Camping (TV Series) Pilot (2018) User Reviews

It Could Go Either Way

[GunnersMate · 5/10 · 15 October 2018]

The Pilot episode of the American version of Camping is a mixed bag. Jennifer Garner is fabulous and even though her character is over-the-top, there is a core of believability about her; if you don't share traits with her, you know people who do. David Tennant (even without his charming Scottish accent) is a calming and largely passive spouse to Garner's living-with-pain suppressively-organized main character and clearly has much regarding his personal story yet to be revealed. A tale about just the two of them has the potential to be entertaining.

But Camping has a broad and boisterous cast, and not one of them arrives quietly for the birthday celebration in this initial episode. We first meet the uncomfortably stereotypical campsite managers and then the largely-foul-mouthed invited family members that round out the cast. Juliette Lewis both chomps the scenery and steals the show when she arrives. Pilot is quick to throw out a multitude of awkward and unpleasant backstories and glimpses into the characters' relationships that promise to either allow some funny and insightful exploration of relationships or be painfully tedious. Ultimately, the series has the potential to be fascinating or simply annoying - it could go either way.

Camping - Pilot

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 29 December 2018]

Hell of a cast, I'll give "Camping" that. Garner as the exasperatingly organized mother attempting (and failing miserably due to a wildflower in Juliet Lewis who explodes into the show and envelops it) to operate a camping trip, her husband, Walt's (David Tennant, abandoning his Scot accent but maintaining his likable charm) birthday the topic of celebration, is perfect because we all are familiar with that control freak who wants to have everything so-so. Walt is seemingly cuckolded, emphatic with her due to a recent hysterectomy ("pipes were cleaned") but clearly exhausted, as sex has been evasive while Garner's Kathryn attempts to coral all the personalities (family/friends and their lovers either invited or arriving unannounced) into an orchestrated itinerary that ultimately falls apart before it can ever star efficiently. Kathryn clearly has the camping trip set up in her own mind but once Lewis' Jandice emerges, it all deteriorates. A pellet gun incident goes awry, where Kathryn believes she hears a bear, shooting Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto), with Lewis (a DJ among other things) riding him. The bear shows up later. There is obvious tension between Kathryn and Nina (Janicza Bravo), an awkward, too-long hug defining an event that seemingly caused a right not yet healed. Kathryn and Walt's son joined them on the trip. Cool to see Ione Skye (from one of my all-time favorite movies, "Say Anything") as Kathryn's sister, introducing arrivals (and one failure-to-appear due to a separation and affair with a waiter) not prepared for. George (Brett Gelman), Nina's husband, Joe (Chris Sullivan) and Sol (Cheyenne Haynes), Skye's Carleen's husband and daughter respectively, with Bridget Everett and Yimmy Yim (as camp proprietor lovers), round out the cast. This pilot really was about wrangling together the group, just interjecting briefly within its thirty minutes this divergence of characters so there wasn't much meat and viscera on the bones yet.

Pilot

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 20 March 2020]

The British version of Camping was a dark dramedy. I thought the first episode of the British version was bad and unfunny.

The pilot of the American remake was actually better.

The edges of some of the characters were smoothed and made more likeable. It still was not that funny.

Four couples gather together in a miserable campsite to celebrate the birthday of Walt (David Tennant) the hen pecked husband of Kathryn (Jennifer Garner) who has organised the outing.

Kathryn is humourless, selfish and controlling. She makes Walt carry the bags to the campsite and takes all the mattresses from the other tents before the others arrive. Actually she is less cruel than her British counterpart.

Kathryn meets her match with Jandice (Juliette Lewis) who is the new girlfriend of the recently separated Miguel. Jandice is a free spirit, liberated and fun loving. In this episode she strips naked and goes skinny dipping much to Kathryn's chagrin.

Tennant tried too hard with his American accent. Apart from that it was a good enough opener but this is never going to be a laugh out loud comedy.

With this cast of actors/actresses I think this could be really!

[ericfield-53542 · 8/10 · 18 October 2018]

It's so hard to tell how a show could be after only the pilot episode. However if the cast is any indication then it should be really funny. The pilot was really funny and the people were very believable. I'm excited about the next episode and to see how much these characters are can play off of one another. Jennifer Gardner isn't the first person that comes to mind to lead a comedy like this. She's really good. To me she's a very good actress and think she will surprise a lot of viewers. As for the rest of the cast, they're great. I didn't know all the actors/actress that would be on the show and I'm glad I didnt look it up because each time they were introduced I got excited. HBO has done it again!! I highly recommend giving this show a real try if comedy is your thing.