| 91 |
Entertainment Weekly Gillian Flynn
The series shows the darker side of Belle's work without getting into that porno-punishing crap so often disguised as morality lessons. The series, like Belle, is far too smart to succumb to such an average attitude. |
| 80 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
The emotional strains of keeping her secret from Ben (Iddo Goldberg) grow across the eight episodes and lend the season an unexpected poignancy. |
| 80 |
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
The real pleasures of this half-hour show come from its sly sense of humor and from Belle’s practical yet adventurous approach to her job. |
| 80 |
Salon Heather Havrilesky
While I realize my entire description makes the show sound hopelessly shallow and unrealistic (which it is), it's also smart and well acted and at times, funny. |
| 80 |
TV Guide Matt Roush
It’s titillating without being truly trashy, because it also has heart--for that, thank Bil-lie Piper (formerly of Doctor Who), who brings wit and warmth, but also a crisp and unpredictable edge, to the tricky role of Belle by night/Hannah by day. |
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman
Like "Sex and the City" - oh, no, not that comparison - the half hour flies by and you realize that the human relationships depicted here are interesting and worth mining and Belle's life choices are entertaining. |
| 70 |
Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray
As the season's eight episodes progress, and she's forced to open her life to a bit of outside scrutiny, cracks begin to appear in the facade. And while that's not enough to turn her into a victim--we're not talking Lifetime here--it does gradually transform her into the character Showtime most needs her to be: someone whose company might actually be worth paying for. |
| 70 |
Variety Phil Gallo
DeMange draws out the helplessness and frustrations of the men who visit Belle, which are complemented by Tat Radcliffe's framing of the action. |
| 63 |
Slant Magazine Arthur Ryel-Lindsey
This is hour-long material forced into a 30-minute timeslot, though some of its plots are strung together--at times held up by--Piper's silent, meaningful looks at the camera. |
| 60 |
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
Softer than soft porn, Call Girl is as much a documentary about high-end prostitution as it is about the conflicts and foibles of those who engage in it. |
| 50 |
Time James Poniewozik
Hannah's normalcy is refreshing, and it keeps the show light and funny. But it also makes her seem a little dull and shallow. |
| 50 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
Future episodes elevate the Belle and Ben relationship to a more complicated place, which bears some promise and may give Secret Diary the distinction it lacks in early episodes. |
| 50 |
The New Yorker Nancy Franklin
It’s not that much fun to watch an actress who, except for the occasional times when she lets loose one of her charmingly loud second-soprano laughs, seems always to be asking more of us than she’s giving, but Secret Diary of a Call Girl does get better as it goes along, although it doesn’t greatly distinguish itself from most other shows you’ve seen about young single women in the big city |
| 40 |
Los Angeles Times Mary McNamara
Call Girl's greatest flaw is not that it's exploitative but that it's surprisingly dull. |
| 40 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
The problem with this "Diary" is that Belle simply isn't as interesting as Bridget [of "Bridget Jones's Diary."] |
| 40 |
Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall
The longer you watch the show (I've seen all eight episodes of its first season), the emptier and more frustrating it becomes, to the point where even the brief running time begins to feel too long. |
| 40 |
The New York Times Alessandra Stanley
Secret Diary has amusing touches, but not enough to sustain an entire series. |
| 30 |
Slate Troy Patterson
Secret Diary of a Call Girl is a series of sketches, and its eight episodes do not trace an arc or advance a narrative. |
| 30 |
LA Weekly Robert Abele
Secret Diary of a Call Girl is the kind of hotly lit, coldly stylized dreck that purports to be classy, high-minded softcore but is actually as witless and dreary as, well, paid-for jollies. |
| 30 |
Newsday Verne Gay
Call Girl is a dreary London day. A pass. |
| 10 |
Baltimore Sun David Zurawik
Secret Diary is a nonstop glamorization of prostitution. |
| 10 |
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
The laughless Secret Diary is billed as a comedy, but it is hardly amusing to follow the spoiled, immoral and lazy Belle as she slinks around London doing this and that with and to a lineup of wealthy men. |
