Netflix miniseries Obliterated is living up to its name when it comes to the reviews, with some labelling it the “worst show of 2023”.

The action-comedy-drama, which was created by Cobra Kai’s Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, follows a special ops team who celebrate after neutralising a nuclear bomb, only to find out that they have not succeeded.  

All eight episodes of the show premiered on the streaming service on November 30, and several reviews have taken the time to criticise several aspects of it. 

“Call off the search: the worst show of 2023 is here,” said The Telegraph. “That is, unless you’re a 13-year-old boy, in which case Obliterated is your dream product.” 

“I did not think it was possible to cross The Hangover with the combined oeuvre of Steven Seagal, but here we are,” it continued. 

The Guardian, similarly, did not hold back. In a one-star review, they said: “The pace is so excruciating and the show so repetitive that by the third hour, nothing would seem more heroic than someone detonating the bomb and putting us all out of our misery.” 

Variety said that, “Instead of an uproarious commentary on the culture of drugs and drinking and the various factions of the US Intelligence Community, Obliterated is a baffling, nearly unwatchable hodgepodge of nonsense littered with penises and explosives.” 

At the time of writing, the show currently has a 47 per cent score on the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, indicating that there are reviews that are more supportive. Many of those point to the senseless fun that can be found in the show’s comedy. 

CNN, for example, states that: “Obliterated is such an amusing concept, executed with utterly reckless abandon, that it mostly steamrolls over its abundant excesses and the challege of stretching it out over eight episodes.” 

The Hollywood Reporter concludes that “it’s a great premise” but “the truth, though, is that as great as the premise is, it’s a premise for a 95-minute movie and not an eight-episode television show.” 

In January, it was confirmed that Hurwitz, Schlossberg and Heald’s Cobra Kai had been renewed for a sixth and final season.