break for Meghan.
With Love, Meghan launched on the Netflix at 8am UK time today and midnight in California
The Duchess of Sussex launched her new lifestyle series ‘With Love, Meghan’ this morning
The Duchess of Sussex made several mentions of her two children, Archie, five, and Lilibet, two, in her new Netflix show – offering insight into very private upbringing in Montecito, in the US
‘It didn’t begin well. The trailer was extremely unpopular on social media. The reviews have been excoriating.’
He pointed out that the Sussexes have lost their Spotify deal with no more known book deals, while their charity foundation Archewell is a ‘relatively minor enterprise’.
But Mr Fitzwilliams said Meghan had ‘positioned herself as some form of influencer’ and had success with her lifestyle blog The Tig before she married Harry.
He added: ‘Who will watch apart from the fans? Perhaps a few stay at home moms who can afford the luxury which Meghan obviously worships.
‘At the moment she and Harry can too. However, after spending four hours watching a series as bad as this, one has to ask, for how much longer?’
Mr Fitzwilliams also pointed out that Harry and Meghan’s contract with Netflix was previously ‘useful to the streaming giant as they were also releasing episodes of The Crown’, but that the streaming network will have ‘undoubtedly been disillusioned with the Sussexes’ failure to come up with a money maker’.
