EPISODE
SEASON
Physical - Season 1
A woman struggling in her life as a quietly tortured housewife, finds an unconventional path to power through an unlikely source: the world of aerobics.
4 January 1964, Los Angeles, California, USA
4 September 1982, Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
27 September 1961, The Bronx, New York, USA
June 08, 2021
Physical is a nasty look inside the dark side of the San Diego aerobics scene and I could not be happier to have written that sentence.
June 17, 2021
Byrne makes it worth a watch, and once you're in, it isn't just '80s nostalgia that keeps you coming back for more.
June 16, 2021
Australian Byrne proves to be an excellent psychic clearinghouse for so much that goes wrong, and right, in our hot mess of a society.
June 09, 2021
Although sold as a dramedy, Physical is light on the comedy, especially considering the half an hour premise. There is little comedy to be found in the dark tale of eating disorders and self-image demons.
June 15, 2021
Despite a strong cast, Physical can't escape the curse of wholly unlikeable leading characters.
June 17, 2021
The 80s may have been done to death lately in pop culture, but this transcends period to become a timeless tale about a woman navigating her place in a world that wants to hold her back. And such a story is always worth getting worked up about.
June 17, 2021
Her caustic asides are often bitingly droll and Ms. Byrne has the chops to deliver them properly.
June 12, 2021
"Physical" daringly reimagines the '80s cliché of the aerobics obsessed housewife, offering a subversive take on what it means to be successful in a culture that continues to value the appearance of success over actual well-being.
June 16, 2021
I've rarely seen a show more committed to following storylines I didn't care about at the expense of its best assets.
June 15, 2021
Physical looked from a distance like another surefire success. But just as Sheila Rubin's picture-perfect exterior conceals a whole lot of pain and suffering, the glitzy packaging of Physical is wrapped around a miserable, frustrating show.
June 16, 2021
Physical commits the cardinal sin of storytelling by leaving it entirely up to its audience to project our personal catalysts for anger onto its character since the story doesn't do that for us.
June 17, 2021
Episodes of Physical zip by in less than a half hour each, which is good, because an hour of Sheila's cutting commentary might be too much to handle.