MrX

"Patriarchy"

wergo

I thought it was pretty lame. Looks like Marti Noxon was right to head out the first exit she could find.

Awkward dialogue, DREADFUL music and predictable character stereotypes.

The only tensions I could find was wondering if they were gonna let Calista actually express a right-wing viewpoint beyond "America : A-OK!" So far; no. Maybe they'll get a little more specific later on but now it seems to be avoiding issues rather than using them.

I was hoping for 'Six Feet Under' and I got 'Seventh Heaven' crossed with 'Thirtysomething.' I knew something bad was happening when Calista went on Jay Leno last week and barely even mentioned the show. I'm REALLY not sensing much enthusaism for what the network have turned it into.

Patman

I didn't much like any of the characters in this drama. And it's jarring to see Ron Rifkin and Balthazar Getty on this show after their season on Alias last year, and then you have the Rifkin character acting all squirrelly, and you get flashbacks of his Sloane character, and then you get Patricia Wettig in the mix, and she played a shrink on Alias that had a short relationship with Sloane, it gets all weird for me.

The disconnect between Sally Fields' character (mom) and Calista Flockhart's character (Kitty) that superficially appears to be rooted in their diametrically-opposed political beliefs rings false at this point, but perhaps there's something deeper going on as hinted by their heated discussion over the impact of 9/11 on them personally.

The pension-siphoning subplot isn't doing much for me. For now, too many good actors, but not quite hooked on the show just yet from the writing. Their saving grace is that there isn't much competition for them in their timeslot, so they'll get some episodes to settle in and get more interesting.

vegasbaby

lots of turmoil behind the scenes on this show. field replaced the mom from eight is enough after the pilot was shot.

there are rumors that ms. high and mighty flockhart (why is she like this??? whats her deal? ally mcbeal??? so what!) hasnt commited to the show for the entire year ...

Patman

It'll probably turn into this season "Commander-in-chief", but without the good ratings or positive reviews.

MrX

The scenes with Flockhart and Field were almost as bad as Field's scenes from ER with Maura Tierney.

Great job hiding what was going to happen to the dad by listing Tom Skerritt as a special guest star.

Rachel Griffiths was pretty much the only bright spot

invisiblegt

Yes, the ending was horribly contrived. That practically killed any interest in the show (which, at that point, was almost nil).

I think I'll stick around for one or, perhaps, two more episodes. It's going to take a lot...

Snowmaker

I thought I saw her in the promo. I guess Prison Break alone doesn't pay the bills.

MrX

It doesn't hurt to be married to one of the executive producers. That's the reason why she left Prison Break for this.

RichC2

The central conflict between the mom and daughter is downright pathetic. I just can't buy in to it or numerous other bits. Shame too - great cast.

Daniel-A

Waste of a good cast. I'll give it one more week, but I think that'll be my last.

DeadLamb

The show had so much estrogen based angst that it made me want to smash my eyes out with some tampons...

clearly I'm not in the market demo that show is shooting for..

I've also never really been a fan of Calista in the first place, but at least I gave the show a chance like I give every new show.. I will not even notice if this show gets canned..

OldDude

To quote the anti-terminator, "I won't be back."

mphtrilogy

I think this show needs 10 eps to right its course, but the problem is, I don't think I can make it through 10 eps or it will be cancelled by then.

There a nuggest or two there, but overall its a mess.

magiccmom

Yeah watched the first 10 minutes...changed the channel. All the phone calls with her brothers and sisters let me know this show wasnt going anywhere fast. Sounds like I made the right call after reading these threads.

boogieman03

So the way I understood it, the son, or brother, depending on the point of view was killed in the Afghanistan and or Iraq war. The mom didn't want the son to go. The daughter, Flockhart, was for the war.

Is that why they're angry at each other?

Snowmaker

So she is completely off the show?

MrX

The PB producers said they would like to get her for a brief scene or two, but other than that she's off the show as a regular.

mdc3000

He wasn't killed - he's on the show, he's just extremely traumatized and messed up from having been in the war. Kitty encouraged him to go, the mother didn't think it was a good idea.

I didn't think it was dreadful, and I'm certainly willing to give it a few more chances, mainly because of Greg Berlanti (I heard he didn't have much input into the reshot pilot) hopefully he can right the ship. I think Marti Noxon didn't have a clear idea of what this show should be and I'm glad she was shown the door. (I'm a Buffy/Angel fan but after the huge misfire that was Point Pleasant, Noxon isn't in my good books).

Ken Olin is definitely hit and miss and hopefully they don't veer this too far into the ridiculous. I like the cast, so I'm willing to stay the execution for now, but it definitely needs to pick up soon.

MATT

riley_dude

You sure that lameness wasn't due to Marti? After all she is responsible for a mess of Season 6 and 7 of Bufffy.

I found the show to be good with good potential. A llot of characters to deal with on a regular basis.
I'll watch a couple more before I make my final decision.

boogieman03

Thanks mdc3000. I was under the impression he had died. Which brother was he? Was he the brother that's on drugs?

I like the cast. I was kinda bored in the pilot though. I'll check it out again due to not much competition at the time.

magiccmom

Didnt Ken Olin direct a lot of Alias episodes? I remember seeing that because his wife (Patricia Wettig) played the psychiatrist on that show and they both were on "Thirty Something" together.

Snowmaker

So they're completely dropping the whole President side-story with her brother and all?

wergo

I'm not sure of anything, but I'm more willing to bet on lameness due to too many network notes and demands for rewrites than on one single vision being crappy. (By the way, Marti was off on maternity leave during s7 of 'Buffy'. She only co-write one episode, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out she didn't even watch the others) 'Point Pleasant' actually started to get pretty good those last two episodes before it was cancelled. The only way she could get a supernatural show on the air was to make it an 'OC'-clone. I blame the early episode on the danger of compromise.

The red flag moments for me were the dialogue in the scenes between Calista and her mother (sounded wildly different from the cadence of the other scenes; you didn't need a director's commentary track to know they were last-minute re-writes written by entirely different people) and the awkward moment when Calista went out of her way to reassure the audience that she was in full support of the Log Cabin Republicans. Marti may love to throw out subtext in favor of badly disguised metaphors with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the forehead, but I can't believe she would have supported telegraphing unrealistic character motivation like that. Seriously, there were lines in this thing that sounded like the Buffybot!

This looks like a case of too many network notes watering down any opportunity for conflict (or worse; characters not being likeable. heaven forfend!) rather than one person's bad idea to me. But it's just a guess.

But, whether it was her fault or not, I still contend she was smart to leave.

MrX

They'll mention her, but we won't see her. I don't know why they don't recast it, they did recast Terrence after the guy who played him last season signed on for The Nine.