Aaron Barnhart

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Kansas City Star, Primetimer
For 355 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 64% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 0.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Aaron Barnhart's Scores

Average review score: 69
Highest review score: 100 Stateless: Season 1
Lowest review score: 0 Gossip Girl: Season 1
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 236 out of 355
  2. Mixed: 82 out of 355
  3. Negative: 37 out of 355
355 tv reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 100 Aaron Barnhart
    Documentary Now!: Season 4
    The show’s as sharp as ever in “Soldier of Illusion,” the two-parter that opens Season 4. As pure entertainment, it adroitly combines a high concept with lowbrow humor, including Alexander Skarsgård in a role that might take you back to his orange mocha frappuccino days. And like so many of the best Documentary Now! episodes, it shines because it’s remarkably ambitious. ... Documentary Now! has pretty much perfected that formula [satirizing something both highly specific and kind of obscure can yield incredible results].
    • 65 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    I Love You, You Hate Me: Season 1
    The documentary does an admirable job of capturing those early days without a wink or sneer. ... I Love You, You Hate Me expertly marshals different pop-culture voices to explain how the anti-Barney sentiment bubbled up so easily. ... In the end the show makes a surprisingly persuasive case that maybe the Barney backlash of 30 years ago was the canary in the coal mine — that it served as an early warning of what a culture steeped in irony and conditioned to react caustically to everything on a screen could become.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 85 Aaron Barnhart
    Alaska Daily: Season 1
    When the show focuses on the reward and the struggle of the work, it’s fabulous. ... Even if it can get preachy, Alaska Daily’s warp-speed dialogue and efficient, network-TV execution ensure that viewers won’t get too bogged down in sermonizing.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 75 Aaron Barnhart
    So Help Me Todd: Season 1
    Scott Prendergast's script ably sets up the mother-son dynamic that is the lifeblood of the show. Harden and Astin do the rest, alternately annoying and looking out for each other. As they bicker, they find a pleasant rhythm that carries us through the case at hand.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Aaron Barnhart
    The Come Up: Season 1
    Freeform is airing four episodes of The Come Up tonight. That and the show's curious late-summer timing suggests a lack of faith on the part of the network. Despite excellent casting, that lack of faith seems justified.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    The Patient: Season 1
    Between the taut plotting and the dark laughs, The Patient is expertly calibrated to lure viewers in. Episode 1 takes just over 19 minutes, and the run times grow slowly from there, along with the need to keep seeing how things will turn out.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    Welcome to Wrexham: Season 1
    The resulting first season of this docuseries does not disappoint. Even if you know nothing about soccer or British club sport, if you like a good underdog story, this one will play its way right into your heart.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    Mo: Season 1
    Like any good iteration, Mo takes its audience places the original [Ramy] didn't.. ... If you're expecting a series about a Palestinian refugee living in a U.S. border town to have its political moments, then Mo won't disappoint. Having said that, the show's greatest virtue may be that it rarely forgets that it's a fast-paced, breezy sitcom that doesn't linger too long on our conscience.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Aaron Barnhart
    Five Days At Memorial: Season 1
    Ridley and Cuse have taken Fink's investigation into those fateful days at Memorial and turned it into a spellbinding visual narrative — easily the best limited series of the year so far.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Aaron Barnhart
    Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head: Season 1
    This is a revival done right. ... The reality is that the show's appeal comes less from any deeper statement on TV culture than from its relatability. There's a little piece of these doofuses in all of us.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 70 Aaron Barnhart
    Surface (2022): Season 1
    In general West has wisely borrowed a page from British thrillers that don't try to do too much and focus instead on giving discerning audiences what they tuned in for. The only criticism after watching the first three episodes is that Surface already feels one episode too long.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Aaron Barnhart
    Virgin River: Season 4
    If you're looking for a new comfort watch, it's hard to beat Virgin River, which has more emotionally nuanced character development than most other shows of its kind. While other series overplay their soapier storylines, Virgin River handles them with maturity and even grace.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 100 Aaron Barnhart
    The Last Movie Stars: Season 1
    [Ethan Hawke's] geeked-out zeal for the details of these two lives, and the lifetime of work they produced, injects the whole project with a joie de vivre that its three subjects — Woodward, Newman, and their marriage — demand.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 70 Aaron Barnhart
    The Rehearsal: Season 1
    In the case of The Rehearsal, the agenda is not always clear and takes on almost a free-association quality starting with the third episode. This will be fine for some viewers who enjoy watching the elaborate deceptions that Fielder and his production crew engage in to keep their simworld going, but ultimately it comes down to what you think of Nathan Fielder and his inward musings.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 85 Aaron Barnhart
    America the Beautiful: Season 1
    The intimately close visuals and clever editing make interactions between a bear and a squirrel, or baby bats trying to avoid being eaten by snakes, feel as gripping as any drama.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 65 Aaron Barnhart
    Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area: Season 1
    The storyline of North and South Korea reunifying as a "Joint Economic Area" is intriguing, and there are all kinds of little variations to point out (the masks, for instance, are not Salvador Dali-inspired). Director Kim and writer Ryu say that their version of the iconic characters reflect Korean idiosyncracies, but these may be too subtle for non-Korean viewers to detect.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    Loot: Season 1
    Loot isn't as successful as that Emmy-winning hit [Ted Lasso], but it's still a very enjoyable show that's handsomely produced, with a posh soundtrack and luxurious visuals. Rodriguez is excellent as the uptight foundation president, and there's just enough lampooning of the politically correct philanthropy world to give the jokes some bite.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Aaron Barnhart
    For All Mankind: Season 3
    The show also goes small, depicting how national expectations roil the lives of those on the inside. While this dimension of the series isn't as strong as its alt-history, this is still a project by Ronald D. Moore, who set the space opera standard with the revival of Battlestar Galactica.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    Peaky Blinders: Season 6
    The series remains impeccably stylish, with exquisite sets, eye-catching costumes, and some pretty highfalutin dialogue for a story about uneducated criminals. Another strength of Peaky Blinders is that it's managed to stay fresh from one season to the next.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Aaron Barnhart
    Players (2022): Season 1
    If you enjoy sports documentaries, then you'll likely appreciate how deeply Players understands the template that makes those shows satisfying. The result is an accessible, enjoyable introduction to a huge industry that passes many of us by.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 65 Aaron Barnhart
    Shining Girls: Season 1
    The show's confusing, non-linear approach, combined with a plodding pace, makes it a challenge in the early going. ... Patient viewers who can put up with the show's pace and depressing atmosphere will be rewarded in the end.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Aaron Barnhart
    The Lincoln Lawyer (2022): Season 1
    Even though the set-up is familiar and the dialogue is shopworn, The Lincoln Lawyer still works. It delivers likable characters who are easy to root for as they stand up for the unfairly accused. There's comfort to be had in this type of storytelling.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    Dawson's Creek: Season 1
    Smartly written and utterly fantastic. [20 Jan 1998, p.E10]
    • Kansas City Star
      • Posted May 9, 2022
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Aaron Barnhart
    Bosch: Legacy: Season 1
    Like the original, Legacy pairs the architecturally glamorous side of L.A. with its seedy underside, and Harry Bosch is still compelling as the guy both savvy and scrappy enough to take on the rich and powerful in the never-ending pursuit of justice.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Aaron Barnhart
    Anatomy of a Scandal: Season 1
    If you’re someone who doesn’t mind substandard dialogue or visual gimmicks — and be warned, most episodes end with cheesy effects that make you think you’ve switched to a disaster flick — and you just want a decent page-turner that you don’t feel compelled to binge in one night, this fits the bill.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Aaron Barnhart
    We Own This City: Season 1
    We Own This City comes reasonably close to serving as a Wire follow-up. It tells a compelling story that must be seen to be believed. And it effectively raises a myriad of vital and not easily answered questions about not only public safety, but also the future of public institutions.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Aaron Barnhart
    Killing It: Season 1
    Killing It is a comedy that could work on network television today, except for all the F-bombs. It’s got a good premise. ... Though, I'd argue that Killing It would’ve worked better without all the F-bombs.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 100 Aaron Barnhart
    The Invisible Pilot: Season 1
    One of the craziest true-crime docuseries you will ever watch. At less than three hours, it’s a no-brainer if you’re a fan of the genre, are a Narcos addict or just want to brush up on your '80s history.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 95 Aaron Barnhart
    The Outlaws: Season 1
    Well-written and engaging, The Outlaws will appeal to viewers who like where television is heading these days — towards more character-driven, tonally varied narratives.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Aaron Barnhart
    Julia (2022): Season 1
    This is an authorized portrait of a celebrity — albeit an unlikely and, by all accounts, wonderfully down-to-earth celebrity, which Julia certainly captures.
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