User reviews

Smart, funny, and informative like Last Week Tonight (Jon Oliver is a producer on this) but with its own style and tone. I'll definitely be back for more.

This show is delightful and heartbreaking. I dare say that these reviews declaring this show boring must be written by some boring-ass people (or, I don't know-by a bunch of sore-sport cops?). Wyatt Cenac is a joy to behold, to laugh with, to cry with, all of it. Problem Areas is nuanced & informative without being preachy or oversimplified; it's stylistically engaging & original; it deftly balances feeling comfortably conversational & endearingly nostalgic while digging in on critically important & most-often maddening issues, keeping it just breezy enough to entertain us along the way to ever more righteous rage. Policing in America c. 2018 cannot EVER be questioned too much-because it's a multilayered convoluted freaking atrocity, people-but taking a dose of our bitter pill with a side of Wyatt Cenac is pretty delicious.

I believe in criminal justice reform so much that I literally moved to Washington DC to work for a criminal justice non-profit. And I love edutainment shows such as The Daily Show, Adam Ruins Everything, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I've enjoyed Wyatt on The Daily Show and on podcasts.

Unfortunately, Wyatt Cenac's jaded and cynical approach just isn't engaging, and the cutaways and digressions seem to muddy the topic instead of adding to the fun. Of course, society's problems can certainly lead to cynicism and anger. He is right to feel that way! But it's just not enjoyable to get brought down, and putting full stops in the show to sigh and make snarky comments destroys its momentum.

The show tends to assume audience support rather than building support through argument, and the topics meander. More structure is needed, and as a super-liberal I would even question some of the points being made. Is Wyatt seriously suggesting that Hollywood movies should cut back on gun violence? Or that we should be recycling our chicken bones? If so, why should these topics take precedence?

Finally, I'm sorry to say that the show seems underfunded. The direct-to-camera approach walking in a small studio with no audience, and the strange decoration, are hard to get a grip on. The editing of the field pieces into a coherent narrative isn't as top notch as we expect for a scripted show. Creative risks take courage and should be appreciated, but in this case, it just didn't work for me.

It's a 5-star show, but I have given 6 stars because of its important topic.

I thought the first episode was somewhat underwhelming. It was a nicely researched documentary with a couple of touches of humor and irony. But coming from a Daily Show alumni, with the support of John Oliver, I expected so much more. The show lacked the goofiness of the Daily Show's correspondents' segments on the road (no absurd interviewing) or the devastating irony of John Oliver's long segments (no one is likely to register a church in this show). It was watchable, but any serious documentary maker or journalist could have delivered Wyatt's piece, which was low key, and flat. Making 'serious' comedy about societal issues is difficult, you have to find an angle, be thought provoking, at times provocative or ironic, or downright outrageous, in order to make the audience think and laugh. Wyatt Cenac's problem area is that he has not yet found the original/distinctive voice that will make this program compelling viewing.

This is not a comedy show. It is an informative documentary series on the current state of our public system in the U.S. And it is beautiful A honest piece, that uses humor to break the tensions of analyzing very serious and real problems affecting many in the country today. I just wish one didn't need a HBO subscription to view it.

This show reminds me a lot of Joe Rogan's podcast. The primary differences being that the humor is flat, no one's smoking weed on the show, the interviewer actually goes out into the field and the interviewer just happens to be Black. The show gets your attention during the opening, with graphics straight out of the seventies that take you back to PBS circa 1971 and great jazz music, which just sticks with me now whether I'm watching the show or not. Even the set looks like your great grandfather's set.

But what feels like a nice sunny afternoon watching a community access program back in the day quickly transitions into serious conversation about hard hitting issues, dispersed with jokes so dry even the British might miss out on them. Which is completely different from what we expect from shows like "Last Week Tonight" or the Vice programs we have come to expect from HBO. It is a shame that I have to pay $15.99 a month to watch this show. But that is the magic of HBO in an age where Netflix has shows for everyone young and old, and aliens on Mars and network TV is trying to figure things out without insulting anyone's sensibilities, occasionally taking risks like ABC does with Black-ish and Young-ish or "Fresh Off Of The Boat" but for the most part keeping things mundane.

A nice, subtle, laid back show that isn't turned up, lit, or amplified like so many other news shows feel the need to be in this day and age. Like the news shows from the seventies. I guess that is the point.

First off, what the hell is wrong with people rating this show? This is a great show. What part don't you like? True stories? New ideas? Another way of looking at things? Multiple expert opinions. I don't get it. This is so well do. Wyatt is really good

Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas is the typical pandering biased current event show presented as journalism that has devolved and deformed from the John Stewarts legendary, The Daily Show. This is a show so safe, it must have been conceived by an artificially intelligent algorithm crunching twitter buzzwords, HBO demographics, and CNN headlines.

Issues are presented so unevenly and with so much moral weight to one side, that any ounce of journalistic integrity is destroyed immediately. Instead of presenting both sides to viewers and letting them decipher the truth for themselves, Problem Areas spends equal time presenting the facts and preaching morality to it's viewers. This show's arguments are so poorly conceived and full of logical fallacies, it ultimately lacks any power to change any viewer's perspective or behavior.

Problem Areas not only fails at journalism, but also fails at humor. Wyatt Cenac's jabs are sluggish, dull, and devoid of any novelty with jests so played out and stale that they would make for better bingo cards than jokes.

Right up there with Full Frontal and Last Week Tonight. Suprised to see such a low rating here. Renewed for a second season already, so hopefully more people will see it.

I watch a lot of HBO. It's not uncommon for me to watch each Game of Thrones, Westworld, Last Week Tonight, etc. episode 4 or 5 times the week it airs, so I'm no stranger to reruns. I watched most of what I believe is the first episode of Problem Areas and it was the most boring, unfunny thing I've seen on HBO.

This is my first IMDB review, which I was inspired to write after realizing that I'd rather watch Win A Date With Tad Hamilton than give Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas another shot.

So informative on literally all aspects of policing, providing potential solutions from a panel of experts and activists. He's also very clever and likable. So bummed to see how uncomfortable this made people.

It has a little humor, which is fine, but where the show shines is the information and conversations happening on a very serious subject. I love last week tonight for the light it shines on various important subjects, however, you can not try to talk about the issues we have with policing in this country in a 30 minute format, even an hour would not even scratch the surface. The fact it is spread over the entire season, allows for a better examination of the (MANY) flaws that have over taken this public service. I look forward to the rest of the season and looking forward to next season and what topic will be broad stroked.

Sadly, this sort of nonsense is becoming the norm. Not much is taught to people by denegrating every element of the discussion and trying to be crassly funny/cute.

What a horrible show and writer/narrator.

Fiercely funny and informative. Wyatt's delivery and cadence is spot on

Crude, profane. Funny only when he said "actors like Jason Bourne", but that's the laughing at him part. Hopefully HBO will drop this show and find something better to spend their viewers money on.

Totally unbiased opinion, like a reflection of how I was raised to think about topic(s)

Amazing show, well put together, researched, and interviews with people from all sides and walks of life. Slightly different humor than John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Samantha Bee, but it's in the same vein of political information mixed with a comedies point of view.

Season one was a Masters class on what Defund Police really means, looking forward to season twos focus.

Uncancel this show.



No? Okay then I'll continue. Wyatt's two season HBO docuseries is like the holy grail of formats for me - being a semi-sarcastic, searingly investigative and wholly constructive look at pragmatic solutions to societal problems. The first season is dedicated to policing (which turned out to be quite prescient and is hardly going to get less relevant as time goes by) and the second education. There's a notable attempt to be more overtly comedic in the second season as well, which is welcome but didn't help it much. The overall vibe is all wood-pannelling, gentle flute musical interludes and the perpetually laconic Cenac who seems to have an easy rapport with everyone he talks to.

I can see why the thing didn't necessarily take off - but it felt so specifically crafted for me that frankly I can't quite believe it exists in the first place. I learned a huge amount from this - it can be easy to see the US from the outside mainly negatively but in going and talking to the empathetic passionate people on the ground, educators, activists, craftspeople - and doing it in a warm and slightly silly way the show opened a whole other side of that country up for me. It's sad that the show has gone, but that the humans it highlighted persevere somewhere is a lovely thought.