Audience viewership For the week of October 5, 2020,
Emily in Paris reached the top ten list of most watched streaming shows per
Nielsen. On May 3, 2021, Netflix revealed that the series had been watched by 58 million households in the month after its debut. The series remained in UK top 10 list for 40 consecutive days after its release.
Critical response For the first season, review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 61% based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Though its depiction of France is ,
Emily in Paris is rom-com fantasy at its finest, spectacularly dressed and filled with charming performances."
Metacritic gave the first season a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The second season has a 61% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's critics' consensus states, "
Emily in Paris remains a sugary soufflé, but it's liable to give a toothache to viewers seeking anything more profound than a frivolous romp." On Metacritic, the second season received a score of 64 based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". For the third season, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 67% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Emily in Paris' bubbly watch ability keeps threatening to go flat in a third season that seems content to spin its wheels, but this gallic travelogue will still be a pleasant enough journey for fans." Metacritic gave the season a weighted average score of 54 out of 100 based on 10 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The fourth season has a 68% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critics' consensus states, "
Emily in Paris frivolous charms begin to sag in a fourth season that tries on some serious conflict for a change, but it remains pleasurable enough that fans won't be forsaking their timeshares anytime soon." On Metacritic, the fourth season received a score of 47 based on reviews from 13 critics, signifying "mixed or average". The fifth season holds a 76% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 21 reviews. Metacritic gave the season a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Daniel D'Addario of
Variety described the series as "a delight that poses the question of what it really means to grow up, against a truly inviting backdrop", and that Collins is "an inherently winsome performer who has never been quite as well used as she is here". Kristen Baldwin of
Entertainment Weekly gave the series a "B" and wrote, "If you need a five-hour brain vacation, Paris is a worthwhile destination."
The New Zealand Herald considered the show "visually delectable" and that "Collins has a pixie-ish charm which makes her endearing", but also that the show is "as ephemeral as
fairy floss". Kristen Lopez of
IndieWire praised Collins for being a "jewel, make no mistake" and that "
Emily in Paris is only as watchable and frivolous as its leading lady," but criticized the series as a whole, writing: "
Emily in Paris is like scrolling through Instagram. It's a great way to waste time looking at pretty pictures with no depth." A few critics have pointed to the show's self-aware engagement with social media. In the
New York Times,
Jason Farago called it "an anamorphic projection of @emilyinparis, Emily's
Instagram account, into moving pictures." In the
New Yorker,
Kyle Chayka writes that "The purpose of
Emily in Paris is to provide sympathetic background for staring at your phone, refreshing your own feeds[...] It's O.K. to look at your phone all the time, the show seems to say, because Emily does it, too." Defending the show in
Artforum, Harmon Siegel argued that this effect is self-aware, writing that, "When it hurtles into bizarrerie,
Emily mocks us for not paying attention. It anticipates and parodies its expected reception as 'ambient television.'" Some people criticized Emily's character. Emma Gray from
HuffPost called Emily a bland character, stating, "The show doesn't even make an effort to quirk her up or give her a more relatable, girl-next-door roughness: she's always immaculately coiffed and made-up and garbed in effortfully eye-catching outfits. But there's not much to the character except for enormous self-confidence and the inexplicable ability to attract new friends and love interests on every street corner." Rebecca Nicholson of
The Guardian gave the series one out of five stars: "[...] if it is an attempt to fluff up the
rom-com for the streaming age, then it falls over on its six-inch heels." Rachel Handler opined "Darren Star has done it yet again: centered an entire show on a thin, gently delusional white woman whimsically exploring a major metropolitan area in wildly expensive couture purchased on a mid-level salary." Sarah Moroz of
Vulture.com opined, "The most egregious oversight [...] is Emily herself, who shows zero personal growth over a ten-episode arc. [...] Emily's vapidity baffles anyone who has moved from their native country." Sonia Rao of
The Washington Post compared Emily to the heroines of the
Amy Sherman-Palladino universe: "Like the
Gilmore girls, Emily is strong-willed and refuses to let anything get in the way of her schemes. Like
Midge Maisel, her actions can be quite rash, but she still wins over her fictional acquaintances while utterly baffling viewers." Megan Garber of
The Atlantic was critical of Emily, writing, "An expat who acts like a tourist, she judges everything against the backdrop of her own rigid Americanness. You might figure that those moments are evidence of a show poking fun at its protagonist's arrogance or setting the stage for her to grow beyond her initial provincialism. But: You would be, as I was, mostly incorrect. Instead, other people change around her. They grudgingly concede that her way (strident, striving, teeming with insistent individualism) is right. The latest show from
Sex and the City creator Darren Star—sells several fantasies. Primary among them is the notion that Emily can bulldoze her way through France and be celebrated for it." Siegel cast Emily as a personification of the critic's own self-loathing, saying " I am now sincerely, even zealously convinced that, in my initial reaction of smug self-satisfaction, I was lured into an ambush, my response anticipated and rebutted[...] For it is not just that I need her; I
am her." Many French critics condemned the show for negatively
stereotyping Parisians and the French. Charles Martin wrote in
Première that the show unfairly stereotyped and depicted the French as "lazy [individuals who] never arrive at the office before the end of the morning [...] are flirtatious and not really attached to the concept of loyalty [...] are sexist and backward, and [...] have a questionable relationship with showering". A reviewer at
Sens Critique wrote: "
Emily in Paris projects the same twee, unrealistic image of Paris that the film
Amélie does".
RTL.fr wrote: "Rarely had we seen so many clichés on the French capital since the Parisian episodes of
Gossip Girl or the end of
The Devil Wears Prada." A 2024 survey by the
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée found that 38% of tourists cited
Emily in Paris as a reason for visiting the city. While
French Green Party politicians criticized the show for not promoting enough awareness of the
climate crisis, the Paris tourist office listed ten important filming locations on its website. French president
Emmanuel Macron—whose wife
Brigitte made a cameo on the show—said that
Emily in Paris was good for France, and he would try to prevent it from moving to Rome ahead of its fifth season.
Controversies Depiction of Ukrainian character The second season was met with controversy in Ukraine over the depiction of a Ukrainian character named Petra (a name not used in Ukraine), who was depicted as a petty thief and shoplifter, with the hashtag "" (, We are not Petras) trending for a few hours. The Ukrainian Minister of Culture,
Oleksandr Tkachenko, wrote on the social media platform
Telegram, "In
Emily in Paris, we have a caricature image of a Ukrainian woman that is unacceptable. It is also insulting." He also wrote a letter to Netflix complaining about the depiction of Petra. According to Tkachenko, Netflix sent a response saying that they had heard the dissatisfaction of Ukrainian viewers, and that Petra would be shown in a different context for the third season.
Bribery allegations at the 78th Golden Globe Awards The show's first season received two nominations at the
78th Golden Globe Awards, but prior to the ceremony, it was reported that 30 members of the
voting body had been flown to Paris, where they spent two nights at
The Peninsula Paris and were treated to a private lunch at the
Musée des Arts Forains, with the bill reportedly paid by the show's developer,
Paramount Network. This led some critics to question the impartiality of the voting body, and its nomination was a surprise. In contrast, critically acclaimed shows, notably
I May Destroy You, were not nominated.
Accolades ==See also==