Breakdown of Это не то чтобы полный провал, а просто динамичный, но поверхностный сериал.
это
this / it is
не
not
а
and (contrastive)
но
but
Questions & Answers about Это не то чтобы полный провал, а просто динамичный, но поверхностный сериал.
Why does this sentence use а for the first 'but' and но for the second?
The construction не то чтобы [A], а [B] is corrective. You are rejecting A (a complete flop) and replacing it with B (a series). We always use а for this kind of 'not this, instead that' replacement. The second 'but' uses но because it simply contrasts two coexisting qualities of the series (динамичный and поверхностный) without canceling either out.
I was taught to always put a comma before чтобы. Why is there no comma in не то чтобы?
You are right that чтобы usually introduces a subordinate clause and needs a comma. However, не то чтобы is a fixed mitigating particle meaning 'not exactly'. Because it functions as a single grammatical unit rather than linking two verbs, it never takes an internal comma.
Is провал used only for entertainment flops, or is it a more general word?
It is a general word for a complete failure, collapse, or fiasco, though it is extremely common for movies, performances, or exams. It comes from the verb провалиться, which literally means 'to fall through' (like falling through a rotten floorboard), so a провал is a plan that completely caved in.
Why are both провал and сериал in the nominative case here?