2 out of 5

Created by: Dana Klein

covers season 1

With apologies to the writers of DMV, there is a usecase for LLMs when it comes to cozy sitcoms: on occasion, you will be tasked with writing / creating something that isn’t very original; that is exactly what is expected. As LLMs can only pull from other sources, that unfortunately makes them okay at writing a show like DMV, which hardly even needs to be funny as long as a line has the cadence of a joke and references something that has probably happened to someone at the DMV once or twice.

What “works” on DMV is, in part, the familiarity of the above: it is a workplace comedy exactly like so many others, and set in an environment many, many of us have experienced, or have experienced through the very common jokes about it. Heck, listen to this (as of 2026) description on the wiki page: “The show is a fictional account of the DMV, but makes the jokes that most people have when going to renew licenses and forms.” That’s just one wiki editors’ take, but it’s in line with mine: every episode pulls from a hat of gags about long lines and ridiculous paperwork and the likely drudgery of the job. Even with this comfort, it’s hardly laugh out loud material, practically designed to be background.

The vast majority of what works in addition to this is all on the actors. The roles are a bit cringey – Harriet Dyer’s Collete is a man-hungry everything-I-do-is-wrong early 00s throwback; Tony Cavalero’s Vic is an uncomfortable excuse to show off his vascularity, and make bro jokes about protein powder; Molly Kearney’s boss Barbara spouts forced inappropriate phrases with similarly forced aloofness – but literally all of the actors are damn good at these parts, buffering the utter predictability of the gags with as much comic timing and personality as possible. The show becomes watchable because of these folks, and you kind of keep watching hoping that things will fall into something with a bit more looseness along the way, allowing the actors to open up some more…

That happens by maybe about 2 or 3% more over the season’s 16 episodes. Oof. You may have better things to do, but if you don’t, you can spend 20 or so minutes wishing / hoping this crew gets another show to better display their abilities.