Such a CRUEL SUMMER

 Article first published as CRUEL SUMMER Review on Seat42F.

Tonight, Freeform presents the first two episodes of a psychological thriller series called CRUEL SUMMER. Written by Bert V. Royal Jr. (Easy A), each episode focuses on the events of a single date in three consecutive years beginning June 21, 1993, 1994, and 1995. The same characters played by the same performers are in all three timelines, which makes sense, given the brief spans between them. But the world is drastically different for almost everyone involved in each of the three. The mystery is exactly what happened to propel the changes seen in each subsequent year. And while the broad strokes are outlined pretty early on in the run, the full truth remains to be revealed.

At the start of the first episode of CRUEL SUMMER we meet nerdy Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia, Tell Me Your Secrets), who is celebrating her fifteenth birthday. All she seems to want to do is hang out with her best friends, Vince (Allius Barnes, Thumper) and Mallory (Harley Quinn Smith, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot). She is jealous of the popular girl, Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt, Cloak & Dagger), and covets Kate’s boyfriend, Jamie Henson (Froy Gutierrez, Teen Wolf.)

A year later, as Jeanette turns sixteen, she’s basically taken over Kate’s life, including her boyfriend and friends, having grown apart from Vince and Mallory. That’s strange enough, but Kate is nowhere in sight, and we’re not sure how Jeanette got here. Another year later, as Jeanette is seventeen, things have changed again, with a dark, depressed Jeanette ostracized by everyone and speaking to lawyers. What happened?

CRUEL SUMMER is in no hurry to tell us everything, as that would defeat the purpose of the show. But it is quick to start giving details. By the end of hour one, you may have a pretty good idea of the how and why of Jeanette’s trajectory. At the end of the second hour, which will air back-to-back tonight, you may question the idea you had. This is going to be a convoluted story with many twists, and what seems to be a certainty will likely be proven to be wrong repeatedly.

For instance, I’m not sure if the main character is Jeanette. The pilot is all about her, but on the poster, she shares focus with Kate. And the second half turns its attentions on the popular girl, whose life is far from the perfect Jeanette assumes it to be. It’s easy to hate Kate, until you don’t. But what ultimately ends up having happened will decide if she’s a hero or villain. Jeanette, too, for that matter. The girls are inexorably intertwined, two seemingly similar people with different circumstances starting out.

There is a lot about CRUEL SUMMER that’s enticing. The multiple timelines format has become a bit of a gimmick lately, following the success of This Is Us, but the short jumps between theme her make this one seem at least somewhat fresh.. A good thriller mystery is also a draw, especially one like this that is surely a limited series. Not meaning they won’t do subsequent seasons, but if there are, they’ll need a new narrative. It’s also very squarely a young adult show, which is a popular genre. Beyond that, there are also some very interesting things to think about as the point of view shifts.

The main drawback is that it doesn’t feel compelling. With few recognizable performers, it probably won’t attract beyond those already watching the network. The acting isn’t bad, but it’s not prestige drama level, either. Many of the cast are young and they’ll likely get better in time, but I don’t think any will be awards bait for this series. So it’s hard to imagine it’ll build steam beyond the target demo. Not necessarily a bad thing, as long as competing with the streaming services isn’t the goal. It’s a decent show that will serve the network’s existing audience, and seems to be airing right where it should be.

CRUEL SUMMER premieres tonight on Freeform at 9PM.

GROWN-ISH Immature

Article first published as TV Review: GROWN-ISH on Seat42F.

GROWN-ISH, a spin-off of the hit ABC sitcom Black-ish, premieres this week on Freeform. Centering around Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) as she goes off to college, the series seeks to show a unique, yet familiar, point of view in the way that Black-ish does, albeit for a different demographic. It also looks to continue to be closely connected to the mother show.

Besides Zoey, who fans of Black-ish are already very familiar with, we are quickly introduced to the rest of the ensemble. There’s Nomi (Emily Arlook, Shitty Boyfriends), a closeted bisexual. Aaron (Trevor Jackson, American Crime) is super woke. Vivek (Jordan Buhrat) is far too obsessed with wealth. Luca (Luka Sabbat) is very fashionable. Sky and Jazz (R&B duo Chloe x Halle) aren’t as perfect as they pretend to be. It’s a more diverse, modern Breakfast Club, which Grown-ish goes to great pains to point out.

Many pilots go through meeting the various leads in hokey ways, bringing the main characters together in a single half hour through less than realistic means. Grown-ish sort of avoids that cliché by introducing Zoey to a new group of friends all at once, who happen to be in the same class as her, which makes sense.

However, Grown-ish still seems to feel the need to toss in the hokey circumstances. It details how each student ends up in a less-than-ideal midnight marketing class through zany sequences that prevent them from getting to the registrar in time. Thus, while avoiding the awkward setup initially, through flashback, it falls back into that familiar trap.

This is far from the only thing Grown-ish does wrong. The pacing is constantly interrupted by extended freeze frames, often with hashtags attached. The narration provided by Zoey is overacted and cheesy. Including fellow Black-ish character Charlie Telphy (Deon Cole) is a huge stretch that feels inauthentic. Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live, Suburgatory) once again shows up as a goofy, out-of-touch authority figure; I love Parnell, but enough with this type for him, or characters on TV in general. A lot of the plot feels stilted and as predictable as it is uninteresting.

There are promising bits, though. The pilot has an important lesson to teach involving fellow student Ana (Francia Raisa, The Secret Life of the American Teenager), and it eventually does get around to it. It may be slightly preachy, but it’s something kids should see. There is a well-defined point-of-view from not just Zoey, but the other characters, too. The basic premise is relatable and has legs for at least a little while. Some plot twists keep things interesting. The backgrounds of some of the characters aren’t nearly as sanitized as one would expect from Freeform, the show being OK with flaunting illegality to serve realism.

I also like that Grown-ish seems determined to stay connected to Black-ish, keeping the world together. A brief cameo from Andrew (Anthony Anderson) promises more to come, which makes sense for a father-daughter relationship, especially when the college is geographically close to their home. Shahidi is supposedly still going to be recurring on the original. And Cole is apparently doing double-duty, starring in both shows at once.

But overall, I did not find the Grown-ish pilot very watchable. Sure, there are some good elements, and if they are developed further, focusing on those rather than other bits, there could be a decent show here. But the essential structure itself just doesn’t feel very well done, and some choices to inject off-tone humor distract from the cohesiveness of other threads. It might be moderately successful on the Freeform network, but I can’t see it really hitting a broad audience, or even bringing along much of the Black-ish following.

Grown-ish airs this Wednesday, January 3^rd, on Freeform.

BEYOND What?

Article first published as BEYOND Review on Seat42F.

Freeform has a new supernatural drama this week called BEYOND. A man wakes up from a twelve-year coma in perfect health, no muscle atrophy or anything. So maybe he wasn’t in a coma, as some who seek him out suggest. Also, he now has some crazy powers, and people who seem pretty shady are after him. Essentially, it’s a lot of mystery and chaos wrapped in what feels like a YA series, though this one isn’t based on any book.

The main character is Holden Matthews (Burkely Duffield, House of Anubis). Holden is about to become a high schooler when whatever happens to him happens. Waking up, he remembers nothing of the last twelve years, except for confusing flashes of images that indicate he did more than just sleep. It’s hard for him to piece that together, though, while trying to readjust to his family and getting pulled into something bigger.

The first thing that strikes me about the central family in BEYOND is that they don’t feel real. Mother Diane (Romy Rosemont, Glee) is nurturing and father Tom (Michael McGrady, Ray Donovan) is involved with his kids, and yet, Holden is allowed to go out on a school night, riding a motorcycle and drinking beer. I’m sorry, but if the parents were as good as they seem to be, I don’t think all that would happen, especially not to a boy who seems so interested in science and space, who probably wouldn’t want to do those things at that age anyway. Maybe I’m just sheltered, but the characters don’t seem consistent or well through-thru.

It’s interesting that BEYOND chooses to recast all the central players from its opening to its twelve-years-later story. The kids have grown, sure, especially Holden’s younger brother, Luke (Jonathan Whitesell, The 100), so they should be different actors. But Tom and Diane also change. I can’t think of another show that makes this decision, though I don’t mind it. Given the seemingly low-budget quality of the production, the money is better spent on ‘big’ action sequences rather than trying to convincingly de-age a couple of performers.

Where things really fall apart for me is just the lack of engagement of the plot or characters. Holden is our lead that the audience needs to get behind, but we don’t really see anything in him that makes us like or root for him. Things happen to him, but aside from a few goofy moments with Luke and certain love interest Willa (Dilan Gwyn, Dracula Untold), we get little insight into his personality. Why are we supposed to care about Holden? What is his motivation?

The rest of the cast isn’t much better. There may be something weird going on with the family, given how well they’ve apparently adjusted during Holden’s absence. Willa is definitely into the deeper mythology, and while my instinct is that we can trust her, it’s probably too early to know that for sure. Holden’s childhood best friend, Kevin (Jordan Calloway, Unfabulous), is not an upstanding citizen. I don’t see anything in any of them to hook me.

I guess BEYOND is trying to really bank on its mystery, and that’s fine as long as it has strong characters along for the ride. It doesn’t. The pacing is slow, and the story is more confusing than compelling. I don’t know what’s going on after watching the pilot, and I’m sure I’m not meant to, but the problem with this series is that I don’t care to find out, either.

The entire first season of BEYOND, all ten episodes, will be available streaming on Hulu and the cable network’s app on premiere day, ready for binging, and this may work in its favor. With the next episode readily accessible, some viewers may decide to just keep going or allow auto-play to do its thing. However, I feel no compulsion to continue through the nine episodes made available to press, so I would suspect some who do stick it out will feel like their time has been wasted in the end. I could be wrong, but BEYOND fails to make me want to find out.

BEYOND premieres tomorrow on Freeform, and all episodes will be immediately available streaming as well.

No Guilt About Skipping GUILT

Article first published as GUILT Review on Seat42.

A guilty pleasure show is, by definition, a show you feel bad about enjoying. Freeform is going for that category with the new drama series GUILT, premiering this week. Loosely inspired by the real-life Amanda Knox case of an American student abroad accused of murder, it weaves a complex web of many characters with various selfish drives and possible motives for murder. And it utterly fails to be good television, even in the guilty pleasure realm.

GUILT begins with Grace Atwood (Daisy Head, The Proxy), a coed, waking up next to a sexy French artist (Zachary Fall, Allies), only to find her roommate dead in the London flat below. If that sounds like a lot of nationalities, that’s because it is, just a small taste of how the show goes for flash over substance. It’s important that everyone and everything be beautiful and exotic to make the tale as fantastical and enticing as possible. Each scene brings more and more of these types of choices.

And that immediately gets to the crux of what GUILT does wrong. Rather than going for a slow burn drama that focuses on character development and the emotion of the situation, this show likes to throw out lots of tears, splashes of blood, and awkward expositional confessions that really aren’t necessary or warranted in the moment.

You might think those are just the elements of a good mystery, but GUILT isn’t that, either. It isn’t short on suspects nor clues, but so many of them are clearly false that it lacks authenticity. Whereas a real case like this might make it difficult to find the details of the situation, the police tasked with the job, led by DS Bruno (Cristian Solimeno, Rush), are beset by constant leads, few of them worth much. It’s a dizzying, fast-paced ride that doesn’t worry about authenticity or a strong foundation.

This is clear in looking at the rest of the cast, too. Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head plays James Lahue, slimy stepfather to Grace, and an American despite Head being British (and Daisy’s real-life father). While I like Head in the right roles, this one just has him as a flat antagonist who serves little purpose. Billy Zane (Titanic) is equally bombastic as the lawyer James hires, introduced with a poorly animated squirrel and some too-loud moaning, Zane may be having fun as Stan, but it’s hardly fun to watch him.

The moaning is only the tip of the iceberg for the sexcapades present in the pilot. Yet, because GUILT is on the network formerly known as ABC Family, it stops short of showing anything really exciting. Viewers get lots of suggestions to kink or eroticism, but no payout of it. Given the pulp nature of the piece, sex might help it sell itself as something worth watching, even if only for the titillation factor. With the limitations placed upon it, though, it lacks anything novel or alluring enough to suck all but the least desensitized in. There are plenty of cable networks that go a lot further on a regular basis.

So what we’re left with is a light-weight piece that promises much and delivers little. It sacrifices any chance of serious consideration for some over-the-top dramatics and “surprise twists” that are neither. It’s the type of summer show that might appeal to a YA audience that didn’t know there were better options out there, but I wonder how much of one exists in the age of carrying the internet in our pockets. I just don’t see it as likely to catch on, and if it somehow miraculously does, it will only be among a niche audience.

GUILT premieres Monday, June 13th at 9/8c on Freeform.

SHADOWHUNTERS Typical Young Adult Genre Adventure

Article first published as SHADOWHUNTERS Review on Seat42F.

ABC Family’s Freeform’s SHADOWHUNTERS premieres this week. It is based on The Mortal Instruments novels by Cassandra Clare, and ignores the 2013 film based on the first installment of the series entirely, wisely starting fresh, since so few saw that movie anyway. But what is it exactly?

Well, it’s a mystery action-adventure steeped in a world of demon hunters and warlocks. One girl, Clary Fray (Katherine McNamara, Happyland), was kept sheltered from her destiny by her mother, Jocelyn (Maxim Roy, ReGenesis). Because of this, or maybe not, she now seems to be a special bridge between the world of mundanes (regular humans) and those that protect them from the forces of darkness. Which is needed now, for some reason, even though things have gone along centuries without one in that role. (Yes, yes, I get that the artifact everyone is searching for is why things have changed. Just seems arbitrary.)

There are saviors who go around, invisibly slaying the creatures that would do us poor, defenseless mortals harm. Most notably is Jace Wayland (Dominic Sherwood, The Cut), who hunts with sibling pair Alec (Matthew Daddario, Delivery Man) and Isabelle Lightwood (Emeraude Toubia, Tattooed Love), and whom finds Clary in her hour of need. Plus, Jace is easy on Clary’s eyes, so how can she resist someone with good looks and nobility?

If this sounds like the makings of a young adult novel, with the same style of a Twilight or an Insurgent, that’s because it is. The Mortal Instruments is a book series for that age group, and the television adaptation fully embraces its format. Which is right in line with the target audience of Freeform (well, the younger end of the stated demographic), and will likely appeal to a lot of its existing viewers. While it is a more epic tale, and likely has a much bigger special effects budget than most of its peers on the network, it should fit in fine.

The problem is for those of us who aren’t all about the cheesy romance and coming-of-age at the same time as becoming a hero stuff. There is absolutely a market for this, so I’m not knocking SHADOWHUNTERS for being what it is. I’m just saying the appeal is limited, as most adults will see this and roll their eyes at the melodrama existing between the characters. It’s more fantasy-style love than anything real or authentic.

SHADOWHUNTERS does have quite a broad world to explore, which is fitting for such a journey tale. We have the mentor, Luke (Isaiah Mustafa, Horrible Bosses), the best friend, Simon (Alberto Rosende, The Swing of Things), and a High Warlock (Harry Shum Jr., Glee), among others, to pull Clary in divergent directions. This means the plot isn’t likely to grow boring or stale anytime soon.

Yet, there’s nothing of real quality to make SHADOWHUNTERS stretch its genre, either. The cast is serviceable, but no one stands out as being particularly impressive. Some of the monsters look a little goofy because small screen budgets will always lag well behind feature films. The main thrust is relatively standard fare, with no big surprises present, at least not in the first hour.

My verdict isn’t that SHADOWHUNTERS is bad. I even occasionally enjoy a little bit from this genre. But a little bit goes a long way, and since this one has not done anything notable to distinguish itself from the pack or make it rise above the standard mold, I can’t really recommend it to anyone outside of its target demographic. For those this was made for, though, I think it’s a pretty decent example, compared to its peers, and you’re likely to enjoy it quite a bit.

SHADOWHUNTERS premieres Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Freeform.