Netflix's Westside is a mess of a reality show that's fascinating to watch

Vulture

The reality show that follows aspiring musicians trying to make it in Hollywood is an "uneven, jumbled, occasionally alluring Frankenstein of a show, a mishmash of The Hills-style reality TV drama, a Behind the Music-style making-of documentary, and a classic narrative musical," says Kathryn VanArendonk. "That combination frequently turns into something incoherent, a skidding, lurching story that aims for both grit and gloss and ends up looking like a simulacrum of both. Yet Westside is curiously fascinating as a largely failed experiment that, very briefly, coalesces into something that suddenly really works." She adds: "Westside gets credit for trying a new thing, for its stab at being more than a cookie-cutter replica of American Idol or MTV’s Real World. I still don’t know if the effort was worth it, but I’m not mad at it for having made the attempt." ALSO: Westside sands down anything distinctive and dangerous.