'Palm Royale' Is A Big Disappointment

“It’s all a blur, a hazy, crazy blur,” Maxine Simmons (Kristen Wiig) says in the opening voiceover of “Palm Royale,” Apple TV+’s newest original series.

After watching the first three episodes of the miniseries that dropped Wednesday, I agree. The show, which takes place in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1969, is a blur of delightful period costumes and idyllic sets. But the outcome is hazy at best, proving that a prestige cast and a potentially prestige premise do not make a prestige TV show.

The show begins with Simmons climbing over a wall and falling into the grounds (and social web) of the most exclusive club in the world, the Palm Royale. It’s the beginning of the social season, and she seats herself at a table by the pool, orders her signature drink, a grasshopper, and eavesdrops on a pair of women just a table away.

They utter lines such as “no thing of beauty is safe” or “Palm Beach is the last American sanctuary” before taking sips of their cocktails and laughing off the notion of women’s progress.

In theory, this proposed premise — Simmons’ desire to be part of the society she envies — should be compelling, especially given that those women are played by an incredible cast, including Allison Janney and Leslie Bibb.

However, while the show’s tagline refers to “Palm Royale” as an underdog story about wanting to belong, the actual plot meanders, and the intended tone of the show is far less obvious.

After being kicked out of the club, Simmons sneaks into what appears to be a high-end nursing home to steal from the comatose (and “embolized”) queen of Palm Beach, Norma (Carol Burnett). From the short scene that ends with Norma’s foreboding lip twitch, it’s impossible to comprehend their connection, giving the show the