THE DOVEKEEPERS Review

Article first published as THE DOVEKEEPERS Review on Seat42F.

CBS presents the miniseries THE DOVEKEEPERS this week. The four-hour story will be split between two consecutive nights, and tell the based-on-truth story of several women living in the first century A.D. who end up at Masada during the famous siege. Based on the novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman and produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, the goal seems to present a piece both historical and biblical.

The Dovekeepers stars Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards) and Cote De Pablo (NCIS) as two women telling their tale to a judgmental Roman scholar (Sam Neill, Jurassic Park, Peaky Blinders). This is a pretty strong central trio, as two of the three are nearly inarguably very good actors and the third is at least decent. They are all well cast in the roles they inhabit. They are joined by an ensemble, but principally Kathryn Prescott (Finding Carter) and Diego Boneta (the upcoming Scream Queens), so it seems to be they did a pretty decent job casting this piece.

The tone reminds me very much of last year’s The Red Tent. It features strong women, the central players, who listen to their heart (and perhaps a certain other organ) in making decisions. It paints them as heroic and noble, though they engage in adultery and other unsavory acts. They pray to a god whose orders they do not obey, and live in a time where such misdeeds could garner very severe punishment. So I guess we’re supposed to admire them for sleeping with married men at a time when women could be killed or ostracized for such a thing, it being brave to buck society’s rules and morals? I don’t agree with the punishment of the day, but the crime isn’t exactly to be admired, either.

The male characters are much less developed. Several are mere eye candy, while one serves as little more than a narrator to THE DOVEKEEPERS. It’s hard to attack THE DOVEKEEPERS on this, given the number of works out there where the opposite is true, but it certainly doesn’t paint as complex and fully fleshed out a world as it could.

Honestly, THE DOVEKEEPERS is a soapy women’s film with lots of romance and plenty of obstacles preventing happy endings. This is not something I am all that into, but the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime have proved there is an audience for this type of fare, and this miniseries falls somewhere between those two’s offerings, less cheesy than either, and a hair less melodramatic.

The bible-reading crowd are also likely to enjoy it. It is very in-fashion right now to do new adaptations of religious stories or other tales from that era. This is set shortly after most of the New Testament, but finds personalities with the same superstitions and beliefs as those in that tome, being set in the same part of the world. As such, it feels like it is very much a part of this same genre, even if technically it is not, complete with dreams and visions to match the other unworldly mindsets of the era.

Yet, from a storytelling perspective, THE DOVEKEEPERS is just not that great. The pacing is slower than it needs to be, and the narrative follows a very specific point of view, likely alienating those who don’t share it. Situations are presented in a very black and white fashion, with characters that disagree with the protagonists clearly painted as being in the wrong, even if it is easy to feel they are not. Such a powerful bend works well for a target audience, but not for the public in general. THE DOVEKEEPERS is just not complex enough to hold many potential viewers’ attention.

Which is not to say it’s a total waste of time. I’ve cited a couple of groups that will enjoy it, and I expect it will have plenty of viewers. It’s not for everyone, but since the airwaves are not exactly flooded with this type of fare, those in the niche it fills are likely to be appreciative.

THE DOVEKEEPERS airs this Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET.

Paul Reiser returns to television with self-titled series

     Years after Mad About You has left the airwaves, NBC brought Paul Reiser back last night in his new series, The Paul Reiser Show. The series is about Paul (playing a fictionalized image of himself) being a dad post-TV career, and hanging out with his kids' friends' dads, whom he now reluctantly calls friends. Besides Reiser, the other main characters are four fellow fathers and Paul's wife (the lovely Amy Landecker, A Serious Man), so despite the concept, kids do not appear as major screen presences. The pilot, "The Father's Occupation", delivers some funny moments, but having spoken with people who have seen more than one episode, it's apparently quite a disappointment.

     Factor number one against The Paul Reiser Show: it is incredibly similar to Curb Your Enthusiasm. So much so that CYE star Larry David (playing his CYE version of himself) has lunch with Paul in episode one and tells him he should have his own version of CYE. He does, tongue in cheek, and its The Paul Reiser Show. If you do not get HBO, or are missing David because of the nearly year and a half hiatus CYE has been on (it went out November 2009 and returns in July), last night's entry may be an acceptable placeholder, if the show maintains the quality portions of the premiere, which word is, it does not.

     The best part of last night's episode is Reiser's lunch with David, where they argue about doing a game show. Reiser isn't interested in hosting, until he learns that David is being considered, and then suddenly he wants the series. The scene could easily have been shot for HBO, with the editors even bleeping David's profanity. Will the scene appear again when CYE returns? The second best part is Reiser's actual audition for Mark Burnett's (appearing as himself) game show, where Reiser gets annoyed with the contestants and tells them so. Burnett loves it, and wants to hire him immediately. Reiser refuses, knowing he would be miserable with the gig. But his misery is the whole reason Burnett loves him! Reiser is his own worst enemy.

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     Should the show stick with Reiser and his grumpy, neurotic run-ins with others, the series would be pretty good, albeit a clone. Instead, there are the four other fathers, who try to make it into a buddy comedy. Reiser considers himself mostly seperate from them, and so it feels like two different shows are being forced to mesh together awkwardly. The four actors who play the dads, Andrew Daly (Eastbound & Down), Omid Djalili (The Mummy), Duane Martin (All of Us), and Ben Shenkman (Damages) are capable enough, but the material given to them is trite and stale. It's been done a hundred times before on other sitcoms. They easily bring to mind when Raymond would occasionally sneak away to a friend's garage on Everybody Loves Raymond. So it really doesn't work.

     Since NBC waited until April to premiere the show (originally scheduled for summer, but replacing ratings-challenged, yet hilarious, Perfect Couples), chances are not good for a long run. If you're curious, check it out now while you have the chance. The Paul Reiser Show airs Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.


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