After going through as many 2010-11 shows as I could find, I am not moving on to revisiting pilots from the 2011-12 season. This week, I am starting with ABC's soap opera Revenge!
The Details:
Premiered: September 21, 2011 on ABC
Starring: Madeleine Stowe, Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann, Henry Czerny, Ashley Madekwe, Nick Wechsler, Joshua Bowman, Connor Paolo, Christa B. Allen
Created by: Mike Kelley
What I Thought Then:
"It is unlike anything else so far this season."
"While it sounds like a mini-series and not a permanent TV series, it certainly has an interesting and very layered plot to begin with."
"How in the world is it going to sustain itself if it were to last 2-3 seasons? This seems to be a very specific story with a start and end point and anything beyond that would feel forced."
"I'm intrigued enough to want to know what happens with this story but I don't know that I want to get into a long drawn out soap opera with these characters."
What Others Said:
"This is a classic guilty pleasure, with campy twists and a fabulously diva-esque performance by Stowe." - Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe
"The pilot is enjoyable enough that you should add it to your DVR as a solidly soapy option." - Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter
"Revenge is too juicy to write off as junk. It's got strong performances, from actors who don't condescend to their flamboyant dialogue." - Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker
"There's plenty of guilty pleasure to be had in watching she-wolves in Chanel and their sugar daddies go down week after week. But be prepared to put up with cheesy dialogue and spotty acting along the way." - Lori Racki, Chicago Sun-Times
"Some are embracing this as a juicy guilty pleasure, a return to Dynasty by way of 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' I found it all a bit predictable and thick, like I was choking on Crisco." - Matt Roush, TV Guide
What I Think Now:
This was actually the third time I've watched the Revenge pilot. I watched the show during its original run (more on that below) and then revisited the first half of the first season once. Although the show really veers off course as it continues (again, more below), that first set of 15 episodes set in The Hamptons during the summer are so wonderful and delightful with exciting twists and turns. And it really holds up watching the pilot back. Yes, there are some acting performances that leave a lot to be desired and yes, there are things in the timeline that make absolutely no sense (how old is that dog?!). But this show is addicting and propulsive from the very first episode and it does a great job introducing the many characters and whole vibe to the show. I still get mad about the bait and switch that happened in the first moments of the first episode when a character seems to be killed on the beach. I used to be convinced that they planned for that to be Daniel (Josh Bowman) and changed course once his character became popular. That's still possible but I also feel like the bait and switch could have always been the plan now because it was planned as an ongoing series and Bowman was a series regular. Regardless of what happened to the show, I still had a really fun time revisiting the pilot and marveling at the types of shows we used to get on Broadcast TV.
What Happened to the Show:
In a fall season with several unique drama efforts, Revenge was one of the better reviewed (66 on Metacritic) and initially buzzy shows. It released its pilot script early and then the show premiered in the Wednesday 10pm slot that had been problematic for ABC for many years. It surprised everyone by doing quite well in the ratings and quickly became one of the most talked about shows of the fall. Despite the interest in the show, everyone seemed to realize this was not a sustainable show. Like Prison Break a few years earlier, this was a show dying to be in a different era. It could have thrived in the limited series era. I think we'd still be talking about it today if it was a 15 episode run where Emily Van Camp's character exacted revenge throughout The Hamptons. When the show caught up to its pilot flash forward after 15 episodes, fans were starting to get a bit skeptical though it still had a decent end to the season. ABC gave it a big show of faith by moving it to the old Desperate Housewives slot - Sundays at 9pm - for its second season. It aired after another buzzy show - Once Upon a Time and ABC hoped that one-two punch would be their ticket to Sunday programming magic. Although Revenge returned strong, it quickly fell off in the ratings. It aired for a season and a half at 9pm to dwindling ratings before eventually moving to 10pm for the rest of its third season and for its fourth and final season Nowadays it doesn't seem like it has much stature because of how long it went on. That first summer in The Hamptons was glorious and then it was ever diminishing returns as they got into convoluted plots involving "The Initiative" and many other things. I watched for about a season and a half before bailing on the show so I never saw how it ended and I don't really care to. But maybe I'll revisit the whole first half of the first season again at some point when I'm feeling the itch.
Final Episode: May 10, 2015
Episode Count: 89
Where to Watch: Hulu/Disney+, available for purchase on DVD
I'm excited to be contributing to The TV Ratings Guide! You can read my regular work at Benjamonster's TV!
