---
title: "Atlanta"
year: 2016
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/atlanta"
fi1m_score: 87
critics_score: 88
critics_reviews: 8
published: "2026-09-17T03:19:26.113392+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T03:19:40.656201+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Atlanta (2016)

Created by Donald Glover · MPA TV-MA · Comedy, Drama

**Fi1m score: 87** · Critics 88 from 8 reviews

*In a sentence:* A sitcom about managing a rapper that keeps wandering off after something stranger, and is nearly always right to

> Donald Glover’s comedy about two cousins and one hit single is the most confident thing of its kind we know: patient, strange, exactly cast and shot like a film. The first two seasons are close to faultless; the third loses its nerve for a while.

## Synopsis

Atlanta, Georgia, the present. Earnest ‘Earn’ Marks (Donald Glover) is broke and out of favour with Vanessa ‘Van’ Keefer (Zazie Beetz), whose flat he sleeps at when she lets him. His cousin Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles (Brian Tyree Henry) has a single starting to get played around the city, and Earn talks his way into managing him. Alfred’s friend Darius Epps (LaKeith Stanfield) is usually on the sofa, asking the question nobody expected. The first season follows the three men round the clubs, radio stations and police stations of the city, chasing money that never quite arrives, while Van decides how much of Earn she can afford to keep around.

## Review

*Atlanta* is about a broke young man who talks his way into managing his cousin, a local rapper with one song on the radio, and about the years in which almost no money arrives. Donald Glover created it, writes and directs some of it and plays Earnest ‘Earn’ Marks. That is the whole premise, and the writers, Stephen Glover, Stefani Robinson, Ibra Ake and Jamal Olori among them, treat it as an excuse. Whole episodes pass without a gig or a meeting.

Our verdict: it is the most sure-footed comedy we know, and it is not even. The first season and Robbin’ Season, the second, are close to faultless across 21 episodes. The third, which spends less time with the four and more with strangers, is about half as good, and we will say why. The fourth recovers most of the ground. The full run is 41 episodes over four seasons, and we would not skip any of them, but we would warn you which ones drift.

Brian Tyree Henry plays Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles, and he is the reason the show has a centre. Alfred has the talent and no wish to be looked at, and Henry plays a man tired of being recognised before he is famous enough for it to pay. He does most of it with his shoulders. LaKeith Stanfield’s Darius Epps says the strangest thing in any room in the calmest voice, and is usually the only person paying attention. Glover gives Earn a quick mind and no way of turning it into rent; he is not easy to like, and the writers never soften him. Zazie Beetz makes Vanessa ‘Van’ Keefer the only one of the four with a job, some of the time, and the only one the show lets be angry at length.

The craft is film craft, done on television schedules. Christian Sprenger and Stephen Murphy shoot the city at night in orange sodium haze and by day in a bleached, humid light, and they keep the frames wide so the four are small against car parks and strip malls. Hiro Murai holds a shot for several seconds after the joke has landed, which is where the second, better joke usually is. Kyle Reiter and Isaac Hagy cut away from punchlines rather than to them. Ludwig Göransson and David Wingo’s score is barely there, a low hum under scenes, so the rap playing from a car stereo does the work. Timothy David O’Brien and Jonathan Paul Green give Alfred a flat with a mattress, a large television and nothing on the walls. Tiffany Hasbourne keeps Darius in shirts buttoned to the neck and Earn in the same jacket.

More than once the show turns, without warning, into a horror film, and never explains why. We sat down to a comedy and found we had stopped breathing, because Murai keeps the camera still and lets a stranger talk, and Sprenger lights him so that his face never quite resolves. Nothing in those scenes is played for a laugh, and whatever is wrong in them is treated by everyone on screen as an ordinary inconvenience.

The faults are in season 3. The episodes that leave the four behind for strangers, mostly white and mostly rich, have good ideas and weak endings; two or three of them explain their point in the last scene, which the earlier seasons would never have done. The episodes that stay with the four find less for them to say. Earn’s slow progress towards competence is the least interesting thing about him, and the show knows it and keeps going anyway.

Against the other half-hour comedies about a man drifting round a city, it is the slowest and the one we think about most. It moved us, in the end, in a way we did not expect a show this cool to manage: Henry’s face in the last minutes of Robbin’ Season, when a decision has been made and nobody says it aloud, is the best acting in the series, and it is silent.

Watch the first two seasons close together and give the third the benefit of the doubt. It carries an 18 certificate, for language and violence, and that is fair. It is a comedy about the music business with almost no music business in it, which is the most accurate thing about it.

*Fi1m score 87, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are uniformly warm. Most critics agree the series is unusual in shape: a comedy about young black life in Atlanta that skips the sitcom structure and the moral lesson, and lets its jokes build slowly. The praise clusters on tone and on the cast. Brian Tyree Henry as Paper Boi is singled out more than once, and LaKeith Stanfield’s Darius is picked out too, along with Hiro Murai’s direction for keeping the surreal turns grounded in the everyday.

Reservations are scarce. The spread is narrow, from firmly good to very good, and nobody files a mixed or negative notice. What differs is emphasis. The Ringer reads it chiefly as a hip-hop show, valuing the money troubles and small hustles over any success story. Den of Geek and Collider, the coolest of the group, still call it fresh and funny; their lower marks come without a stated complaint.

### Reviews we read (8)

- **The AV Club**, Vikram Murthi (A-): The series excels as a funny, offbeat exploration of black life in Atlanta that avoids becoming a heavy-handed statement piece. It highlights the strong performances of its leads and its distinctive comedic voice. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/donald-glover-didn-t-want-atlanta-to-be-important-but-1798188835)
- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The series is the smartest and funniest on TV, an uncompromising look at life delivered by young black writers flexing creative muscles. It stands out for its experimental approach without traditional narrative structure or moral judgments. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/oct/19/atlanta-donald-glover-show-example-young-black-writers-creative-tv)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Tim Goodman (90/100, inferred): The review highlights the show's simple premise and soulful, evocative execution as an existential young Black comedy about daily survival, calling its self-assured originality one of the most fascinating series on television. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/fxs-atlanta-tv-review-922153/)
- **The Independent** (90/100, inferred): Atlanta is the best new show this year, operating on a different plane with varied enjoyments and grabbing the viewer from the first episode. It excels through strong performances, especially Brian Tyree Henry as Paper Boi, and its exploration of black culture with heart and personality. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/atlanta-donald-glover-fx-season-1-is-the-best-new-show-this-year-a7377986.html)
- **Variety**, Sonia Saraiya (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the debut season a finished, cinematic production and one of the best new shows of the fall, praising its slow-build humor and distinctive tone over conventional sitcom structure. [Read](https://variety.com/2016/tv/reviews/tv-review-fx-atlanta-better-things-donald-glover-pamela-adlon-1201850453/)
- **The Ringer**, Justin Charity (85/100, inferred): The critic hails Atlanta as the realest hip-hop show on TV for its grounded, unglamorous portrayal of struggling characters in the Atlanta rap scene. He singles out its focus on mundane hustles, money troubles, and authentic black perspectives over success-story tropes or industry glamour. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2016/09/06/tv/atlanta-fx-show-donald-glover-737e59619a4a)
- **Collider**, Allison Keene (★★★★): The critic praises the series as funny, deep, and unique, highlighting its honest portrayal of Atlanta life and the surreal yet grounded storytelling under Hiro Murai's direction. They single out the performances, particularly LaKeith Stanfield as Darius, and the show's specific yet universal appeal. [Read](https://collider.com/atlanta-review-donald-glover/)
- **Den of Geek**, Joe Matar (4/5): Atlanta stands out for its unusual blend of tones and its focus on an under-represented southern Black neighborhood and its characters. The show takes risks with storytelling and mixes drama, comedy, and surreal elements in fresh ways. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/atlanta-review/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Donald Glover
- **Creator:** Donald Glover
- **Director:** Hiro Murai, Donald Glover, Amy Seimetz, Angela Barnes, Adamma Ebo, Janicza Bravo, Ibra Ake
- **Writer:** Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Stefani Robinson, Jamal Olori, Ibra Ake, Taofik Kolade, Francesca Sloane, Janine Nabers, Karen Joseph Adcock, Jordan Temple
- **Cinematography:** Christian Sprenger, Stephen Murphy
- **Editor:** Kyle Reiter, Isaac Hagy
- **Music:** Ludwig Göransson, David Wingo
- **Production design:** Timothy David O'Brien, Jonathan Paul Green
- **Costume design:** Tiffany Hasbourne
- **Producer:** Alex Orr, Stefani Robinson, Hiro Murai
- **Cast:** Donald Glover as Earnest 'Earn' Marks; Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred 'Paper Boi' Miles; LaKeith Stanfield as Darius Epps; Zazie Beetz as Vanessa 'Van' Keefer; Aaron Tyler as Event Staff (uncredited); Candace B. Harris as Fast Food Cashier; Keena Ferguson as Crystal; Katt Williams as Uncle Willy
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 6 September 2016
- **Genres:** Comedy, Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CetGXHU5aOA

## Where to watch in the US

- Hulu: streaming, hd
- Disney+: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd
- Apple TV: buy, sd

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Killer of Sheep* (1978), Fi1m 90: Charles Burnett’s Los Angeles, shot on nothing, where the plot is getting through the week. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/killer-of-sheep.md)
- *Louie* (2010): The half-hour that showed a comedy could stop being funny whenever it liked.
- *Chewing Gum* (2015): Michaela Coel’s estate comedy, louder than Atlanta but just as sure of its streets.
- *Barry* (2018), Fi1m 85: A hitman takes an acting class; the tone shifts as often and as coolly. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/barry-lyndon.md)
- *Reservation Dogs* (2021), Fi1m 86: Four teenagers on an Oklahoma reservation, drifting and funny in the same unhurried way. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/reservation-dogs.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/atlanta