Critics Call Alec Baldwin’s New Reality Show ‘Outright Offensive’

Alec Baldwin has a new TLC reality series with his family, and critics are weighing in. Premiering this Sunday, Feb. 23, The Baldwins “blends the highs and lows of family life, with the challenges and humor that come while raising a large family in the public eye.” The show comes on the heels of the fallout of the Rust movie tragedy and the long, drawn-out trial against Baldwin, who was initially charged with manslaughter for the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film. The charges were dropped over the summer and the case won’t be tried any time soon.

Now Baldwin is trying to move on with this new series, but it already doesn’t seem to be doing so well. “‘Why did I have seven kids?’ he asks [his wife] Hilaria. ‘To help carry me and you through this situation.’ It’s an answer vulnerable and psychologically complex enough to make you wish for a show that really did humanize the Baldwins instead of just bugging us about how normal they are, like a toddler tugging on his dad’s pant leg for attention,” TIME TV critic Judy Berman wrote. “The strain the case has put on the Baldwins is palpable, and perhaps the most authentic element of this snoozy infomercial of a reality show.”

Meanwhile, Variety’s chief TV critic, Daniel D’Addario, wrote, “What we are watching is a father of seven minor children anticipating the potential end of his life as a parent as he’s known it; as such, the canned, stock reality show instrumentals feel extra-tinny, the moments of gaiety extra-forced.” He also said the Rust tragedy “hangs uneasily throughout the reality show” and winds up being treated like “a misfortune that befell Baldwin. A would-be Jon and Kate Plus 8-style family sitcom about one kooky family seems like an outright offensive response to this tragedy.”

Other reviews are not so great, as well, and it doesn’t help that the show is airing as legal troubles surrounding Rust continue. In January, Baldwin filed a lawsuit for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations at the state district court in Santa Fe against the prosecutors, investigations, and commissioners. Although Baldwin is eager to move on from what happened, it might not be so easy, and it’s not just because the case isn’t going away. Fans will want to tune in this Sunday on TLC to see for themselves what The Baldwins is really like.