stumbled upon this on netflix, it's based around a bumbling Canadian spy team that often succeeds because the villain is even more incompetent. it's pretty goofy, it's a comedy first so don't come to it looking for realism on how agencies really work. however being Canadian is probably required to fully get this show because there is a lot of local jokes in there or jokes that really appeal to Canadian nationalism (Canada secretly has the powerful army for instance) i don't intend to insult anybody but Americans for instance might not get the jokes about Canadian art counsel or CBC, so if your canuck i recommend, everybody else though you might find it meh
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jamvetzal17 January 2012
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CorumJI20 January 2011I spotted this one somewhere so I gave it a chance, and I've seen the three episodes that have aired so far. It's not great, and a lot of the jokes are a bit clichéd and fall flat, but they do get a smile or a laugh often enough that there are *much* worse things, like, oh, -Everybody Loves Raymond-, to spend your time watching. It'll be interesting to see if the writers work their way up or down with the quality. ATM, there's about a good joke every 5 mins, while the intervening stuff is mildly entertaining distraction. You can certainly watch this show in the background while doing something else more significant.
The best conceptual comparison to the show is probably the classic -Get Smart-, only focused more on '99' than Max. It has four "competent" characters('99' + three quirky ones), and two comic-relief bumblers. Some of the humor comes from the quirks of the three, some from the two bumblers, and some from other situations involving the villains... the '99' character is often a straight man for the humor, and that works fine.
Whatever you do, don't go in expecting the vaguest sort of realism -- note even the level you see in -Burn Notice- or -Chuck-. As was "Get Smart", this is lightly absurdist farce.
Watch the first episode (or any episode, if you want, they don't really need to be watched in order) -- If it makes you smile -occasionally-, then give it a chance. If it doesn't, then it's a safe bet it's not your cup of tea. -
shatteredrifle11 January 2011InSecurity centers on NISA (an intelligence agency in Canada) agents who try to do their best in serving their country in spite of their uncanny ability to always get into trouble. All of them seem to have a large amount of... Yes, you guessed it. InSecurity.
Before watching the pilot episode, I read a viewer comment that the show is like NBC's Chuck. I understand where that person was coming from, since both of them are action comedies centered on secret government agencies. However, the similarities stop there. This production is very low budget (which is not really a bad thing if a show is done in the right manner). It's not heavy on action (a kick, several takedowns and a single significant bullet fired near the end were featured) and instead relies on awkward humor and funny conversations to carry the flow.
You really have to dumb yourself down to watch it properly and enjoy it, which is not really such a bad thing if you just want to have a few laughs for half an hour. However, if you're a fan of spy series, this is definitely not the show for you since you'd be irritated at how stupid the characters can get. There are definitely a lot of things to improve on, like the quality of acting present. I also hope they give the characters redeeming attributes so it would be a bit believable that these people were really qualified to be operatives in the first place.
One of the bright spots of InSecurity is Natalie Lisinka, who plays team leader Alex Cranston. She was a treat to watch in the first episode, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her soon.
InSecurity is far from perfect but it is actually quite entertaining. As I said earlier, you just have to let your mind rest and give yourself a break. Don't take it too seriously and you'll feel good after watching it. An episode can only tell you so much, so based on what I've seen so far, I think I'm going to catch the next one and give this show a chance.
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tinmantiger23 January 2016Similliar to the show Churck but with a crass and stupid humor. On a snow day it's a show to catch up on the series. Characters are have their known quirks and humor moments to crack you up. Lead actor was in General Hospital. He tends to live in the past of his high s hoop years. What might have been. Blondish redhead costar us a complete Bonehead. Lead actress in charge of NiSA has zero competence but is the blond of the show. Jojo is probably the only somewhat normal. Has a bit of logic in some rare scenes. Doesn't do hugs though. Cast likes to eat tacos from the local Mexican joint. No surprise this show didn't last but 2 seasons. One cannot take this show serious but with a grain of salt.
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melmac5016 August 2011Just good, clean fun. Kind of a modern day "Get Smart." Appealing cast, some pretty clever lines...no heavy lifting required. But you do have to pay attention as the best lines come out of nowhere and there are some knock-out obscure references to keep you on your toes. How another reviewer could find this one of the CBC's worst comedies ever is inconceivable to me. My reaction is that it might well be their best (which admittedly isn't saying much). However, in this case it plays as well as most anything I've seen of late and is one of my favorites amongst all the mainstream comedies currently in production (my top pick being "Modern Family." The late, great "Good Guys" with Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford got some good laughs out of me as well, uneven as it was).
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johnjohnsemails24 January 2011CBC has made a lot of terrible shows but this one might be the worst. I don't know if it is as bad as Little Mosque but In-Security is just terrible, the Border was a great show as a drama but for some reason CBC can't make a good comedy to save their life. Republic of Doyle is a good show but not sure that is on CBC. Anyway In-Security has really bad writing and acting the story is just dumb and all of the jokes are so pathetic I'd guess they were written by a five year old kid instead of professional writers, this show is just terrible. It is the worst new CBC show by far and I hope it does not last long, please let it be over soon!
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let_your_tongue_out9 January 2011I watched this without knowing what it was about, and by looking at the title, I thought that it was going to be a serious crime drama, but I was wrong. Into first 5 minutes, I realized that it was comedy, but comedy involving the Canadian National Intelligence and Security Agency, so I guess I was half right. The show was pretty good, made me laugh at some scenes. I don't think it is the best comedy out there, but it is certainly not the worst. And I am a person who loves these kind of shows. I don't know about other people but I liked it. I hope you guys check it out. Also, I went to wikipedia after watching the first episode and I read that one of the writers thinks of this show as "24 without Jack Bauer..." but I don't think this show is even close to 24. But I don't know because I only watched only one episode.
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This show is not funny at all in my opinion. I am surprised by the number of positive reviews there are posted here and how low the negative reviews are ranked, but c'est la vie I guess there are people out there who actually do like this show. But I really don't understand how I've never met these people who like this show in real life yet somehow it ranks at 5.3/10 here. My friends, partner and I all seem to agree it's closer to a 1/10.
I find the writing to be very tired and predictable with no laughs to be had (again for me), and the acting is one dimensional and just plain not very good.
I am glad this show was cancelled because I frankly expect a whole lot more from my publicly funded television channels than bad and tired shows like this. -
sleepless-in-mtl15 January 2011I saw the commercial a couple of weeks ago and thought it looked good; it was a change from sketch comedy Canada is known for. It's about a fictitious intelligence agency, NISA, and the crazy hijinks the agents get themselves into. You get the one who's sexy and gutsy but knows her fellow agents aren't the quickest bunch to catch onto anything, there's the older agent who has the brains but has to tolerate the others (especially one agent who's not so bright), the one who's not so bright at all, one who's so melodramatic that her character mocks your typical intelligence agents we normally see in dramas, one who has violent thoughts that it scares people, and the one in charge isn't perfect either. Only 2 episodes have aired so far and it's really good. I look forward to seeing many more episodes.
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thevocalcoach11 March 2014Insecurity was awful. I saw three episodes and I think I deserve a medal or a cookie for being able to force myself just to watch that much. In three whole episodes I didn't laugh not even one time but I groaned at how awful the acting and the jokes were at least a dozen times, like audibly groaned, for real, because it was so horrible. That's how bad this show was. At least in my opinion, I can't speak for everyone, but will say that everyone I have talked to and know who ever watched this show thought it sucked. I am very suspicious of the positive reviews here because I have honestly not met many people who say they ever saw this show, and every one of the people who have told me they saw it said it was the worst. Maybe it's a regional thing and other regions like the show better? I have no idea. But this show was really horrible as far as I'm concerned. It's easily one of the worst written shows CBC has ever made and the cast was terrible.
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shiny127826 March 2011I started watching this show without any knowledge of what it was about. I based my decision to watch the first episode based on the title and the description on IMDb when I read the phrase "safe...ish" There are very few comedies out there that are clever, amusing, and have new material. This show has it all and the dialogue is written very well. There are times when I think a lot of the actors are just improvising and reacting to others comments which makes interactions more natural.
I had a friend watch one of the episodes, and besides saying the lead female character was extremely attractive, he also thought the dialogue was entertaining and really grabs your attention.
This show is fantastic in its direction, comedy style, and dry humor. There has not been one episode where I did not laugh out loud. It won't make you laugh for minutes, but it will make you laugh for a few seconds several times during an episode.
I recommend this show 100% and give this show a 10 out of 10. -
eatcrowepls30 January 2015This show is one of the worst comedy shows I have ever seen on CBC in my entire life and that is really setting the bar high, or is it low, because the CBC has created a very, very, very long line of really awful comedy series for as long back as I can remember. This show is the worst!
Not only do I not find it remotely funny, the characters and stories/writing are so awful that I actually feel sick even just remember what it was like to watch it. How was this crap on television and how did it keep getting renewed when I honestly am thinking really hard right now to try to remember but can't come up with the name of one person who watched or liked this show, in fact I can't come up with one single person who I can think of who didn't hate this show as much as me.
This show was a waste of a decent premise and of a half hour of TV time. -
ewank-643-1522375 January 2012I needed to provide a review for those of you who only watched this show once. I watched the first episode last year wanting to laugh. It left me cold, but I felt that there was something there, so I decided to persevere and continue to watch it. As the show progressed, I found that my laughter and enjoyment of the show increased. I almost liken it to my enjoyment of Barney Miller back in the rerun era for that show in the 80's. I found the first show I watched not very amusing, but as you got to know the characters and their personalities the humour is the same as with Insecurity, funnier and funnier. Grace Lynn Kung as Jo Jo Kwan is off the wall hilarious. And how can you not love Natalie Lisinska's eyes as she reacts to the things that are going on around her. You have to give this show a chance and you will come to love it. I hope it is not gone for good.
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cleavantderricks30 April 2018I can't stand this show and literally can not believe that it is somehow rated 7 out of 10 on this site. Unless maybe all these ratings are people who worked on the show or know people who worked on the show? If so the ratings will correct themselves in the long run. Of the few people I know who have seen this show, like me they all hate it. The characters, acting writing and "comedy" if you can call it that were all so bad I cringed every time I tried to watch it. A huge mistake of a comedy TV series and one I was really glad to see go away.
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leonarbe26 May 2012Personally I love this comedy series. It has the touch of the "immigrant", broad sample of different countries in the Canadian culture. It uses very clean sense of humor, sarcastic by some, but not for the person who performs, thus giving a naive behaviour which turns into funny actions. Not sure why people don't like it. Perhaps because there's not swearing or killing or too much violence in the episodes. It's like the old series "Get smart" but with the different culture touch approach. I highly recommend this series. The characters are well specialized in each of their fields, but VERY WEAK ON any other field. Like the blonde who cannot shoot at someone 10 meters away from her.
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markgorys6 August 2018This show was incredibly unfunny. The premise could have been good (a comedy show about a government spy agency) but nothing about it was funny. The acting was the pits and the writing was so bad I assume it must have been done by a first timer. Avoid this show unless you hate yourself.
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damascada27 January 2011I ran across a clip of this show and laughed so hard I nearly cried. And then I tracked down the first 3 eps and watched with my husband who also loved it. As other reviews have mentioned, this is not a serious spy show but a comedy that flirts with farce. Every series regular is a delight with "Alex" and "Peter" absolute standouts. The first episode I saw was the second aired featuring guest star performances by Aleks Paunovic and Apollonia Vanova as Russian spies who fit perfectly into a world where, as Peter says with absolute gravity "if the rest of the world finds out that Canada has secretly amassed the most powerful military on earth, it will destroy years of quiet, low key planning." Then the NISA team leaps into action to save the day which of course requires threatening grocery customers, throwing up after too much vodka, a necklace containing a vial of teeth, a clapper to turn the lights on and makeout sessions with both the sexy guest stars. In the 3 eps I've seen the main cast have been consistently hilarious and the story lines funny though some of the guest stars haven't managed to hit that perfect note where the characters take the world totally seriously while behaving ridiculously. Maxine Miller as Alex's "Granny" in the third ep is just as perfect as the Russians however and I hope they continue to find guest stars of that caliber. I would love to see Lucy Lawless or Nathan Fillion guest on this show since both can flip from tear your heart out drama to utter farce without batting an eye. I can't wait to see more and hope it runs for years.
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siavash_khavarnejad14 August 2018This show is not funny it is very, very unfunny, which is a very bad thing for a comedy show to be. Take a pass on this one, or don't whatever I don't care if you want to waste your time.
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Mtlviewer26 January 2011I feel upon the show a couple of weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised. I don't watch a lot of Canadian television, to be perfectly honest so it was not on my radar but I read something about it, was home so checked it out. The show centres around a group of misfit hapless spies who work for the fictional National Intelligence Services Agency. Each week they try to solve some international crisis - and manage to save the day in spite of themselves. It reminded me of "Get Smart" in its broad, arched humour. The cast were with the exception of Remy Girard, completely unknown to me - and it didn't make any difference. They are great. Remy Girard is a household name in Quebec and it is great to see him in an English comedy. He is wonderful as the veteran on the force. The characters are really growing on me and I find the more I watch, the more I like it. I also really like all the web videos connected with the show. It is a lot of fun and that is great.
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marsgal427 August 2021An interesting concept with an appealing cast, let down by writing that missed the mark.
It could have been brilliant. It wasn't.