Hello! This is Benjamonster from Benjamonster's TV. I'm excited to be contributing to The TV Ratings Guide! You can read my regular work in my weekly newsletter at Benjamonster's TV. I'll be starting things off here with a feature I have had in my newsletters: a pilot re-review starting with shows from the season I started my own blog: 2010-11. If you read some of these on my own blog, I will be adding some extra detail to these posts. Hope you enjoy!
PILOT REVISITED: OUTLAW
The Details:
Premiered: September 15, 2010 on NBC
Starring: Jimmy Smits, Carly Pope, David Ramsey, Jesse Bradford, Ellen Woglom
Created by: John Eisendrath
What I Thought Then:
"Smits is charismatic and fun to watch... but unfortunately that's about all the good things I can say about this escapist and preachy melodrama."
"The show can't seem to decide if it wants to be a character drama or a procedural and fails to develop as either in the pilot."
"Outlaw isn't likely to be one of Fall 2010's hits in a sleepy Friday night timeslot"
"It's a conflicted, and sometimes plain silly, mess of a show" - James Poniewozik, Time Magazine
"The show is so ludicrously dumb that your eyeballs will hurt from rolling so much" - Hank Stuever, Washington Post
"There are strong production values... including an eye for authentic detail and effective use of subtle but dramatic lighting" - Barry Garron, The Hollywood Reporter
"An impatience with subtlety is one of the problems with the first episode of Outlaw - the plot points and the performances are overblown, too obvious and too cute" - Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times
"Despite a first-rate performance from Smits and a smart, sharp cast, the show stumbles over a clumsy setup from which, alas, it may be difficult to recover" - David Hinckley, New York Daily News
What I Think Now:
This was the very first show I ever reviewed for my blog and although I wasn't as well-versed in TV dramas at the time, I still could recognize a bad show. This is a really silly show masquerading as something important. I don't mind dramas that don't take themselves seriously but this show doesn't seem to be in on the joke. It seems to think that there is a real possibility that a Supreme Court Justice could give up his position in order to "change the court." It seems emblematic of the hopeful early Obama years and is a liberal fantasy that would make even The West Wing blush. I am not saying that this isn't how I wish the world was. But this show tries to be grounded in reality while dealing with something that seems as much of a fantasy as one involving dragons and talking animals. Jimmy Smits is charismatic and he's trying his hardest here but he can't put lipstick on a pig. I almost feel embarrassed for everyone involved because they just seem so earnest in what they're trying to do. And yet it all just feels so insane. Maybe that's a jaded perspective now that wasn't as prevalent in 2010 but other reviews at the time (including mine) seem like they knew what was up.
Outlaw was developed at an unusual time. It came from Conan O'Brien's production company, Conaco, and the pilot was ordered just days after NBC severed its relationship with O'Brien in a very public spat that led to the return of Jay Leno to The Tonight Show after just a few months with O'Brien at the helm. Perhaps this was a "no hard feelings" attempt from the network, but it was still surprising that it ended up on the fall schedule. NBC gave Outlaw a preview after the season finale of America's Got Talent to bolster it for a tough Friday 10pm timeslot where it was going against another newbie on CBS, Blue Bloods as well as ABC's longtime occupant in the slot, 20/20. The preview did decently in the ratings as was to be expected but it flopped as soon as it hit the Friday 10pm slot. Coupled with terrible reviews (a 36 on Metacritic), Outlaw was not long for the world. The series paused production after three airings and was officially cancelled after its fourth airing with NBC then burning episodes off on Saturdays. Smits, a veteran of NBC with L.A. Law and an acclaimed arc on The West Wing, tried twice more with NBC in the 2010s to similarly bad results (2013's Ironside and 2019's Bluff City Law).
Final Episode: November 13, 2010
Episode Count: 8
Where to Watch: Currently not streaming anywhere though episodes have been uploaded to YouTube
