AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

liquidcelluloid-1 Network: FX; Genre: Dark Comedy, Drama, Content Rating: TV-MA (strong language, strong crude humor, nudity and simulated sex); Perspective: Cult Classic (star range: 1 - 5); Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season) Sam (Eric Schaeffer) is a commodities trader at a top New York firm as well as an anorexic, compulsive overeater. Billie (Laura Benanti) is an aspiring underground singer/songwriter (whose fans "prefer her gay") as well as a recovering anorexic. Dan (Del Pentecost) is a married stay-at-home writer whose wife won't let him watch the game in peace as well as a morbidly obese compulsive overeater. Adam (Sterling K. Brown) is a New York police officer as well as an active bulimic who isn't above shaking down vendors for something to binge on. Boy, you know this will be fun… The brainchild or star/writer/director/creator/executive producer Eric Schaeffer, "Starved" is about the most noble commercial failure to come down the pipe in some time. If it doesn't quite live up to the lofty concept that Schaeffer is attempting to get his arms around here (and the flaws are numerous), the show is so bold, so unique, so bravely open, so well made and with such a gung-ho attempt at a level of crude humor you rarely see in live-action TV, that it manages to fling itself in just one season into cult classic territory.Something that wouldn't see the light of day anywhere except FX, "Starved" is a show for people, like me, who are tired of all their romantic comedy characters being quirky, wacky neurotics and want to see some people who are genuinely mentally disturbed. And the show isn't just a dark comedy about a group of friends with eating disorders (which itself would be enough to raise the ire of the Hyper-sensitive Special Interest Group of the Week), but it brings a never-before-seen male perspective to the subject. After decades of being told that whining, crying and self pity was the only way to depict a bulimic, "Starved" takes eating disorders like a man. With anger, self-loathing, wicked humor and twisted sex. You'd never see a character like the sadistically mean-spirited group leader (Jackie Hoffman) in a Lifetime Original Movie, that's for sure. Then again this show probably wasn't relevant decades ago, as Schaeffer's endearingly effeminate Sam can also be seen as a comment on the feminization of the modern man that has brought them to this point. With "Starved" Schaeffer exorcises his own frustration with compulsive overeating, shaping it into a dark, bittersweet comedy.While largely uneven in the department of actual laughs, the show succeeds be being an nakedly intimate exploration of it's characters. But "Starved" can be divided evenly down the half of it that works - Sam and Billie - and the half that doesn't - Dan and Adam. Schaeffer has put so much heart and texture into his own story lines that he leaves the rest of the cast underwritten. He is aided from the very beginning here by Benanti who (in one of the funniest female lead performances since Paget Brewster in "Andy Richter Controls the Universe") can take any scrap Schaeffer throws her and make it a laugh riot. Watch her take a lame bit in the pilot involving a scale and turn it around and into a laugh at the last second. Shaeffer himself is also great in the show. His deliveries, his expressions - the guy could about have carried the entire thing himself.Then there are the gross-out gags, which reach a level of surreal outrageousness that top the Farrelly brothers in their prime. This eye-popping assault includes stuff like TV's first colonic backfire, massive testicular swelling and a mysterious man (Darrell Hammond) who can purge at will. Few shows have made me squirm in nauseous discomfort like this one.Interlaced parallel with all this, like a "Sex and the City" for the sick and miserable, is the ironically more successful romantic comedy elements: Sam's obsession with the women in a British shoe commercial, Sam's unrequited affection for his bisexual friend, and a late season arc with a Yoga instructor (Robyn Cohen, a dead-ringer for Jennifer Westfeldt) whose new-age lifestyle tests him.The show finds a rhythm in the final episodes, where our group meet their fate - and disappointing it is only the women who seems happy. Everything about "Starved" was bittersweet. It defied convention and challenged an audience that is used to happy endings and laugh lines - exactly as you would expect from FX's first venture into comedy. "Starved" was flawed, uneven and underwritten but it had a foothold into a potentially robust, untapped, universe and deserved an audience. It's cancellation leaves us with the open-ended desire to know what happens next to these characters - always the sign of a good series.* * * / 5

Laurie93_6 I have to say that Starved both makes me cry and laugh...each episode I have identified with in some way. I think it is an excellent, smart, and provocative show. The gentleman who created it is "out" about his own struggles and I admire that. He is brilliant! I would be very sad if the show did not return. people need to lighten up and really watch it...its not making fun of anyone..it is reality for millions, and at the very least, these people are trying to change,admitting their problems, and honestly portraying characters that many of us know.or can identify with in some way. What it is saying is that we are a society obsssessed with our weight, and that people of all types, weights, etc. are making themselves sick trying to be something we are brainwashed to believe we are supposed to be. It is a brilliant show that clearly is a commentary on how insane this society is about looks and weight. And yes...most of the carachters are not fat, but you don't have to be fat to be obsessed about your weight!!! I LOVE IT!!!...Is there an official place that we can write to to let the producers and FX know about how committed we are to continuing this show?

logicmb To put it simply, this show is amazing. I feel confident saying that "Starved" is the replacement "Seinfeld" fans have been waiting for. However where "Seinfeld" was a single episode type of show, "Starved" is a continuing story from one episode to the next. The characters have a very similar feel to those from "Seinfeld" in that they frequently discuss rather inane subject matter in an unconventional manner. This is the first sitcom style show that I have really found enjoyment watching in years. Some of the conversations are rather lewd and/or ridiculous, but I can recall similar conversations with some of my best friends over the years. However if you're looking for a lighthearted comedy -- this is not the sitcom for you. This is definitely a black comedy, and when I say black I mean black. I'm not going to say "trust me" use your DVR to record this, why should you trust me? I'm not going to say "give this show a chance, you'll be happy you did", cause you might hate it. I will say that I am very happy I stumbled across this show on FX and highly recommend it to anyone with a dark sense of humor.

pchippers Anorexia and the other diseases covered on the show are an illness. Sometimes a life threatening illness. Ask the family members of those who have died of 'eating disorder' how funny it is to watch someone they love slowly wither away while not eating.This is on par of someone making "The Killing Fields' into a musical comedy. If anything it should be baned or boycotted by the viewers. The fact the men discuss their sexuality is just another bad joke in bad taste by a bad writer. This show is wrong and it not funny. What next 'I dying of (fill in blank).I am far more disgusted than I am amused. People who have an eating disorder could be watching the show and honestly be hurt by the show and hurt themselves further. The show even gives triggers to those with eating disorders. Again this show is an disgusting and crude.