'Upload' review: High-concept series that plays like a bad sitcom

WHAT IT'S ABOUT This futuristic comedy created by Greg Daniels ("The Office") takes place in a world where you can be uploaded into an idyllic afterlife when you die.

Set in 2033, it's centered on Nathan Brown (Robbie Arnell), a Los Angeles software developer who gets into a terrible self-driving car accident, hastily signs his existence away to his girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) on the gurney and finds himself uploaded to a fancy afterlife at a luxury hotel called Lakeview. 

The other protagonist is Nora (Andy Allo), who commutes from her Queens apartment to the Brooklyn office of the company that operates Lakeview and works as an "angel" to Nathan and several other residents, guiding them through their strange new reality.

A conspiracy, a romance and more ensue over the course of the 10-episode series, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

MY SAY It's hard to imagine why the world needed another broad comic vision of the afterlife right on the heels of "The Good Place," but "Upload" certainly arrives with serious credentials behind it.

Daniels is responsible for one of the best comedies of the 21st century (and half-responsible for a second, "Parks and Recreation," which he cocreated with Michael Schur, who then created "The Good Place").

There are few bigger names in the business with the credentials to back up that reputation, and Daniels comes to this high concept with plenty to say about capitalistic excess as it's manifested in the tech sector that now seems to control every aspect of our lives.

But, no one can hit the proverbial jackpot every time out. At least over the first 8 of the 10 "Upload" episodes, those larger ideas are submerged in mediocre plotting, strained comic antics and a sleep-inducing romance.

The satirical edge is dulled by the persistent sense that everyone involved thinks they are being funnier and more clever than they are. The notion of tech megaliths manipulating the afterlife is rich with potential but mostly manifests itself in a rote conspiracy plot.

There's nothing particularly provocative or original about the world of Lakeview — it's got manicured lawns, a beautiful lake, all the food you could want and sci-fi flourishes such as physique upgrades offered with the swipe of a tablet. You can still communicate with the living world via video feeds and there are even suits offered to the living that allow for sexual encounters with the uploaded. 

So the writing is preoccupied with small, sitcom-level stuff: the hubbub after a boy named Dylan (Rhys Slack) tries to turn into a grown man with an illicit injection and becomes a grown woman instead; wacky best pal Luke (Kevin Bigley) flirtatiously bickering with his angel Aleesha (Zainab Johnson); Nathan attending his own funeral and interacting with mourners via a feed but his channel briefly being switched to a football game.

Then there's Nathan and Nora doing a whole lot of flirting. Arnell and Allo are good actors and they do what they can to invest genuine feeling into the burgeoning romance between this dead person and his living angel's avatar. But there should be an edge to this — it's super weird and raises all sort of strange ethical issues — and instead their scenes together play like they might in any other romantic comedy.

It's indicative of an overall failure of imagination that permeates throughout the project. If you're going to try to go big, and get away from the real world comedy of "The Office" and "Parks and Recretation," you can't think this small.

BOTTOM LINE "Upload" is a misfire for the great Greg Daniels, a high-concept series that plays like a bad sitcom.