Parents' Guide to

Sugar

TV Apple TV+ Drama 2024
Sugar TV show poster: John (Colin Farrell) wearing a suit and driving a sports car

Common Sense Media Review

Marty Brown By Marty Brown , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 15+

Shallow neo-noir series has drug focus, language.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Sugar TV show screenshot 1: John Sugar drives around town with a golden retriever
  • Sugar TV show screenshot 2: John (right) with his handler Ruby (Kirby Howell-Baptiste)
  • Sugar TV show screenshot 3: Melanie (Amy Ryan) sits at the corner of the bar

Parent and Kid Reviews

See all
age 18+

Based on 1 parent review

Jennifer S.
Jennifer S. Adult
July 4, 2024
age 18+

Another show based on women in a basement & torture tv show

The main character is a good guy and he wants to do good. I enjoyed every episode except the last. I am sick of seeing women taken and put in basements and tortured and killed. What a horrible way of ruining a promising tv show with a great cast.
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

SUGAR follows private detective John Sugar (Colin Farrell) through Los Angeles as he searches for the missing granddaughter of a renowned producer. Sugar tries to mimic the detectives from classic noir films, but he ends up more emotionally invested in the case than Mike Hammer or Sam Spade would ever be. Could he be hiding a secret of his own?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Detective series are the lifeblood of comfort television; this one dutifully checks all the boxes for a typical mystery, then adds an extra layer of noir references. Sugar goes as far as showing clips from 1940s and '50s movies, and Sugar even carries "the same gun Glenn Ford used in The Big Heat." Savvy viewers might wonder why Sugar goes to such lengths with its meta flourishes but makes the central mystery so routine. The puzzle at the heart of the series may not be exactly what it seems; like plenty of other comfort TV, Sugar is a little too dependent on one big reveal.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the mystery. What do we know about the disappearance? What are the clues? What do you expect to happen?

  • Who is Sugar? What makes him unique? What do you think is his "secret"? How does he change from the beginning of the series to the end?

  • How does Sugar use classic movies? Why do you think both the series and the character of John Sugar borrow from classic detective noir? How does this help tell the story?

TV Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended tv lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate