This was, hands down, the hardest choice we’ve had in a ShowDown yet. However, it wasn’t because everything was so good. It was because two of the shows were so unbelievably awful that I couldn’t decide which one I wanted out more. I almost bent the rules to be able to get rid of them both. But, alas, we did finally decide on which should go and which should stay. That being said, the other two shows were great, so let’s start with them. (Revenge took the week off, in case you forgot.)
Prime Suspect is back, and thank goodness. The new episode was so much better than the last two, finally reversing its alarming downward trend. It still wasn’t quite as good as the first few, but it was definitely the best show of the week. First and foremost (and because I haven’t said it in a while), Maria Bello is so dang good. She gives a strong, multi-layered performance that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else on network TV. And when this show takes advantage of that and gives her an emotional arch for the episode, it’s just fantastic. Also, after complaining about him last week, I have to say that Duffy’s subplot this episode was really great and actually emotionally affecting. And, though not unexpected, I’m bummed that NBC hasn’t put Prime Suspect on it’s winter schedule and has halted production after its 13th episode. Sigh.
The other show that didn’t disappoint this week was New Girl. It was a little more strained than last week, with quite a few moments that were trying too hard for laughs, but overall it was very funny. I am so hooked on this “Will they? Won’t they?” storyline with Jess and Nick and I’m disappointed in myself for admitting it. So, while the show’s certainly not bulletproof, it’s a fun show that doesn’t take itself too seriously with some genuinely hilarious moments. I’ll definitely keep watching. (And it doesn’t hurt that I’m desperately in love with Jess’ best friend…)
Which leaves our two fairy tale shows as the disasters of the week. Both Once Upon a Time and Grimm were disappointing in their own ways. First off, Grimm reminds me of Fringe, in all the wrong ways. We follow a silly mystery that feels totally peripheral to the stuff we actually care about, and then at then end, they’ll tangentially link it to the mysterious bigger mythology that you can tell the writers haven’t fully developed. But the difference between the two shows is that Fringe had interesting characters and pretty good writing, two things Grimm sorely lacks. The protagonist is dull and the supporting cast is just as uninteresting. In fact, they killed off the most exciting character last episode , Aunt Marie. Speaking of which, didn’t Nick lose his only family last episode? Is that just gonna be glossed over, with no emotional consequences? This is the kind of irresponsible TV writing that I hate.
That being said, Once Upon a Time was literally unwatchable. Everything was wrong with the episode. Remember how we handed Charlie’s Angels the dual crown of worst writing and worst acting of the season? Turns out we were a little premature with that award because OUAT has taken both. The poor young girl who played Cinderella was simply disastrous. I have tried to come up with something nice to say about her but I can’t. With her costume and her makeup and her “acting”, she looked like a knock-off princess Barbie. The writing was equally unpalatable and, combining it with Cinderella, the two then create the perfect storm of crap. And all of which is such a shame because Rumpelstiltskin, the Evil Queen, and Emma are such good actors and so much fun to watch. They’re just drowned out in the sea of awfulness. I think that’s actually an apt description of the show as a whole: a good idea being suffocated by silly costumes, bad writing, and even worse acting.
So the decision came down to do we reward an inconsistent show with high highs and low lows like Once Upon a Time or do we keep the one who’s consistent, but consistently pretty lame? In the end, I just couldn’t stomach the possibility of another terrible hour spent with Cinderella, so Once Upon a Time had to go.
ELIMINATED: Once Upon a Time
This Show Sucks 