Catastrophe (2015–2019) User Reviews

Just brilliant.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 28 October 2015]

Travelling in the UK American businessman Rob meets attractive Sharon, a teacher in her late thirties. The pair have an instant attraction and hit it off, it's more then a one night stand, but when Rob returns to the USA the pair think they can draw a line under their encounter. However weeks later Sharon rings Rob to tell he she's pregnant. He returns to be with her for the pregnancy, they encounter highs and lows until the big day.

Sharon Horgan is so funny as Sharon, she's a foxy woman with great comedy timing, she gets some wonderfully sarcastic lines. Rob Delaney is also great as Rob (I love how they both keep their own Christian names,) Mr nice guy and American beefcake. They combine so well.

Sometimes you can't help but laugh when you know you probably shouldn't be, but it truly is outrageously funny.

Of Series 1, Parts 1 and 6 I'd say are the best of the episodes, so cool that it got a second series.

Channel 4 comedies keep on delivering! 9/10

Naughty and nice well balanced in this refreshing sitcom

[alombardy · 8/10 · 23 February 2015]

Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan are pastmasters of black humour, so it's no surprise that after just ten minutes of this show you're left going over in your head the sick and or/crude things you laughed at, but probably, strictly, know you shouldn't have. What is surprising is their capacity, in their role as writer-actors, to balance that most well practiced aspect of their craft with pathos and, occasionally, a sweet and cheesy moment that just lightens the impending doom a little.

The first series starts and ends very well, and though it does begin to feel a bit lethargic 3 or 4 episodes in, there's still always enough there for a fair few good laughs. It'll be interesting to see how they approach the next series, but however they do it, I'm optimistic it'll keep up this brand of dark/light sitcom humour that's a pleasure to indulge in.

What's not to love...

[ragingteapot · 9/10 · 11 September 2015]

I watch this show on the train on the way home from the city (London) and consistently embarrass myself when I 'lol' in a relatively quiet carriage.

This is not normally my cup of tea, but the downright blatant comedy has me in stitches. It's the kind of jokes you have with your very close friends but probably wouldn't say in the office, if you're conservative.

I watched the show because it was featured and now I use it to cheer myself up before I get home everyday. The characters compliment each other incredibly well and I'm a sucker for transatlantic relationships, I think the dynamic of English vs American is interesting when written well, many of the myths Americans have of the English and vice versa are dispelled.

Essential viewing, I hope Amazon do themselves a favour (favor) and market this show a little more aggressively, I think with the right marketing this show will become a massive hit.

why don't people like what i like

[iandmcd35 · 10/10 · 3 July 2015]

I'm single. It's terribly depressing and all that. I was starting to think it was all because of me, and my humor. And possibly my ugliness. But nope, it's just because of people not getting that it's a joke. In most relationships if you say what these two say to each other, then expect tears and fights and revenge. But with these two you get a laugh. It's a fine line, their humor and wit can be used for good as well as evil, but when they are together, it's so good. I'm jealous of the guy, i can say this stuff to my mates but i can't say it to a woman, at least without serious repercussions.

This is a love story, done so well. I don't know the demographic they're aiming for. i think a lot of guys will get it, but it's women that should watch it. I would insert some of the things the guys said to his pregnant soon to be wife here, but without context, it may seem mean.

Forget The Notebook, or 50 Shades of Grey, or whatever moronic love story is popular right now. This is the fictional love i want. Put your feelings out there, be supportive but not a doormat, make fun of each others insecurities in a way that recognizes their insignificance but recognizes their significance, and laugh with each other. 10 out of 10

Best New Series of 2015

[williamsperger · 10/10 · 17 September 2015]

As I am not a "rom-com" kinda guy, I went into this short six episode series with some trepidation. Shouldn't have worried. From the first ten minutes of the first episode, you will be hooked. Witty, smart dialogue coupled with great comedic acting equals seriously entertaining watching. You'll breeze right through the six episodes and will immediately want Season Two, which allegedly will commence in October. Can't wait. The two leads are unbelievably great and the supporting cast is equally fine. One caveat - this is an R rated series, so if you're uneasy with a lot of sexual activity and hilarious sexual banter done in sometimes a crude way, steer clear.

Funniest show I've seen in years!

[maria_bean · 10/10 · 20 June 2015]

This is the funniest sitcom I have seen in years! Growing up around the New York area and being a huge fan Seinfeld, is maybe why I love this, but I love this even more! I couldn't stop laughing watching this on a British Airways flight coming back to the US from London. I watched 3 episodes on the plane, and watched the rest on Amazon Prime as soon as it was available. I've seen Sharon in other shows, but Rob is new to me and I just love them together! His comments on rationalizing her freak out moments are absolutely brilliant! Watch the first episode, its all you need to get hooked. If you don't like the first, you're a wet rag and stop watching, you won't get the rest of them either.

Moves Along Nicely

[vecheryakey-2-530367 · 10/10 · 29 June 2015]

The show moves along nicely without assuming the viewers need every single nuance spelled out. Rob and Sharon play so well off of each other you start to wonder, "Are these two married in real life?"

The supporting cast is also hilarious and don't think for a moment that their roles are anything less than stellar.

"Chris" (Mark Bonnar) is already one of my favorites. His description of his wife's, Fran, child birthing experience had me laughing so hard, I scared my dog.

Give it a try! The first episode WILL get you hooked into binge watching. Then you wait for the next episodes like the rest of us.

Hilarious!

[keikoasmom · 10/10 · 2 November 2015]

It is so difficult in this day and age to find truly funny comedies. This is a bit raunchy, sure, but isn't it billed as an adult comedy? Puritans stay away, but then this is more like real comedians doing real stand-up.

Rob and Sharon are perfect together: honest, outspoken and very funny!

I love the situations, this stuff really happens, but I would imagine, rarely so funnily!

Great actors, fast-paced dialogue and if you have a real sense of humor (did you "get" Robin Williams? Did you love Richard Pryor?) you will laugh out loud. I hope this show continues!

Catastrophe is anything but

[NHLiptak · 9/10 · 22 June 2015]

My wife, 41, and I, 45, love Gavin and Stacey, largely due to the fine writing and interesting character development of the show's supporting players, Ruth Jones and James Corden. Catastrophe, on the other hand, stays with its leads -- thank goodness -- through an abbreviated six-episode opening season, and we're both hooked.

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney star in this frank and funny look at two generally kind-hearted adults in London. One's a frustrated Irish school teacher; the other's a knuckle-headed American ad executive. They hook up, then team up, after Horgan's Sharon Morris is knocked up by Delaney's Rob Norris during a week-long sex slog.

That this odd, endearing couple is surrounded and supported almost completely by assholes is just part of their troubles, and it's a flaw that must be addressed if this Catastrophe is going to grow. Indeed, it's almost solely to the daffy duo's credit, both on screen and as co-writers, that the show avoids the mean-spirited ditch lurking around each episode's next twisted turn.

The serious events Sharon and Rob stumble through -- often based on the personal experiences of 45-year-old Horgan and 38-year-old Delaney - - are handled delicately or bluntly as warranted. But it's the honesty of the leads, who riotously portray two human beings with big mouths and big hearts, that's so attractive.

We look forward to their next Catastrophe.

Season 1 is a 10, Season 2 an 8, Season 3 a 6, and Season 4 a 4...

[JonathanWalford · 6/10 · 4 April 2020]

This series starts off with a really smart and funny premise with two likeable but very different people who navigate the realities of a sudden marriage. The quips are funny, the situations identifiable, even though the outcomes are not always comedic or satisfying.

There are a few cracks in the lead character personalities that begin to wear thin, with each other, and the audience. Rob is a smarmy jokester with a fast temper. Sharon is suspicious and uncompromising who always looks for others to blame. By the time I got to season 4 I was tired of both of them and their problems. Neither of them ever handle any situation with a realistic or measured response. If I was married to either of them, I would leave. I did finish watching the series, but season 4 for work to stick with it.

.. it is good... very good indeed..

[bjarias · 9/10 · 20 September 2015]

This show is just fun!! Right from the very start, it just grabs you as does not let go. These two (Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney) are truly talented.. on both sides of the camera. Why can't we learn here in the US how to produce these kinds of quality programs. And it's only the early going for this series, but it's hoped that it might have a very long run, for it is everything you can want in this genre of programming. Yes, it's a TV series comedy, but really it is so much more, and it has a not-real/ real-life quality about it that is most appealing and entertaining. All categories are well done.. casting, writing, acting, and production values. There are few, if any, weaknesses. It appears it will wind up being a sixteen episode split-season. It's wished there would be more, but you'd find few to complain, just as long as they can kept it going with such outstanding quality work.

Catastrophe is amazingly Not a Catastrophe!

[annmarin123 · 21 July 2017]

I wasn't supposed to love this show.. but I did.

I binged on Season 1 and 2, happily and enthusiastically!

The actors are just incredible, it is so freaking funny and refreshing. I fell in love with both Sharon and Rob pretty quickly. It smart, hilarious and on-point for my general age group (ok, they are quite a bit younger, but still I can relate) regarding relationships and entanglements unique to modern times. They don't sugar coat anything, its like what a Rom-Com would be if it were Real.

I watched Season 3, and I have to say, I still loved it but it wasn't my favorite. They are starting to throw some political PC stuff in and I really Don't Like It. Just please, please, please leave it alone. Its a great show- don't ruin it! You don't need to pander to the SJW crowd- they are probably not watching anyway! There are so few shows anymore that just leave it alone, this one and Portlandia come to mind. Let's all just get along and play nice, we don't need to be reassured you're in the popular crowd, OK?

My favorite character is the guy who plays Chris. He is a gem. Oh and Sharon's brother- just hilarious! They are all hysterically funny.

Can't wait to see what S. 4 has in store.

That is all.

Pulling too directly

[paul2001sw-1 · 7/10 · 24 March 2015]

Sharon Horgan co-wrote, and starred in, 'Pulling', one of my favourite comedies, a story of three women about thirty years of age but still with little in the way of grown up ideas about how to live their lives. 'Pulling' combined wild comedy with a quieter whiff of desperation and failure. Horgan's new series, 'Catastrophe', features a similar character to the one she played before but ten years down the line, unexpectedly getting pregnant and finding a husband in the process. A lot of the comedy is similar, sharp, bleak and silly at the same time, but the series isn't quite as good as its predecessor: it's a bit too fast-paced, a string of gags which may be funny in themselves but the basic characterisation is thinner, and Horgan's character is transparently annoying (whereas her previous persona was superficially the every-woman surrounded by crazies, whose issues were real but more subtly handled). It's far from awful, but it lacks the chilling ring of truth that oddly, made 'Pulling' so hilarious.

Starts out great

[nicholsjoseph · 5/10 · 30 April 2019]

Catastrophe started out excellent and I binged all of season 1 in a couple days, no problem. Season 1 had everything... humor, wit, charm, even a couple emotional moments that brought a tear to my eye. Season 2 on the other hand is where the breaks gave out and the show went downhill at terminal speed. What killed it for me was the main characters were no longer likable. Rob and Sharon became downright annoying. Sharon in particular. Oh well. It was good while it lasted

Are They for Real?

[karen-entz · 10/10 · 21 October 2018]

It's not all laughs, and it's not all tears. Amazingly, this series is more real than most TV shows. The main characters don't play games with each other. They both have quirky lines that exhibit their anxiety and vulnerabilities in a life's situation of unplanned pregnancy and career change. Yet, they actually tell each other their feelings and fears. They often voice their unhappiness in a situation and call each other names--and still stay together and even marry. How adult is that? I'm talking about being a REAL adult, not the way many TV shows and movies portray adults as totally selfish and egocentric . The ensemble shows a group of people who are flawed yet still trying to live their lives as best they can. The humor is found in their flaws, but we treasure their humanity. I started watching this hoping it wasn't another TV show where the guy was clueless and the woman was the smart one. Happily, this is a TV show where no one is stupid, just real characters trying to make it through life without committing too much mayhem. This is a REALly good show.

I wish I knew about this show before now

[laurynl · 10/10 · 8 October 2018]

I was just browsing, looking for comedies. I have a really hard time laughing at most comedies, but I tend to like British comedies. This is absolute gold. This really needs to be around more. I wish more people knew about this show. Very underrated!

Very very funny but probably only for grownups

[mrfrane · 10/10 · 18 July 2015]

The television show You're the Worst has been described as a British comedy made in the US. It is very funny and filled with a lot of crude humor and insight. Catastrophe is much like that show (which I love) but with characters a decade older. Also very funny, with fewer quirky characters, and lots of insight. Grown up crude humor abounds.

The protagonists are extraordinarily likable people, with a terrific sense of humor and honesty, heavily larded with sarcasm and wit. And viewers who hate sarcasm and crude humor and grown-ups will hate it. Their loss, really. Frankly, if you don't relish British comedy, you will hate it as well.

Guess what? Conservatives like this show also...

[clridenhour · 10/10 · 22 April 2019]

Some other reviewers commented that "Trump-loving conservative types" do not like this show? Not true. Not only do my husband and I love the show, we could be this couple. They say things we have actually said to each other and we both laugh hysterically when that happens. The writing is clever and somewhat vulgar, just like us! Sad to see this show end.

Beware "Pro Trump" Conservatives' Negative Reviews

[regpasha1-320-558388 · 9/10 · 17 March 2019]

I loved this final season although it was a bit too episodic. There are many brilliant moments throughout. Sharon and Ron are simply incomparable... I'm going to miss the supreme awfulness of these two... and the wonder of how perfect their connection turns out to be . I see that some of our more conservative brethren have decided to let their political views inform their assessment of this season. That is their right. It has to be difficult to hear Trump referred to in such negative terms. As for me, and most of the civilized world, I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Better than sleep...no wait...way better!

[crazyreikigirl · 10/10 · 14 August 2015]

I kept seeing the trailers for this and finally one night I watched episode 1. Immediately hooked. And ended up watching the entire season throughout the night (which is not at all helping my focus with work today). I love, love, love the characters. I sort of don't know how they became so rich in one episode, OK, maybe two, but for sure by the end of episode two I wanted to hang out with them. I love their authenticity and how they instantly felt compelled to connect, really connect. I enjoy their clever banter and teasing and how they manage to appropriately and endearingly tease the crap out of each other and laugh about it. THANK YOU for making a show about people who I can actually imagine in real life and would want to know them. I'm still smiling, granted, I'm operating on marginal brain capacity after the non-sleep, but will attribute to remembering the utterly jackassness of the medical professionals they repeatedly encountered, or her crazy high school girl friend or the fact that on the first morning she pointed out the bad smell of the hotel room. All the characters have already led me to manifest 100 questions each of things I'd like to know. OK. I'll stop. Please hurry up with Season 2...because really, who needs sleep?

Hate Sharon, hard to get over that.

[fredphoesh · 7/10 · 30 January 2021]

I found it hard to enjoy the show when the Sharon character was so horrible as a human. The show is really good, real, funny, but Sharon's incessant repulsive behaviour made it hard to care about their relationship as much as I might have if I understood why ANYONE would want to be near her.

Yes please season 2...

[jshanbarger · 10/10 · 14 July 2015]

Fantastic!!! Loved the characters, not just Rob and Sharon but ALL of them. The dialog between Sharon and Rob is so honest and refreshing. I really loved the balance between ha ha funny and serious issues that both end up drawing you into the characters. I could not believe how involved and interested I was after only 6 episodes. I was only exposed to the show through Amazon instant video so I can only hope that season two is released sooner than later. And for the love of god please make it more than 6 episodes... By my calculations it would need to be 16 episodes minimum to make up for the ones you shorted us in season one plus interest. Cheers

First two seasons were good, Seasons three and four were repetitive and barely funny

[random-70778 · 16 March 2019]

I did enjoy the first couple of seasons, but the writers clearly ran out of streams and the banter that was a lot of the fun of the show got extremely repetitive.

I agree with those who saw season four that it was idiotic, as if the creative team just assumed people had not seen 1-2 and repeated all the jokes with a slight stirring of the prior seasons'' dialogue.

Kept hoping

[dacdoglady · 7/10 · 16 July 2021]

Catastrophe was funny, and I did feel invested in their life. But I have to say I was tired of the endless nastiness between Sharon and Rob. I've been married 41 years, and my husband and I have never told each other to "f off". And their nastiness towards others. And a woman in her 40's gets pregnant 3 times - really?? The last time with a 5 months old child? Did they never learn about birth control?

Went downhill fast in season 2

[jack-31820 · 5/10 · 27 April 2018]

What a disappointment! Season 1 was very funny and creative, every episode was fun to watch. Season 2 was a total flop. It's as if the writers lost all their mojo. It was like watching a comedian whose tells sex jokes because he can't be funny. Season 2 was a waste of time.