But they could convey that self-awareness without making the dialogue so contrived.

Anyone else feel downright uneasy watching this show?

The way every character frantically makes self-aware comments about themselves, as if they're the audience reacting to their own behavior in real time, is painfully annoying. It takes you right out of it, sucks all the oxygen out of the scene, leaving no room for a breath of sincerity. The writing is overly self-conscious, too eager to make meta commentary on everything going on at all times, which ends up coming off like a basic sitcom desperate to sound clever.