Summer Gloom

The Fall season is upon us and the shows are already flooding in.  Depending on how one counts, we’re getting at least 15 new shows in the span of two weeks.  So it’s time to wrap up the summer fare. 

Without any systematic review, my gut feeling is that this summer’s shows have explored, in more depth than I usually associate with summer, just how terrible people can be.  I’m thinking here of UnReal, Wayward Pines, The Whispers, Scream, and Mr. Robot—to name a few—this summer has really plumbed the depths of humanity’s ability to inflict pain on each other.  I’m not necessarily complaining.  The season’s also been pretty intriguing and enjoyable, overall.  I really quite loved UnReal and Scream, and I enjoyed quite a bit about the others (and some not mentioned here).  But my goodness, this summer has given us a dim view of humanity and its prospects.  

The last two summer shows follow in the pattern.  Public Morals seems to have a very dim view indeed, in which the police are sexist, corrupt, and hypocritical, and those are the good guys. Fear The Walking Dead gives us a few brave examples among a sea of the craven and cowardly as society disintegrates.

To be frank, I could use a bit more optimism.  Maybe we’ll get it in the Fall?

Public Morals (TNT, new.  Period law enforcement drama)

Watched:  pilot

Premise: Drama about the “public morals” (read: vice) department of the NYPD in the 1960s.

Promise:  This show hides its sexism behind a veneer of “authenticity” to the period, but it fundamentally embraces the model in which women are all about being protected and placed on a pedestal.  The police and mob are intertwined, and the show is rife with graft and hypocrisy—basically, it’s Life on Mars without the originality, mystery, or critical perspective.

Verdict:  It’s possible that the central drama, provided by the complex relationship between the police and the Irish mob, will become interesting.  Or that the characters and their relationships will become things viewers are likely to care about.  But I was fed up enough after the pilot that I didn’t want to stick around to watch.

Fear the Walking Dead (AMC, new.  Supernatural drama.)

Watched:  first 3 episodes

Premise:  The disintegration of society through the eyes of one family as zombies take over Los Angeles

Promise:  This is a prequel to The Walking Dead, which is Quality Television but I wandered away from it quite early because it sort of bored me.  As for this iteration, I appreciate its subtle storytelling—it gets across the gradual creep of desperation and confusion that no doubt would accompany the arrival of the zombie apocalypse, and it showcases some variety in reactions.  But that’s where my praise ends.  The show rightly took some early heat for disproportionately zombifying people of color, but I actually think the bigger problem might be that it’s zombifying anyone at all.  What we want is a story about people in a background of threat; what we’re getting, so far, is too much of a story about the threat itself.  So we’re not getting enough of people actually communicating with each other—in other words, the stuff that would make the show interesting.  (We are getting a whole lot of “why don’t they just talk with each other,” though.)

Even worse, it’s hard to work up the energy to care about these particular people, who are so clearly doomed:  the best case scenario is that they survive the disintegration of society, only to live the rest of their lives in the world of The Walking Dead.  In principle, I think it’s to make an interesting show about people making do after a disaster, trying to recover from a disaster, or trying to defeat disaster, than it is to make a show where we know there’s little hope for our protagonists.  Sure, there are great survival stories of ordinary people overcoming the worst, but this one, at least, too often feels like watching people slide downhill into a pit.  Mind you, I get why the “ordinary person” tale is interesting.  Not everyone is a hero; the vast majority of people are just trying to make it, and heroes are few and far between.  I have no objection to shows about everyday people—but to be interesting, the everyday people have to rise to whatever their everyday occasions demand.  And after three episodes, I’m starting to see the human strengths and weaknesses of these everyday people, but I don’t really like or care about them yet. 

Verdict:  I think I’m going to wander away from this one, too.

 

On the DVR/Unreviewed:  Fall shows already!  The Bastard Executioner, Minority Report, Blindspot, and more coming hot on their heels.