TV Review: Starz's 'Magic City'

Starz officially premieres its 1950’s drama MagicCity on Friday, April 6 at 10 p.m. The following are reviews are TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.

“MagicCity is centered on a Jewish hotelier with ties to the mob, so it inevitably looks like The Sopranos set around the time of Mad Men. Actually, it is most of all a loving travelogue of the lost childhood of its creator, Mitch Glazer.” — Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times

“The plot is one telegraphed event after another, so that the only enjoyment to be found in sitting through this thing is timing when a blatantly preordained event will actually occur. You might want to make a drinking game out of it, but be prepared to be blotto in 20 minutes.” — David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle

“Physically, it’s a beautiful show, impeccably designed and photographed, full of lovely people in lovely clothes in that lovely Florida light. The Miramar itself is a spectacular, gorgeous piece of work, a slightly more tasteful (to modern eyes) pastiche of the work of Morris Lapidus, who designed the Fontainebleau, Eden Roc and the Deauville and was a Glazer family friend. I was surprised to learn later that it was all a set. Would that the drama were as convincing.” — Robert Lloyd, The Los Angeles Times

“The already-renewed Starz drama mixes Mad Men with The Sopranos, resulting in strong writing, stronger acting and a whole lot of distracting nudity.” — Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter

“As a narrative achievement, though, MagicCity is a mess, filled with paper-thin characters and clichéd dialogue and storylines. If not for the appealing lead performance by Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Ike, large stretches of the series would be unwatchable, even with all the lovely visuals.” — Alan Sepinwall, Hitfix