Kim Kardashian-fronted legal drama All’s Fair is coming back for a second season after Hulu has renewed the Ryan Murphy creation ahead of its season finale.
It is the latest proof that ratings will supersede critical reaction after the soapy series received scathing reviews and only a 3% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but became the biggest Hulu Original scripted series premiere in three years. The Disney-owned streamer said that the show received 3.2M views globally in its first three days of streaming.
Kardashian herself has leaned into the criticism, joking on Instagram, “Have you tuned in to the most critically acclaimed show of the year!?!?!?” Co-star Glenn Close also got in on the joke with a reference to Critic-Bunny Stew, a parody drawing of her hit movie Fatal Attraction.
Despite this, the nine-part series made Luminate’s Top 15 TV shows during its debut week, generating 2.61M hours viewed in the U.S. during the week of October 31-November 6, per the ratings company. In the week of November 7-13, when its fourth episode premiered (and the first after its initial three episodes dropped), it climbed from 15th to 13th spot with 3.85M hours watched and 1.33M views; that was fourth most for the week behind Peacock’s All Her Fault, Netflix’s Death by Lightning and Apple’s Pluribus. In the week of November 14-20, which saw the release of Episode 5, the series scored 636,059 views, which put it at 13th for the week, per Luminate.
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All’s Fair stars Kardashian as Allura Grant, who sets up a female divorce attorney firm with Naomi Watts’ Liberty Ronson and Niecy Nash-Betts’ Emerald Greene — as well as assistant Milan, played by Teyana Taylor, who is also sleeping with Grant’s NFL husband Chase Munroe, played by Matthew Noszka — after leaving a male-dominated firm with the support of Close’s Dina Standish. The group navigates high-stakes breakups, scandalous secrets and shifting allegiances — both in the courtroom and within their own ranks — as well as a fierce rivalry with Sarah Paulson’s Carrington Lane.
Judith Light, O-T Fagbenle, Armani Barrett, Jamarcus Kilgore, Joshua Suiter, Ed O’Neill and Hari Nef recur, and there are a lot of high-profile guest stars including Grace Gummer, Kate Berlant, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Jack Davenport, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Brooke Shields.
Season 1 concludes with a two-episode finale on December 9.
All’s Fair came to be after Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden introduced Murphy to Kardashians’ mother, Kris Jenner.
“This show started with Dana Walden, as everything in my career has for the past 20 years,” Murphy said at the L.A. premiere. “It started because I said I really wanted to meet Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian. Dana facilitated a dinner, and I did something I’ve never done in my career, which was I brought a reality pitch.”
While Jenner and Kardashian were not particularly impressed with Murphy’s reality pitch, the meeting did lead to Murphy writing a role for the influencer on Season 12 of American Horror Story, while subsequently lead to All’s Fair.
Kardashian, who recently failed the California bar exam, said that the project proved to her that “there’s really no limitations in life.”
“I never felt like I had to be stuck in this box that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, or at least try,” she told Deadline. “There’s no age limit. There’s no barriers. Anything you want to do, try. What’s the worst that can happen? Just go for it. Just start. Just do it.”
All’s Fair is produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television. It is written and executive produced by Murphy, who also directs, along with Jon Robin Baitz, Joe Baken, Jamie Pachino, Lyn Greene and Richard Levine. Kardashian, Close, Watts, Nash-Betts and Paulson also executive produce alongside Jenner, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson and Nissa Diederich, with Anthony Hemingway executive producing and directing.
