Scandal: Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Apr 5, 2012
  • Season #: 1 , 2
User Score
6.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 74 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 74
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 74
  3. Negative: 15 out of 74

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  1. jeremyp
    Apr 7, 2012
    4
    I lasted 15 minutes! Shonda you're a classmate but I can't stand your material. You present people as adolescent chatter boxes who glibly represent some shallow world I've never experienced nor want to. Souffles of faux angst and hollow people.
  2. rmjbones
    Oct 26, 2012
    4
    The show started out with promise, but it has been reduced to a show where everyone shouts condescending speeches at each other. There are a few just whiny and awful characters that need to go. The main characters are good if they could have better writing. I hope the show gets back to a more realistic dialogue.
  3. EludiumQ36
    Apr 6, 2012
    2
    This show had a lot of promise and decent production values but the writing and acting are simply horrible, on the caliber of high school. The characters are unimaginative stereotypes which allows you to know what's going to happen in every scene without any effort. After slogging through this premiere ep I couldn't delete it fast enough and to unschedule all future recordings of it - this show needs to be cancelled asap.… Expand
  4. JabbaTheSlush
    Apr 12, 2012
    1
    Watched for about eight minutes. Not exactly sure why stuff like this gets made, it is like watching a mashup of the worst parts of ten different shows. Very poor.
  5. lil_gay_hitler
    Apr 5, 2012
    0
    Wow, this show is painful to watch. If you like **** manipulative lawyers, being as awful as possible, then go ahead and watch it. Grey's Anatomy but they specialize in being terrible human beings.
  6. denison
    Apr 8, 2012
    1
    Very disappointing. Unbelievable storyline, no depth to the acting. I lasted 20 minutes and could not continue. I particularly didn't like the lead character who so seemed somewhat vacuous.
  7. NathTV
    Apr 8, 2012
    3
    Based only in the pilot, this show was a bad mix of unbelievable characters, bad dialogs and cliché stories. We have a great and powerful lobbyist and a group of lawyers that could do anything for their clients, because they solve crisis, so they don't have to play by the rules.
    It sounded decent in paper, but there is no good reason to watch the show unless they add some de    pth to the characters, make them believable and improve the stories a lot. I really hope S.R. can improve, being a fan of some of her other shows.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 29
  3. Negative: 1 out of 29
  1. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    Apr 9, 2012
    60
    It's the new Revenge, but so much goofier and more shameless that it makes Revenge look comparatively measured.
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  2. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    Apr 6, 2012
    70
    It's still a fun, fast ride, with lots of twists and turns, murder and menace, and after only a few episodes we know enough back story about most of the main characters to care what happens to them.
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  3. Slate
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    Apr 5, 2012
    70
    Rhimes hustles the audience into episodes in the middle of things. Pope and her colleagues speak at a clip suggesting years of study at the West Wing School of Elocution and Composition. In the rush, I scarcely had time to scoff at the over-the-top content of the pilot.
    Read full review
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