My Twitter feed was all abuzz about it, and I believe it was trending in the USA at one point, so, evidently, a lot of you watched it. I don't have the hard numbers yet, so I can't tell you how well it did in terms of viewership and ratings. But I should have them soon enough, and will post here once that happens.
Reposting what I posted yesterday morning, given that it premiered last night…
“I guess the way it all shook out, (the ethnicity of [Meagan] Good and [Laz] Alonso) is a way of sort of dealing with race without actually having to talk about it… But it’s not something we really talk about too much in the writers room…I just think it is sort of there. I’m not sure what we could put in the characters’ mouths that would speak louder than the fact of what you’re looking at on-screen.”
Words from Deception showrunner Liz Heldens at TCA over the weekend, adding that, according to Deadline, that the show wasn't written specifically with black actors/characters in mind, but that when Meagan Good auditioned for the part initially, "she just walked in and owned it. It was fantastic."
She also described it as a TV hybrid of Donnie Brasco and Sabrina, saying that season 1 would reveal to the audience who the killer is, and season 2 (I guess they're optimistic it'll be renewed for a second season) will be about Good's character, who believes she knows who the killer is, proving it.
Part of NBC's mid-season debuts, Deception (initially titled Notorious, and then switched to Infamous, and now will be called Deception), made its TV broadcast premiere last night, January 7, 2013, during the 10pm – 11pm hour.
It stars Meagan Good as detective Joanna Locasto, a female detective who returns to work undercover investigating the wealthy family she grew up with – as the maid's daughter – to solve the murder of the notorious heiress who was once her closest friend – celebutante Vivian Lawson.
The NBC series co-stars Laz Alonso, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, and Katherine LaNasa co-starring.
Laz Alonso plays NYPD detective Will Sacovitch, who recruits Good's character, his former flame, to team up and infiltrate the Lawson home – led by Victor Garber as Robert Lawson, and Tate Donovan as his son.
So what did you think, those who tuned in?
I'd already watched the full pilot episode which had been on NBC's website for about 3 weeks before last night's TV debut; but I did watch it again just to see if my reaction would be any different than what it was after the first time I watched it.
And I'm sorry to say that it didn't change. As I noted yesterday, while I'm extremely glad to see NBC take a chance on a primetime drama series with black characters in starring roles, I wasn't at all hooked. It really does play like a traditional soap opera, but non of the suspense and intrigue were suspenseful nor intriguing enough for me to hold my attention.
I won't go into some in-depth analysis of it at this time, since we've only seen one episode. As is custom for me, I do plan to watch the first 3 episodes, and hope that the next 2 impress me more than the pilot did – at least, enough that I'll want to continue watching for the rest of the season. And at that time, I should have a much better idea of what I think about it.
I'm probably not in the show's target audience anyway, so that could certainly have something to do with it. But I'm hopeful for the sake of the actors, at least, that it finds its audience, even if I myself, am not particularly drawn to it. And based on last night's online social networking chatter, a lot of you were really into it!
If you watched the pilot episode, what did you think of it? Chime in.
The rest of you can watch it below if you'd like:
