Upload, a Greg Daniels show

Is it just me, or is the idea of the afterlife trending right now?

 Amazon Prime’s new original series Upload, takes place in the near future where people can pay to have their consciousnesses uploaded to a digital afterlife instead of dying. Rather than writing wills, people plan out which afterlife company and location to which they want to be uploaded. The series follows Nathan Brown, played by Robbie Amell, through his “life” as an “upload.”

 So far, 2/2 of my tv blog posts have been about shows based on the afterlife, not to mention the fact that Upload creator Greg Daniels and The Good Place creator Michael Schur have worked together on a number of comedy shows such as The Office and Parks and Recreation. To be honest, the only draw to this show for me personally was Daniels himself. My thought process was, “This man is responsible for some of my favorite shows, and therefore, responsible for the fact that I’m a tv nerd. I expect his new show to be equally as brilliant, hilarious, and somehow ordinarily extraordinary as his past projects.”

 Unfortunately, this was not the case. Now, I’m writing this before reading any online reviews as to remain unbiased, so it’s completely possible that this new show is being declared The Greatest Show to Ever Be Created in the History of Mankind by all critics. But, this college freshman who has absolutely no television or entertainment credentials says she’s disappointed, so take that Greg Daniels. Major burn. I know.

 But an opinion is an opinion, and I found Upload to be a bit cliché and dare I say cheesy at times, despite its innovative concept. I found there to be a few minor holes in the details. No major plot holes, but what I love about a show is its attention to detail and being able to tell that the writers were incredibly thorough in their storytelling. Another thing is that the show was marketed as a hilarious comedy, and while there were laughable moments throughout, I would consider this a hybrid of thriller, drama and comedy; considerably darker and more mature than Daniels’ previous work.

 Upload is still a good, solid show. It is possible that my expectations were set unrealistically high, so disappointment was probable, but it was still engaging, funny, and original, and I did truly appreciate the diversity of the cast. My personal taste in television is just a little more of a light-hearted, witty comedy along the lines of The Office, New Girl, and The Mindy Project, so it’s understandable why a more thriller-y show wouldn’t tickle my taste buds as much. Ew. Who says “tickle my taste buds,” especially when referring to tv?  I guess a college freshman who has absolutely no television or entertainment credentials.

 Again, it was still a good tv show, I was merely expecting something different, something greater. I might still recommend it, it just depends on what you’re looking for.

 I recommend Upload if you are looking for a show with aspects of each of the following:

-thriller

-comedy

-romance

-action

-some code/techy coolness

There is one season of 10 episodes, each about 25 minutes, available on Amazon Prime, and I finished them in about a day. Two months ago, that would’ve been indicative of an incredibly genius, addicting show because It would mean I was willing to ditch my friends or pull an all-nighter catching up on neglected school work. Nowadays, with school over and COVID-19 still in full swing, it simply means I watched a whole show in one sitting because I had nothing else to do.

 Stay safe. Stay healthy. And stay six feet away from me. :)