Review: Judd Apatow's Netflix Series 'Love' Starring Gillian Jacobs And Paul Rust

If fans expecting Judd Apatow’s return to television to be similar in feel to his classic “Freaks and Geeks” and the lesser, but still enjoyable “Undeclared,” they will likely be disappointed. Instead, with its tone, characters and cringe-inducing moments, his new Netflix series “Love” has more in common with the Apatow-produced “Girls.” That is, if “Girls” were set in L.A. and unable to find the lovable, relatable center of deeply damaged characters.

Created by Apatow, comedian Paul Rust and author, writer (“Girls,” “Awkward”) and former “Vice” scribe Lesley Arfin (Rust and Arfin are also married), “Love” suffers from characters who are neither sympathetic nor particularly compelling, as well as scripts that aren’t actually comedic. In the past, Apatow’s characters on the big and small screen have been both funny and empathetic, but here his co-creators partners’ presence seems to take over, and these people feel like the couple you want to run away from at a party, and who...