'Your Friends & Neighbors' review: Jon Hamm's latest is surprisingly bad

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Andrew "Coop" Cooper (Jon Hamm) is fired from his cushy hedge fund job in Manhattan after a dalliance with a co-worker — then things get worse. His wife, Mel (Amanda Peet), has already left him for former pro basketball star Nick Brandes (Mark Tallman, "First Wives Club") but the father of two is now struggling to make child support and alimony payments. He's got friends, like manager Barney (Hoon Lee) and a troubled sister, Ali (Lena Hall, "Snowpiercer"), who offer moral support, but not much else.

And then, he comes up with the Big Idea: Why not steal expensive stuff from his rich neighbors, which he can then fence for quick cash?

This nine-parter, with a second season in the works, comes from Jonathan Trotter ("Banshee") and Hamm, who is also an executive producer.

MY SAY The last time we saw "Mad Men's" Don Draper, he was on a bluff overlooking the Pacific as he tapped his inner Zen on the quest for the perfect jingle. That was all of 10 years ago (May 17, 2015) but the last time we saw Jon Hamm was all of 10 minutes ago. He's been everywhere lately, often popping up as a welcome presence in the darndest places (CNN's "New Year's Eve Live," Super Bowl LIX, or "SNL's" 50th anniversary special, to name a few.) His last three live action series have been "The Morning Show," "Fargo" and "Landman" — good shows, memorable roles.

What's been missing from this spread of ubiquity is that show and role to call his own. The post-"Mad Men" ones have been in support, typically as the heavy with a square jaw who looks smashing in a suit or whatever else he's wearing. They're solid parts but not quite solid enough to make you wonder whether there's life after Draper, or at least that equally meaningful, culture-defining role.

This new series probably won't settle the matter either. "Your Friends & Neighbors" unfolds in a pre-apocalyptic suburban haze of sex, drugs, booze, fast cars and big houses, sustained by a fire hose of hedge fund money and bottomless narcissism. Yet another in a long line of eat-the-rich screen satires, this series is one more reminder of the nation's vast income gap, and how that's bred nothing but bad behavior and vulgar appetites in those at the top of the feeding chain.

They're especially bad and vulgar in "Friends & Neighbors," which has boundless contempt for its characters and their empty lives of not-so-quiet desperation. This would be OK if the satire had bite and wit or the lead character had a single redeeming quality. Instead, Coop is a self-pitying schlub without the brains or moxie to pull himself out of his tailspin. He's a world-class whiner turned neighborhood cat burglar, and he doesn't even do that well. Worst of all, he's boring — a dime store philosopher who muses about the meaning of his life in voice-overs that are as superficial as they are dull. Don Draper had his own issues but he'd still regard this lightweight with withering disdain.

There's another season after this, so maybe there's still time to figure all of this out, although it's debatable whether that's even worth the trouble. Nevertheless, Hamm is a talented actor with real charisma who created one of the great roles in TV history. I'm still rooting for him. Looks like I'm back to waiting for him too.

BOTTOM LINE Surprisingly bad.