‘All’s Fair’ Director Responds to Critics, Asking Viewers to Have an Open Mind About Kim Kardashian-Led Series (Exclusive)

[This story contains major spoilers from the first three episodes of All’s Fair: “Pilot,” “When We Were Young” and “I Want Revenge.”]

All’s Fair, über-producer Ryan Murphy’s latest series starring Kim Kardashian as the high-powered head of an all-female firm of divorce lawyers, was always going to cause a major stir.

In the two years since Hulu greenlit a glossy legal drama from two of the biggest names in Hollywood, TV viewers have waited with bated breath to see how Kardashian — the reality star and business mogul who is now just days away from finding out whether she passed the California bar exam in real life — would measure up against a stacked cast of acclaimed actresses including Glenn Close, Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Sarah Paulson and Teyana Taylor. (More on that a little later.)

Fed up with never being taken seriously by the older white and male colleagues at their white-shoe law firm, the All’s Fair attorneys Allura Grant (Kardashian), Liberty Ronson (Watts) and Emerald Greene (Nash-Betts) decide to open up their own all-female practice specializing in representing women in divorces.

But when Allura’s younger, NFL star husband Chase Munroe (Matthew Noszka) — a sex addict who has just fathered a child with Allura’s receptionist, Milan (Taylor) — announces he wants to separate, Allura decides to hire her longtime mentor Dina Standish (Close) to represent her. Much to her dismay, Allura discovers that her soon-to-be-ex has retained the services of Carrington Lane (Paulson), a rival attorney who still holds a grudge against Allura, Liberty and Emerald for leaving her behind at their old firm.

For the show’s director and executive producer Anthony Hemingway — who has helmed episodes of Murphy series Glee, American Horror Story and American Crime Story — All’s Fair represented an opportunity to break away from the “dark, edgy dramas” that have defined his body of work in favor of something decidedly more heightened and “commercial.”

Working on a Murphy production is “an ultimate artist playground,” Hemingway, who directed episodes two, three, four and eight, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s so much opportunity to do what I love, which is creating and imagining, and it’s always connected to some form of humanity. Through [Ryan’s] brand, he’s able to tap into pop culture and the zeitgeist with real human stories.”

The verdict, however, has not gone in the cast or creative team’s favor. After the first three episodes launched on Wednesday, critics have called All’s Fair “the worst TV show of the year,” slamming the series for being so “fascinatingly, incomprehensibly, existentially terrible,” and “unforgivably dull” despite its campy melodrama, that it isn’t even “ripe for hate-watching.”

Calling the show “brain dead,” THR’s TV critic Angie Han wrote in her review, “Kardashian’s performance, stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, is exactly what the writing, also stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, merits. Her very presence, which succeeds at generating buzz and not much else, feels fitting for a show that seems to want not to be watched so much as mined for viral bits and pieces.”

Speaking at the end of a long day of directing another one of Murphy’s shows — the inaugural season of American Love Story, which will chronicle the whirlwind courtship and marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette — Hemingway chats exclusively with THR below about working with first-time scripted series lead Kardashian; what is behind the relentless torrent of the crass insults coming out of Paulson’s mouth; and his reaction to the negative critical response to the show (which he actually considers to be more of a comedy): “What we are all doing excites us, and we stand by it.”

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Given that showrunner Ryan Murphy directed the pilot and you helmed episodes two and three, how did you work with him early on to build the world of the show?

I was just taking his lead in terms of why and what he wanted to do and really leaning into this world that allows viewers to fulfill a fantasy, or to see themselves and find the representation in all these different characters. So it was about trying to create that world and understand it. I was literally hanging on every creative choice he made in the pilot to be able to take the baton and then usher that into the evolution of what we got to really play with in the show.

Believe me: What you have seen does not touch where it goes. Throughout the season, he occasionally would ask me which was my favorite episode, because I was [directing almost] half of them. The first time he asked me, I had just completed episode four and I had an opinion or a favorite at the time. And although I love them all dearly, I left [production] with a full-fledged favorite — and you’re not ready for it. Do you want me to talk about it?

Yes. What episode number is it?

It’s number eight. You’ve already seen some teasing of it [in the trailer] — it’s when Sarah Paulson dresses up like Kim Kardashian. That should just set the stage for you. There was so much fun in it, but there was also so much heart because you got to see this human being [played by Paulson], who felt like she was always discarded and left out and left behind, try to get the acceptance of her peers and people who she ultimately did love and felt betrayed [by].

Sarah Paulson has clearly relished being the antagonist of All’s Fair with some of the most lewd and profane insults, telling THR at the red carpet that she sees Carrington “Carr” Lane as a “menace” to this all-female firm of divorce lawyers. Her character was clearly molded and named after Alexis Carrington from Dynasty, but did you draw from any other inspiration for Carr? Was it always the plan for the character to have such a relentless stream of insane one-liners?

So much of it was in the creation of the character, and obviously she poured more into it. But what I thought about a lot when tapping into this was my love for Designing Women back in the day, and even some more contemporary [films] like Devil Wears Prada. There were moments of trying to draw from some of these similarly toned pieces that might add color or an idea to a character, and then she embodied it in her own [way]. She’s so phenomenal to play with. I love going in there and trying things with her, because she is absolutely aware of the faculties that she has in her own instrument.

Even though she has clearly established a successful practice on her own, why does Carr continue to hold a grudge against the ladies of Grant, Ronson and Greene after 10 years? Is there a deeper underlying reason, or is she just hurt that she was excluded from this all-female firm?

She was hurt and wounded. This feeling like she was tossed out and left behind. They all left her, at the end of the day. It’s not all [shown] on screen, but all her sisters left her, along with the person she saw as a mother figure. When you see the whole season, you will get the full complexity of where it all comes from. There’s more to come, and she shares [her feelings] later in the season. It comes to a head. You get to hear her voice, and see them all come together and deal with it. The beginning of that turn is in the episode where she’s dressed up as Allura. It becomes less of a revenge story and more personal. She’s working through all of that the whole show.

Ever since this show was announced in late 2023, when Kim Kardashian appeared in the most recent season of American Horror Story, there has been a lot of chatter about Kardashian getting top billing over actresses who are far more experienced in the craft. Some felt her involvement was stunt casting. How would you characterize your experience of working with her?

I love Kim Kardashian, I’m just going to say that. She wasn’t as experienced of an actor as everyone else. She came in knowing that, but she came in so open and wanting to deliver a great job, and that’s [the person] I met daily. She’s an exceptional being. She’s constantly a mother. She’s always checking on and taking care of her kids. She has all the businesses that she owns and runs. And not one day did she not know her lines; not one day did she not show up willing and giving to all her other co-stars. It was phenomenal to observe and watch. She’s just a fun human being. We found fun in doing the work, and that was, to me, a reflection of who she is as a human being.

She also captured what is expected from a number one [on a call sheet], which is a leader. Although she didn’t have the experience of knowing what it meant to be a number one, she said several times: “I’m fully aware of what this opportunity is.” She was embracing it daily. It was beautiful to witness someone of her capacity and experience, in who she is just as Kim Kardashian, and step into a place surrounded by these powerhouses. She was very open, willing, ready and capable to deliver what was asked of her.

What kind of direction did you need to give her, given that she was so new to acting but also gaining increasingly more knowledge about the legal profession in real life?

Because a lot of it connected to who she is and what she has been studying to do, she always came with a sense of understanding who the character was. There were times we had to talk about backstory or break down where [Allura] was coming from or going. She’d be the first to tell you that emoting wasn’t as easy for her to tap into. We got to some of the episodes where there were very, very emotional moments, and it was about taking the time to get her to connect to evoke that emotion and bring it out. A lot of that is [through] getting to know someone, and the chemistry I have to develop with any actor, especially at the start.

There were things she was able to shed light on with us, even from a human perspective. Something that’s always welcome and needed when you’re dealing with anyone in performance is getting their perspective and point of view. So day to day, depending on what the scene called for, we did the work.

All’s Fair was initially described as a “high-end, glossy, sexy adult procedural,” but it’s not immediately clear from the first few episodes how the lawyers’ private lives will reflect or contrast with the cases they handle. How will those personal stories play out over the course of the season?

The personal stories were brilliant in the way it grounded a lot of the heightened moments in the show. You get to see them basically carry the work home, and it humanized all of them. It brought heart to their cases because they understood what each of their clients was going through, and they’re all real situations.

Dina and her husband [played by Ed O’Neill] dying of cancer — what does that do to her at work? That evolution of his journey throughout the show and where that takes Dina — her ability to be present and supportive with her girls? Is that going to force her to have to walk away? With Emerald and raising her triplets on her own, there are moments she talks about making the choice to get a donor versus dealing [with her children’s father]. We’ll see what happens when she, with the support of her sisters pushing her, tries to give it another shot and is open to exploring a relationship.

Liberty’s own hesitancy to committing is based on her past as well as her day-to-day dealing with [divorce] clients. She’s seeing things that are traumatic and give her the feeling of being cautious to a fault. With Reggie [the handsome doctor played by O-T Fagbenle], she’s finding herself in a space where she wants to lean in, but she’s scared and it could cause her to lose him. We really walk that tight rope of: Are they going to get together or not?

With Allura and her husband wanting to get a divorce, we will see that tug of war. A lot of times, when you come to the end of something, you want to start over and reflect on the good times or the things that brought you joy. We flash back to them getting married. It is an interesting navigation when they are weaving through that, trying to react to who they are and be truthful to that, but also finding it hard to walk away. And then, of course, Milan getting pregnant by him completely raises the stakes on their dynamic, and how Allura will respond to all of that. Is she going to be the mature person to take the high road and be thoughtful with her actions, or is she going to break? It’s a very human thing to watch someone go through that.

Are we going to see the inside of a courtroom this season, or are all of these divorces contested outside of court?

Right now, they’re handled outside the courtroom. It’s in various stages, but we’ve yet to actually take it to court.

But this is still a legal drama though…

[The characters have] been finding opportunities of mediation, and that’s where it’s left up to the individuals to decide if they actually want to handle [the divorce] in the way that it’s being driven. I thought that it was risky, but a very bold decision to have a legal show that’s not in the courtroom. It is easy for us to see how cases are handled in court, but we don’t ever really get to see how they’re mediated or handled personally outside of that. I thought that was very innovative.

The first three episodes of All’s Fair have not been well-received by critics, some of whom have derided the show as an “unmitigated disaster” with stilted dialogue. A critic for The Times wrote that the show “thinks it’s a feminist fable about spirited lawyers getting their own back on cruel rich men but is in fact a tacky and revolting monument to the same greed, vanity and avarice it supposedly targets.” As a member of the creative team, what is your take on the immediate reaction to the show, and how do you respond to that kind of criticism?

You’re not going to please everybody. You may have certain criticisms, while there are a million others who love it. I think the show holds a mirror up to each person who watches it. It’s just about: Can you connect to it or relate to it, and see yourself? It may be out of your league, it may not be anything you can connect to, and I think that goes for anything that gets presented on screen.

It’s entertainment, it’s a comedy, and it’s a matter of finding ways to tap into real conversations and real human dynamics in a different way. Every time you meet any sort of difference, it takes a minute to either develop a taste for it or not. It may not be for you, and that’s OK, but I personally enjoy the show. I had a lot of fun relating to it in my own way. Not everything is for everybody, and you can’t also expect one person to define something and for that be the totality of what it is — I don’t agree with that.

I also think sometimes things may take time. I did The Wire. No one liked the show when it was out. They hated it. They didn’t watch it. Two people watched it every week. But it got to a point where it found a moment. I’m not comparing the show to The Wire — let’s get that straight — but it’s an example of how people can react to something in one moment and it becomes something totally different in another time. The show takes a minute to get into gear, but I do feel like it is absolutely striking something that is refreshing and creatively fulfilling.

You mentioned that you think All’s Fair holds a mirror up to the viewer, but I think part of the issue is that the ladies of the show seem to exist in some kind of alternate universe that seems divorced from the real world. Many critics feel the show’s attempt at a high-camp, “girlboss” feminist narrative came across as “hollow” or “tacky” in 2025. Why do you feel like there is a disconnect with how the show has been received thus far?

Unfortunately, there are expectations for the show that are being defied or not met, because it’s not what they expected it to be. When you put the word “legal” and use the word “drama” lightly in certain things, that strikes a certain expectation, and [that expectation] is not fully what the show was meant to be. There’s a lot of wish fulfillment in this show that was by design, and it’s coming at a time where people want an escape and to fantasize. There are elements of this show that effectively do that, where it’s not taking itself so serious. It wouldn’t be a comedy if it was trying to be that.

Everything is so dark and heavy and decisive, and here you have this show that can connect to real conversations, but with a different palette. It’s a way to connect to the human condition and certain aspects of humanity. I think that it ultimately delivers. I do. I believe it. Hopefully opinions will change. But if they don’t, then they don’t. What we are all doing excites us, and we stand by it.

Also, [I would say to audiences]: Don’t come at it with such a critical or literal frame of mind. It strikes a different tone, and it will evolve over time; it will get more human. Something that was important to Ryan was fulfilling fantasies. [He was] wanting people to see what they may not be able to obtain, but can escape into and live out through an entertainment space. [He wanted to] give some wish fulfillment and light to this world.

You are currently in the middle of shooting the finale of American Love Story, another Murphy show that sparked some backlash before the show has even premiered.

Again, from my own perspective, it is really interesting that everybody has an opinion. My takeaway from doing Love Story is [that the show is] bringing a perspective of understanding love and the dynamic that comes from both perspectives — from the Kennedy side, as well as the married-into side. I may not understand that dynamic, but I can empathize with and understand what yearning for love represents.

It’s just another awesome opportunity that Ryan has created for us to take something that we hold so dear to our American lives — a family that was so important to us — and tap into understanding them as human beings. It’s so easy to catapult people up on pedestals and not understand that they’re human beings at the end of the day. It’s what we got to do with [The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story] — to really look behind the curtain of how a human life was affected through something. The people who thought they knew all about O.J. learned and appreciated what we got to deliver [in that miniseries], and I hope that the same outcome happens with Love Story [with the Kennedys].

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The first three episodes of All’s Fair are now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday. The two-episode season finale drops Dec. 9. Read THR‘s cover story with All’s Fair star Teyana Taylor.