Alley Cats Review: Ricky Gervais’ Animated Comedy Is An Uninspired, Unfunny Slog

Published Aug 7, 2026, 9:19 AM EDT Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes. Dani is also part of ScreenRant's books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses. They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer. In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18. Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity. Ricky Gervais’ adult animated TV show, Alley Cats, doesn’t deliver any laughs, making it a chore to get through. The comedian has proven with The Office (UK) and The Extras, which he co-created with Stephen Merchant, that he’s capable of making a good comedy TV show. However, Gervais’ recent shows just don’t live up to his previous work. Netflix’s Alley Cats, a rated-R show that sounded like The Office meets Garfield, is his most recent attempt at creating a great scripted comedy show. The series centers on an orange stray cat named Gus (Gervais), who spends his time with his friends Ponce (Tom Baden), Puke (David Earl), Olive (Diane Morgan), and Fang (Andrew Brooke). The ensemble group, played by Gervais' usual team of actors, sets out to help a lost black kitten, aptly named Kitten (Jo Hartley), find her home. Gus develops a connection with the young cat, who is scared and innocent to the cruelties of the world. While the premise sounds great, the execution was terrible, with virtually every aspect of the Alley Cats containing some flaws. If it weren't for the fact that I was writing this review, I would have quit the show long before the credits rolled on the final episode. Some of the problems, like a poorly written original song and very forgettable moments, could be overlooked if the rest of the show was good. However, a few key issues stand out as the core issues dragging Alley Cats down. Alley Cats' Animation Looks Cheap & Lazy The first and most obvious issue in Alley Cats is the animation style. From the time the first look was released, folks discussed on social media that the animation looked incredibly cheap and poorly done. This is apparent just looking at the still images and the trailers. Unfortunately, it isn't any better in long form. Like other animated TV shows and movies about animals, Alley Cats anthropomorphizes the characters. The human emotions and expressions are meant to make the animals easier to connect with, but the Netflix animated show does the exact opposite. The cats' expressions in Alley Cats look overexaggerated, and they are repeated from episode to episode. There's not enough variation to make them feel three-dimensional. The actual composition of each scene also feels incredibly lazy. Rather than having the cats move around, they are stagnant about half the time. It felt like I was reading a comic strip, not watching a TV show. Netflix's Alley Cats was animated by Blink Industries, the studio behind Don't Hug Me I'm Scared and Dead End: Paranormal Park. The issues went further than just character design, though. Alley Cats replicates the lyrics of a song in animated form, which feels juvenile and uninspired. It feels like a choice that a student would make, rather than a professional. Additionally, the backgrounds look flattened, and the forced perspective isn't working throughout most of the series. In all fairness, a lot of the character animation issues reflect the performances of Alley Cats' cast. The actors have no energy, sounding overly slow and slightly monotone. Additionally, the comedic timing is off. It feels like every line is delivered about a second too late. This problem is particularly shocking since Gervais recorded in the same audio booth with the other actors (via The Hollywood Reporter). Kitten is the only character with strong emotional variation and energized vocals. Netflix's Alley Cats Just Isn't Funny Courtesy of Netflix When it comes to being funny, Alley Cats failed the test, eliciting zero major laughs, just one small chuckle, and two instances of cracking a smile. The dry humor isn’t actually funny. The cynical humor feels clunky and awkwardly phrased. The situational comedy doesn’t land. The characters don’t crack jokes and banter often. When they do, they punch down, making fat jokes, jokes about people with intellectual and physical disabilities, racist jokes, and nonstop gay jokes. Somehow, the most offensive thing in Alley Cats isn’t the actual jokes, though; it’s the complete lack of originality. Even more concerningly, Alley Cats doesn’t even attempt to downplay the blatant homophobia thrown at Ponce. They nicknamed him a derogatory word for a gay person and refused to call him by his requested name. They mock him for being the only cat who’s neutered, as if his lack of certain genitalia makes him inferior. The other cats also joke about him liking anal and being a pedophile within the same breath, which is the one time Alley Cats actually got a rise out of me instead of just making me annoyed. Somehow, the most offensive thing in Alley Cats isn’t the actual jokes, though; it’s the complete lack of originality. Don't get me wrong. The jokes were a problem. They seemed provocative simply for the sake of being provocative. Still, if Gervais and the other cast members were going to lean into offensive shock comedy, they could at least have been more creative or clever. Instead, I heard the same types of jokes being made by edgelord teenagers in the 2000s. After multiple decades, these kinds of jokes have become mind-numbingly boring. Alley Cats Can’t Commit To A Storyline Or Narrative Style On top of being unfunny, Alley Cats doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of what it wants to be. The entire premise is that the cats are trying to help Kitten get home, which sets up a goal-oriented story. However, the Netflix show doesn’t even spend half the time on this. Instead, the show veers off into weird side plots like trying to find bees and a completely unnecessary romance subplot, which feels more like a slice of life. The lack of narrative identity is also reflected in the pacing. The episodes oscillate between a complete standstill and a leisurely walk, shifting at random. I found it deeply annoying that the cats just sit down and start talking in the middle of an episode, rather than actually doing anything. What makes this frustrating is that Alley Cats has one single episode that proves Ricky Gervais can write a good story that doesn’t need constant offensive humor. Episode 5 has all the right emotional beats. It provides much-needed character depth. The Kitten actually feels like a character in the story instead of a prop they pull out when they need to move the story forward. The few comedic moments might not be very funny, but they also don’t detract from the episode. The great penultimate episode and strong moments in the finale aren’t enough to change the fact that this Netflix show just isn’t good. Episode 5 has a whole lot of heart, and it proves that Alley Cats could have been brilliant. Sadly, they couldn’t even maintain the strong writing through episode six, which has a few really shining moments mixed with more unfunny comedy and unnecessary subplots. Unfortunately, the great penultimate episode and strong moments in the finale aren’t enough to change the fact that this Netflix show just isn’t good. All episodes of Alley Cats begin streaming August 7 on Netflix. Release Date August 7, 2026 Network Netflix Series Alley Cats Episodes 6