Madison: My Dad's Best Friend's Daughter review

The setup

Madison starts by telling her vlog audience that her boyfriend walked out because she wanted to wait. Next stop is a tennis exchange, hosted by Ryan, who once survived a miserable summer of construction work with her father and now runs the circuit she will play. He gives her a room and makes a point of saying she is a grown woman, which tells you plenty. In the kitchen she explains her father picked this trip because he trusts the hosts. It ends on a cucumber she claims and handles with zero subtlety.

Episode 2

Episode 2 turns Ryan into her cameraman. She wants a clip filmed, warns him not to get strange about it, and he immediately goes quiet behind the lens. She teases him about the reaction, then later recruits him to spot her squats, with strict orders about where his hands and eyes belong. The cliffhanger is a request for a towel and a complaint that he took his time, which is less a cliffhanger than a shrug.

Who's who

• Madison: a tennis player and vlogger who narrates her love life to the camera
• Ryan: her father's old work buddy, now her host, and visibly struggling with the arrangement

Verdict: 5.7 out of 10

The family-friend angle gives Ryan a reason to hesitate, and that hesitation is the only real tension on offer. Madison does all the pushing, mostly through props, and the writing never trusts a joke that is not shaped like a vegetable or a gym exercise. Both episodes end before anything turns. It is watchable for the premise and the awkward host, but the free half sells the paid half on suggestion alone.

Episode guide