Kim Kardashian's show is truly terrible, but the problem is much bigger than her.

They say all's fair in love and war and in the case of the new Disney+ series All's Fair, the show's critics are not pulling any punches.

All's Fair is a legal drama series co-created by Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz, and Joe Baken.

The sexy series centres on an all-female team of high-power divorce attorneys in Los Angeles. The plot follows these lawyers as they navigate the messy, high-stakes divorces of Hollywood's elite, balancing their complex personal lives with their own petty dramas and career ambitions.

The series revolves mostly around three women: Kim Kardashian in her first leading lady role as Allura Grant, the ultimate girlboss divorce lawyer, Naomi Watts as her loyal partner, Liberty Ronson, and Niecy Nash-Betts as the firm's investigator, Emerald Greene.

Appearing less often are Glenn Close as Dina Standish, the team's old boss and mentor figure, Sarah Paulson as unhinged rival lawyer Carrington Lane, and Teyana Taylor as a junior associate harbouring a juicy secret.

Listen to The Quicky discuss the failure of All's Fair. Post continues below.

The reviews for All's Fair have already eclipsed the show itself — and they're not good. In fact, they're very, very bad.

From being called the 'worst TV show of the year' to being labelled 'existentially terrible', All Fair's has been met with a slurry of criticism.

A lot of the commentary has surrounded Kardashian's acting in the show, but is that (pardon the pun) all that fair? Her performance has been slammed as emotionless and dull, with one particularly harsh review in The Times saying Kardashian "is to acting what Genghis Khan is to a peaceful liberal democracy."

Watch The Spill's awkward interview with Kim Kardashian. Post continues after video.

I don't disagree with this commentary, per se. Kim Kardashian is not great in this: she's often expressionless and lacks the charisma, screen presence, and star power necessary to carry this kind of campy show.

But I don't think it's fair to put the blame solely in Kim's corner.

The problem is twofold: she shouldn't be the main character and even then, the main character should be much more compelling.

I didn't expect Kardashian to dominate the show to this extent — she's not just a main character, she is the main character.

This seems like a huge ask for a woman who has only done a handful of acting roles in her life. Her lack of experience is all the more evident when she's sharing the screen with Nash-Betts and Watts — two women who have multiple Oscar and Globes nominations and one Emmy between them.

Even worse, Kardashian is expected to carry the emotional crux of the series, as her character goes through a divorce of her own. Sadly, she's not capable of this, which makes the entire series suffer.

That said, I'm not confident a more skilled actress in this role could have saved the show. Allura is a truly bland character that encapsulates every lazy girlboss stereotype you could imagine.

Overall, the three main characters miss the mark. In this, Watts is quite odd and charmless, a mysterious shift for the same actress who gave us a genre-shifting performance in Mulholland Drive.

At the same time, an accomplished actress can only do so much with lines like: "My flight was turbulent and so is my mood."

Image: Disney+.

Nash-Betts gives a lot of energy and brings the only laughs I had in the series, but the character's humour and mannerisms often revert to outdated Black stereotypes you'd expect from a '00s comedy.

Paulson and Close are two saving graces — their powerhouse performances do a lot of the heavy lifting, but it's a shame they're only in a handful of scenes, even if their dialogue is straight-up deranged.

To be blunt, this show just doesn't seem to know or like women.

It turns out that a series about women lawyers working with women clients starring all women probably should have had a few women in the writers' room.

At the helm of the series are three men: Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz, and Joe Baken. Lynnie Greene is the only female writer listed as working on an episode in a sea of five other male writers.

Add to that, the first three episodes that premiered on Disney+ this week were all directed by men.

And it really, really shows.

Similar to the divisive reboot And Just Like That — which was helmed by Michael Patrick King — there is just something a little off about the way the women are written, offering a dumbed-down approach to female empowerment.

Every episode of All's Fair recycles through the same story: a wronged woman complains to the lawyers about her rich husband, the women scheme to avenge her, and then yay, money money money.

I imagine the message is supposed to be to champion women's independence, but instead it becomes all about greed and vanity.

Every episode, the women are on private jets sipping champagne while wearing the most expensive designer labels imaginable. And while there's nothing wrong with a series selling an aspirational lifestyle, there needs to be more substance underneath the custom outfits.

Image: Disney+.

I couldn't believe some of the dialogue that made the finale episodes. It's as gaudy and unsubtle as anything Murphy has penned in his career.

"Can I say, girls just wanna have fun!!" Watts' character shrieks.

"You know what a girl's best friend is? Not diamonds, her lawyers," another client beams, as one lawyer tells a recently divorced woman, "I know you're broken-hearted but you look damn good!"

A lot of the scenes feel curated specifically for meme-worthy moments, from painfully long walking montages to show off the trio's full outfits to internet-ready moments where Kardashian's character tells Close, "Yes mother!"

Often, I felt like Murphy was using these women as his life-sized Barbie dolls.

So where did they go wrong? Along with not having enough women giving their perspective on the series, there were likely too many cooks in this bespoke kitchen.

All's Fair has a very long list of executive producers, including Murphy, Baitz, Baken, Kardashian, and her mother Kris Jenner, along with the full main cast of Close, Paulson, Watts and Nash-Betts.

While it's not uncommon to have some stars as executive producers, it's typically one or two of the leading stars and not the entire cast… and probably not anyone's mum.

In turn, by having the people intimately involved in the project also overseeing it, there's probably less likelihood that people might flag the show's inefficiencies to protect a hierarchy of creative egos.

With so many voices fighting to be heard, the overall tone and narrative voice don't feel consistent.

All's Fair will divide audiences — it was no doubt created to do that — but if you're going to hate on the show, Kim Kardashian shouldn't be your target.

Feature image: Disney+.