I had decided to watch The Ex-List until episode 7, which is the last episode that Diane Ruggiero worked on, but after watching last Friday's installment, I've come to the conclusion that it's just not working out.

First of all, I knew a certain degree of predictability was necessary for the premise (pretty woman must go through all of her ex-boyfriends to find her soulmate; if she's not married within a year, she'll be alone forever), but even by the third episode, it's pretty tiresome. Why? Because even with a formulaic show, you need to twist or even just slightly adjust the formula each week, and The Ex-List hasn't done that. Bella has a serendipitous run-in with an ex, but it's so strange, because the guy is completely different from when he and Bella were dating! Bella is initially turned on by the change, but after a few days she realizes that she doesn't like this version of her ex, either, and they break up. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's already old.

The thing is, though, the formula would be much more pleasant to sit through if Bella were likeable. And it's weird, because I found the character quite likeable in the pilot, but already by episode three she's starting to grate. It's clear Ruggiero and the other writers haven't obeyed the "show, don't tell" rule, because while every character talks about how truly awesome and gorgeous Bella is , we don't see much evidence of this. Every ex who shows up is all, "God, you're so awesome," and "you're still so gorgeous after all these years." It seems like the writers are trying really hard to show the audience why Bella has had so many boyfriends (everyone finds her irresistable!), but we need to like her on our own terms, not just because the other characters say so.

It's also very clear that Bella, or at least Elizabeth Reaser, thinks she is much, much cuter than she actually is. In the last episode, while on a date with an ex who talked about how Bella's neighbourhood is getting rough, she replies with what she thinks is her "hilarious, laid-back chick" voice, "Hey! This is my stompin' ground! I stomp here!" Which is the exact point when I had to turn the TV off, because as hard as The Ex-List was trying to convince me, Bella is just not as adorable as she and all the other characters think she is.

Furthermore, the exact "laid-back chick" thing that Bella has is in direct conflict with who she's supposed to be. She and her friends spend all their time drinking beer while lounging around by their kiddie pools or by the ocean, just enjoying life and not taking anything too seriously. This might be believable for people in their twenties, but Bella and her friends are in their thirties. It's easy to see why the writers made Bella be 32 or 33 - she needs to be old enough to have dated enough men to sustain the entire show - but she also needs to be mature and ready to settle down and get married, which doesn't work with how she's been written. Although Bella spends plenty of time talking about how much she wants to find her soul mate and get married, everything else about her character seems to disagree with that. It's hard to believe that a woman so laid-back and so "just go with the flow, man"  would be so set on getting married, even if a psychic did tell her to. If Bella as a character isn't believable, then the entire show doesn't work.

During episode two, I was already not finding Bella entirely great, but I thought that her friends really helped keep me interested. First, it was great to see them be only vaguely interested in Bella's search for love (because, let's face it, if one of your friends were on such a quest, you'd probably stop caring all that much after a week or so), but their specific subplot - in which they all Googled their own exes and developed a drinking game based on what they found - was actually pretty funny. Sadly, by episode three, it seems that the writers are already out of ideas, with the friends barely doing anything but showing up in frame to say something wacky, then leaving immediately afterwards.

Frankly, I wonder how the original Israeli show lasted only 10 or 11 episodes, so I'm definitely not willing to invest in The Ex-List for several seasons. I was holding onto hope that The Ex-List would be one of the few real successes in an otherwise lackluster TV season, but I'm just not willing to wait it out. Welcome to Dumpsville, Ex-List. Population: you.