Zac Efron has spent his career building a reputation for clean living, and Down to Earth is his attempt to put that philosophy on display. The Netflix docuseries follows Efron and wellness expert Darin Olien as they travel the globe, searching for sustainable ways to live. It is a show about being healthy, but it is also a show about being rich enough to fly to Sardinia to learn how to be healthy.
The premise is simple. Efron wants to find out how people live well without harming the planet. He travels to France, Puerto Rico, London, Iceland, Costa Rica, Peru and Sardinia, and each stop comes with a lesson about food, energy or community. The show is pitched as a documentary, but it plays more like a vacation montage with talking heads.
Trailer, via Netflix.
Seven Destinations, One Message
The series moves quickly. Each episode lands in a new country, and the format rarely slows down to let the audience settle. The destinations are varied enough to keep the visual interest high, from the volcanic landscapes of Iceland to the sunny beaches of Costa Rica. The pacing is fast, which means the show rarely lingers on any one idea long enough to dig deep.
The message is consistent across all seven stops: living sustainably is possible, and it often involves eating less meat, growing your own food and using renewable energy. That consistency is a strength and a weakness. By the time the show reaches Sardinia, the lessons start to feel like repeats of earlier episodes rather than fresh discoveries.
The Wellness Expert and the Star
Olien is the engine of the show. He is the one who introduces the local experts, the ones who practice what they preach. He is the one who explains the science behind the lifestyle changes. He is the one who gets the credit for making the show feel grounded in actual knowledge. Efron is the star, and he is the one who gets the attention, but the show would not work without Olien’s steady presence.
Efron’s role is more passive. He visits, he listens, he nods, he tries the local food. He is not pretending to be an expert, and that honesty earns him some goodwill. The show is at its best when it lets Efron be himself and lets Olien do the talking. The dynamic works because both men know their roles.
The Tone Problem
The show is light. That is the problem. It is light in tone, but heavy in questionable health advice and pseudoscience. The criticism is fair, and it is the central tension of the series. The show wants to be a fun travelogue, and it wants to be a serious look at sustainability. Those two goals rarely meet.
There are moments where the show leans into its lighter side and becomes genuinely entertaining. There are other moments where the advice feels thin or untested. The show never quite commits to either mode fully, and that wavering is what keeps it from being great.
The Australia Season
The second season changed the formula. Instead of traveling the world, Efron and Olien focused entirely on Australia. The change in scope allowed for deeper dives into specific communities and their sustainable practices. The Australian season benefited from the tighter focus, and it stands as the stronger half of the series.
The Australian episodes felt more grounded, more connected to the people whose lives were being documented. The show still promoted a particular brand of wellness, but the context was richer, and the stakes felt higher.
The CW Pull
After the Australian season, Down to Earth had a brief life on broadcast television. The CW picked it up for a run, but the show was pulled from the network’s schedule after two episodes. The move was a strange one, and it remains unexplained. The show was not canceled outright, but it was removed from the lineup, which left fans wondering what happened to the remaining episodes.
That pull is worth noting because it shows how difficult it is for a show like this to find a home. A show about sustainable living is niche, and the CW’s audience may not have been the right fit. The show’s future is unclear, but the Netflix run gave it a platform that broadcast networks could not offer.
What Works
The show is at its best when it is honest about its limitations. The episodes that acknowledge the privilege of the situation — that Efron can afford to travel the world to learn about sustainability — are the most compelling. Those moments break through the surface gloss and show that Efron is aware of the irony of his position.
The photography is also a highlight. The show looks beautiful, and the travel segments are worth watching even if the advice is questionable. The visuals are the reason anyone watches a show like this, and Down to Earth delivers on that front consistently.
What Does Not Work
The show is weakest when it is trying to sell a product. The wellness industry is full of half-truths and overhyped claims, and Down to Earth occasionally falls into that trap. The advice is not always backed by evidence, and the show rarely questions its own sources. That lack of skepticism is the show’s biggest flaw.
The show also struggles with pacing. The constant movement from one location to the next can be exhausting, and some episodes feel like they are rushing to get to the next destination. The show would benefit from slowing down in the middle of an episode rather than speeding up at the end.
| Season | Focus | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Global travel | 7 episodes |
| Season 2 | Australia only | 9 episodes |
The Verdict
Down to Earth is a show with a good idea and a weak execution. It is visually pleasing, occasionally insightful, and deeply flawed. The show is worth watching for the scenery and the occasional moment of genuine curiosity, but it is not worth taking its advice at face value.
The show’s score reflects this split. It is a show that means well and fails to deliver on its promises. It is a show that is fun to watch but not a show that changes the conversation. It is a show that is easy to recommend for a lazy Sunday but not a show that demands a second viewing.
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