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Was it worth the wait? It depends, I would guess, on how much you like Meghan. Because this show is very much all about Meghan.Ìý

For the record, I am not one of her haters, although my view of her is certainly more jaded than when she and Harry first escaped what they characterized as the racism-tinged, mental health-risking strictures of life in the Royal Family.Ìý

Since then, their efforts to transition into Hollywood heavyweights have turned largely to ashes. And even if their tone-deaf docuseries about polo players had somehow turned out to be interesting, it’s not what viewers really want: they want more of the intimate details and dirt-dishing they got in the couple’s first Netflix project, the docuseries “Harry & Meghan.”

There is none of the latter in “With Love, Meghan” and precious little of the former. Harry, referred to simply as “my husband,” is not in the show aside from a cameo in the final episode. Their children, Archie and Lilibet, don’t appear at all, although they are mentioned, mostly in relation to the lessons Meghan hopes to impart to them around cooking and gardening. In fact, the series wasn’t filmed in Meghan’s actual home in Montecito, Calif., but at a nearby rental.

The Royal Family doesn’t even rate a mention, although there is an oblique reference to Meghan having “been through a lot” in an episode in which friends Kelly McKee Zajfen and Abigail Spencer join her for lunch. And when another friend, Mindy Kaling, stops by for tips on throwing a children’s party she is corrected by Meghan: “You keep saying Meghan Markle. I’m Sussex now.”

Whatever you call her, Meghan seems intent on presenting herself as the consummate wife, mother, friend and host. Whether she is making a bag of bath salts for an overnight guest or homemade dog biscuits for another friend’s pet, we are meant to see her as a giver.Ìý

The same goes for the food she makes in the series — in a stunning kitchen furnished with Le Creuset cookware — much of it harvested from an expansive, sun-drenched garden (whether her own or the rental property’s isn’t entirely clear). “I never let a guest arrive without something on the table,” she says.

The food tends to be relatively simple: vegetarian pasta, the aforementioned cut veggie trays, charcuterie, parfaits of yogurt and fruit. But it’s an open question whether the average harried mother of two has jars of homemade preserves or edible flower sprinkles at the ready whenever company calls.

Meghan makes an effort to establish her ordinary-person bona fides, mentioning her love of fast food like Taco Bell and her first job at an L.A. doughnut shop.

And maybe she really is down to earth, and just as caring and thoughtful of her loved ones as the show suggests, but there is a neediness humming behind all those scenes of Meghan chopping veggies, picking tomatoes or blowing up balloons for a rainbow party arch.

You can’t escape the feeling that Meghan really, really wants us to like her.

At the same time, the show is so slick and highly polished, with its stylized title cards and upbeat soundtrack, that it feels more like a carefully curated presentation than these types of things normally do.Ìý

Meghan beams a megawatt smile, her shiny tresses perfectly parted, in a wardrobe of tasteful cream and earth-tones, her feet bare, a gold watch and three gold bracelets adorning her left wrist. Her supposedly spontaneous pronouncements  (“Love is in the details, gang!”)  often feel like prepared lines.

And when Meghan exclaims, while making a so-called “naked cake” with friend and makeup artist Daniel Martin, “You know what it is? She’s beautiful on the inside,” the implied metaphor is so on the nose as to feel positively scripted.

 A controversy erupted last week because of similarities in the trailers.Ìý

Forget the fact it would be plain bonkers for somebody as highly scrutinized and criticized as Meghan to rip off another show; after sampling both (Anderson’s first episode is streaming on StackTV) it seems to me almost an insult to compare the two.Ìý

Sure, Anderson is promoting herself in her show, on which she cooks plant-based dishes with various chefs at her real Vancouver Island home, but she seems far less rehearsed and self-aware than Meghan does, and far more focused on learning things from her guests.

Anderson is an actor too, of course,  but there’s a naturalness in her interactions that’s missing from Meghan’s endeavours.

I hate to pile on Meghan — truly I do — but I seriously doubt “With Love” is going to help with the reputation rehab.Ìý