I wanted Étoile to be as marvelous as Mrs. Maisel, but it falls short — and as a French person, I found one thing especially annoying

Amy Sherman-Palladino has always loved classical dance. You may have noticed watching her first hit-show, Gilmore Girls, based on the number of minutes dedicated to showing Miss Patty’s dance classes in the midst of Rory and Lorelei’s adventures in Star Hollow.

In fact, Sherman-Palladino’s mother was a dancer and before becoming a critically acclaimed writer, Sherman-Palladino herself trained as a dancer.

It is not surprising then that her newest series, which she co-created with her husband and creative partner Daniel Palladino, centers on the world of ballet. In fact the show oozes love for this artform that is often seen as niche and old-fashioned.

However, a story about the relationship between ballet and those who love it does not necessarily make for good TV.

Étoile on Prime Video evolves around two world-renowned (and fictional) ballet companies and their dancers and artistic staff. When Jack (Luke Kirby) and Geneviève (Charlotte Gainsbourg) realize they need to do something to save their respective institutions from financial ruin, they decide to embark on an ambitious gambit by swapping their most talented stars for a year.

While Geneviève asks to borrow the Metropolitan Ballet Theater's star choreographer, Tobias Bell (Gideon Glick), and to get back ballerina Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo), which her company previously dismissed, Jack snags the Ballet National's shiniest étoile, Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge). Meanwhile, Simon Callow plays an evil billionaire who pays for the entire enterprise.

What follows is the whirling cocktail of a typical Sherman-Palladino show: fast-paced dialogue, clever jokes, characters jousting with words, and situations that bask in the absurd. The premise of the series and its stakes are rapidly swiped off the stage to let characters with huge egos and chaotic personalities run the show.

But as much as I wanted to enjoy Étoile, I didn’t. In fact, most of the time I found myself bored with the predictable story the show struggles to tell. I found the characters lacking development and failing to be relatable. It wasn’t until the midpoint of this first season (which consists of eight hour-long episodes) that I felt even remotely interested in what happened to the people in this series.

Can French characters stop doing this!

Sure, it’s a neat concept, and it’s fun to get a bit of a glimpse behind the curtain and to see ballet put at the forefront of a TV show. But where Sherman-Palladino's previous award-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had the comedic chops, the dazzling performances, and the engaging story, Étoile barely captivates only thanks to a few good jokes and a talented cast.

Also, it remains as aggravating as ever for me, a French person, to watch entire scenes of a TV show featuring French characters in France talking in English amongst themselves for no good reason. No one does this.

But at least the French cast can keep up with Shakespeare’s language, and even if Lou de Laâge’s accent sometimes had my wishing for subtitles (which is wild because, again, I’m French, so I shouldn't have struggled with understanding her accent) she deserves all the praise for managing the gigantic amount of dialogue a Sherman-Palladino show can throw at its actors.

But the quality of the performances, from de Laâge’s to Kirby’s and Gainsbourg’s (who all carry the show on their shoulders), isn’t enough to make a good series, and even less to make a good successor to Mrs. Maisel.

Is Étoile as good as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?

I really went in wanting to love Étoile. Not because I love ballet, but because I love Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and wanted Sherman-Palladino to have another go at a dance-focused show after Bunheads failed to convince audiences over 10 years ago.

But I don’t think this one will do much better, because Étoile boils down to a messy show bouncing clumsily between New York and Paris and centered on characters who insist on being insufferable.

As graceful and captivating as ballet can be, Étoile dances through unconvincing story arcs that left me uninspired to come back for more. Pity.