According to various television critics and a bunch of people who tuned in for its inaugural run of episodes, Meghan Markle’s Netflix series was seriously awful.
Heck, one person wrote a few months ago in The Guardian:
With Love, Meghan is the sort of gormless lifestyle filler that, had it been made by the BBC, would be used to bulk out episodes of Saturday Kitchen.
Yeah. People really weren’t huge fans of the lifestyle show.
And yet, likely because Meghan and husband Prince Harry signed a $100 million deal with Netflix in 2021, the streaming service still renewed With Love, Meghan for a second season in March.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, the same service dropped the first trailer for Season 2, which will return on August 26.
“I love the idea of spending time together and finding new ways to show people you care,” Markle says in the preview, which features the polarizing personality doing art projects with flower petals… throwing pottery … and making lots of jam, which she sells via her brand As Ever.
The eight-episode, half-hour season will feature celebrity guests Christina Tosi, Clare Smyth, Daniel Martin, David Chang, Heather Dorak, Jamie Kern Lima, Jay Shetty, Radhi Devlukia, Samin Nosrat and Tan France.
Markle came under pretty harsh criticism throughout Season 1 for seeming VERY out of touch with the average human being.
The controversial program chronicles Markle as she cooks meals and shares lifestyle tips with well-know friends and domestic gurus, showing viewers (supposedly) attainable ways to spruce up their lives.
The series does not film in Meghan’s actual home but rather at a nearby farmhouse in Montecito, California.
Explaining the decision to shoot elsewhere, Markle said earlier this year:
“When people say, ‘Why didn’t you [film in] your house?’ Well, I have kids coming home for their nap, and 80 people in the kitchen isn’t really the childhood memory I’d want for them to have.”
Earlier this week, meanwhile, we heard that Markle and Harry had accepted a low ball offer from Netflix.
There’s no guarantee anything they produce will ever air on the service again, but Netflix executives will have the first opportunity to hear pitches and/or check out footage made by the couple… deciding before any other company whether or not to bid on it.
“We’re proud to extend our partnership with Netflix and expand our work together to include the As ever brand,” the mother of two wrote in a statement shortly after the deal was announced.
“My husband and I feel inspired by our partners who work closely with us and our Archewell Productions team to create thoughtful content across genres that resonates globally, and celebrates our shared vision.”