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| Left to right: Anna Gunn and David Tennant |
Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.
There is something sad to admit, but almost everyone on Breaking Bad has struck out at their follow-up TV show. Dean Norris is on the middling Under the Dome. Betsy Brandt was on the short lived The Michael J. Fox Show (though she's on Masters of Sex now). Aaron Paul was on BoJack Horseman. Anna Gunn is the latest to join this unfortunate trend with Gracepoint: the remake of Broadchurch. The 10-part miniseries focuses around the town as they try to solve the murder of a child named Danny. Playing Detective Miller, she teams up with Emmett Carver (David Tennant) to solve the crime while dealing with the various patrons of the town including family and friends.
In terms of introduction to the characters, the series did fine. However, it doesn't really do much else to get us to care about the murder. The drama is rather surface level and by the end, the resolution is that the investigation will get more serious in the episodes to follow. It isn't quite to the level of Top of the Lake in which the slow building progression is warranted while allowing the characters to be introduced and weave into the story. Gracepoint just lacks a specific personality beyond being a set of characters solving a crime. Sure, there's conflict between Carver and Miller, but it is a nonthreatening one. Beyond the occasional stylistic shot, there isn't much to really remember about the show other than that there's a lot of great people on the series.
It may be the biggest draw as to why Broadchurch would need to be remade for American audiences. Considering that The Returned is getting the same treatment, this is just another unfortunate series to fall into that camp. Maybe I am not just into the slow procedural that requires time to build. However, there's True Detective or Fargo this year that have proven to be familiar stories wrapped in an interesting exterior. The characters spark and the writers feel like they're having a lot of fun with the material. Gracepoint simply feels like it exists to solve the murder. Maybe it will get better in time, but there's not a big reason to stick around and find out at the end of the first episode.
There is something sad to admit, but almost everyone on Breaking Bad has struck out at their follow-up TV show. Dean Norris is on the middling Under the Dome. Betsy Brandt was on the short lived The Michael J. Fox Show (though she's on Masters of Sex now). Aaron Paul was on BoJack Horseman. Anna Gunn is the latest to join this unfortunate trend with Gracepoint: the remake of Broadchurch. The 10-part miniseries focuses around the town as they try to solve the murder of a child named Danny. Playing Detective Miller, she teams up with Emmett Carver (David Tennant) to solve the crime while dealing with the various patrons of the town including family and friends.
In terms of introduction to the characters, the series did fine. However, it doesn't really do much else to get us to care about the murder. The drama is rather surface level and by the end, the resolution is that the investigation will get more serious in the episodes to follow. It isn't quite to the level of Top of the Lake in which the slow building progression is warranted while allowing the characters to be introduced and weave into the story. Gracepoint just lacks a specific personality beyond being a set of characters solving a crime. Sure, there's conflict between Carver and Miller, but it is a nonthreatening one. Beyond the occasional stylistic shot, there isn't much to really remember about the show other than that there's a lot of great people on the series.
It may be the biggest draw as to why Broadchurch would need to be remade for American audiences. Considering that The Returned is getting the same treatment, this is just another unfortunate series to fall into that camp. Maybe I am not just into the slow procedural that requires time to build. However, there's True Detective or Fargo this year that have proven to be familiar stories wrapped in an interesting exterior. The characters spark and the writers feel like they're having a lot of fun with the material. Gracepoint simply feels like it exists to solve the murder. Maybe it will get better in time, but there's not a big reason to stick around and find out at the end of the first episode.
However, I am interested in the new approach to TV that is starting to crop up everywhere. The miniseries has become a popular trend of 2014 with series like True Detective adopting it as its DNA. In the case of Gracepoint, there's a sense that the murder needs to be solved by the end of the 10 episodes. There's a finality that makes it appetizing. While it could end up causing problems in terms of programming in the future, it does allow for a concrete story to be told, whether or not it is great. This may end up being Gracepoint's biggest attribute. It may help it to get recognized for awards as well. However, will there be too much of an outcry about its adaptation to Broadchurch for anyone really to care? Adaptations have been done before to successful effect. It is yet to be seen if this is one of them.
There's only hope that it gets better because the cast is actually more appealing than the average miniseries allows. It seems to be the material that isn't allowing them to do anything interesting. At best, it may allow everyone to do bigger and better things after this. Otherwise, Fox's decision to do high concept series like this and Gotham is going to backfire sooner than later and cause all sorts of problems. But for now, we can see if it takes off and is the rating miracle that the channel has. I don't have much else to say on the show. Sorry.
There's only hope that it gets better because the cast is actually more appealing than the average miniseries allows. It seems to be the material that isn't allowing them to do anything interesting. At best, it may allow everyone to do bigger and better things after this. Otherwise, Fox's decision to do high concept series like this and Gotham is going to backfire sooner than later and cause all sorts of problems. But for now, we can see if it takes off and is the rating miracle that the channel has. I don't have much else to say on the show. Sorry.
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