‘Terminal List’ Author Responds to Negative Reviews of Chris Pratt Series, Says Critics Are “Triggered” by Show

Ryan Gajewski
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The author of the novel that’s the basis for the Chris Pratt-starring Amazon series The Terminal List is speaking out about negative reviews of the show.

Jack Carr, a former Navy SEAL whose novel was published in 2018, appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Friday, where host Tucker Carlson pointed out that there appears to be a wide discrepancy between the reaction of critics to the drama series and that of other viewers. The show, which debuted earlier this month and centers on Navy SEAL commander James Reese learning more about circumstances behind his platoon getting ambushed, holds an audience score of 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, while the critic rating is just 43 percent.

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When asked for his take on this, Carr seemed to suggest that politics is to blame. “It falls right in line with everything that I understand about the current culture and climate in America right now,” Carr said. “It seems to have triggered quite a few of these critics.”

He continued, “The 95 percent viewer rating, audience rating, makes it all worth it. We didn’t make it for the critics. We made it for those in the arena. We made it for the soldier, sailor, airman and Marine that went downrange to Iraq and Afghanistan, so they could sit on the couch and say, ‘Hey, these guys put in the work. They put in the effort to make something special and make a show that speaks to them.’ And that 95 percent rating lets me know that we at least got close.”

Carr, who is an executive producer of the series alongside Pratt and Antoine Fuqua, read excerpts from a number of reviews and said that one critic asked what to even call a show like Terminal List. This led the author to quip that “you call that the No. 1 series on Prime Video.”

In his review of The Terminal List, The Hollywood Reporter’s chief television critic Daniel Fienberg employed a holiday-cookout analogy, writing, “It’s the entertainment equivalent of a charred hockey puck, with the same limited range of flavor and aesthetics.”

The cast also includes Constance Wu, Taylor Kitsch and Riley Keough.

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