Ask Matt: True-Crime Dramas (‘Anna’ & More) Wear Out Their Welcome
Welcome to the Q&A with TV critic — also known to some TV fans as their “TV therapist” — Matt Roush, who’ll try to address whatever you love, loathe, are confused or frustrated or thrilled by in today’s vast TV landscape. (We know background music is too loud, but there’s always closed-captioning.)
One caution: This is a spoiler-free zone, so we won’t be addressing upcoming storylines here unless it’s already common knowledge. Please send your questions and comments to [email protected] (or use the form at the end of the column) and follow me on Twitter (@TVGMMattRoush). Look for Ask Matt columns on many Tuesdays and Fridays.
Why Do These “True” Stories Go On So Long?
Question: There are too many shows on TV these days, Matt! But even more so, there are too many “limited series” programs about true stories which could easily have been told in a two-hour movie. Did we need so many episodes about Pam & Tommy or Inventing Anna? Some episodes are really padded out with fiction that it’s disgraceful to even say it’s based on a true story. The other thing: They’re making a lot of these limited shows about really unlikable people. I appreciate that the actors playing these characters are trying their best, but the storytelling is trying to make us feel like these people are amazing when in essence they’re rotten people. Super Pumped, The Dropout, Inventing Anna, etc., and before that The Shrink Next Door are some recent examples. All great actors but they’re not nice people. At least Dr. Death painted the lead for what he is: plain rotten. The Dropout already is getting on my nerves trying to paint Amanda Seyfried’s character of Elizabeth Holmes like she’s some poor victim. And again, most of these shows could have been covered in a two-hour telemovie. — Benji
Matt Roush: You’re telling me there’s too much content out there? (I can’t even sample it all, let alone make it through many of these series.) As you may recall, I ranted at the time that regardless of one’s fascination with characters like Anna Delvey, did her story really need to go on longer than the original Godfather trilogy? This is all about streaming services being so hungry for “sticky” content that they allow their series (and individual episodes, often clocking at over an hour) to go on seemingly forever. Streaming bloat is a true issue, although your argument also extends to series like Showtime’s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, which I would agree is a story that could have been told in a more compact form. I’ll admit, though, that I found Pam & Tommy entertaining enough and with so many angles that I never got bored. And when a limited series does it well, like Hulu’s Dopesick and its take on the opioid crisis, the result can be exceptional TV.
I’ll take issue with your likability problem, if only to argue that the purpose of some of these series is to humanize the participants in a way a documentary sometimes can’t. (And while Paul Rudd was obviously a jerk in The Shrink Next Door, I enjoyed watching him play against type.) I do agree that Inventing Anna, in particular, seemed to admire Anna’s moxie in the way it presented her trial as almost unfair — a bigger problem was the uneven portrayal of the journalist investigating her story — but as I noted in an earlier column, I’ll defend The Dropout (having seen all but the final episode) for trying to get beyond Elizabeth Holmes’ glamorous façade to explore the roots of her ruthless drive and even insecurity. It’s still a damning portrait, almost justifying its length — though there’s little doubt that HBO’s The Inventor documentary had even more impact in its two-hour run time.
There’s No Replacing Gibbs
Question: Does anything ever show up in your mailbag regarding NCIS with something positive to say about Mark Harmon/Gibbs? It seems to some of us viewers that there was more to the Gibbs character over 18+ years than just a “gloomy Gus,” but now that Harmon/Gibbs is gone all we see are negative comments. The popularity of NCIS over those 18+ years must have had something to do with Mark Harmon and his portrayal of Gibbs. Regarding Gary Cole/Alden Parker: Change can be good when necessary, but it seemed a bit lazy to drop in someone from outside NCIS to lead a major team in Washington, D.C. instead of creating a seasoned NCIS agent as a character who could have earned the position. — Unsigned
Matt Roush: Are you kidding? Even when I published the recent letter that dared to have something nice to say about Gary Cole as his replacement, I called the writer “brave” for pricking the Gibbs balloon. For many and for always, NCIS will be identified with Mark Harmon as Gibbs, and that fan base is legion. Understandably so. For the series to even continue without him (though he’s still in the credits) was a calculated risk, and the pushback against anyone trying to fill his shoes was to be expected. (Which, by the way, is why I will on occasion publish something to the contrary.) And for everyone who thinks it “lazy” to bring in an outsider, there would have just as much accusation of the producers taking the easy road by replacing Gibbs with an NCIS clone. There’s no way to make everyone happy.
Checkout Time at This Hospital
Question: Is anyone else sick of New Amsterdam? You never know when it is going to be on anymore, and I have lost respect for the writers. Helen chases Max till she gets him and then pulls him away from his country and everything he loves and has worked for. What about poor Luna? Loses her mother, gets dragged away from her maternal grandparents (why didn’t they fight to keep her this time?), gets Helen forced on her, and now loses her. Who is taking care of that poor child now? I’ve also lost all respect for Floyd when he ran (and keeps) running after (don’t even know her name). Now a baby? This show has really gone down the drain and they should just pull the plug! I know I have on them! Thanks for listening. — Kay G, Pittsburgh
Matt Roush: Well, you’ll soon get your wish, as it was recently announced that NBC will end the show with its upcoming 13-episode fifth season for 2022-23. Maybe they realized it was played out as well. Moving Max to London, while wicked witch Veronica Fuentes dismantled nearly everything he’d established at New Amsterdam, ranks among one of the more bone-headed storylines in any recent medical drama. Floyd’s tortured love triangle is more in keeping with the genre’s soap-opera tradition, but I’d agree not especially inspired. If it were up to me, I’d give Iggy (Tyler Labine) his own show and be done with it. His subplots tend to be the most original, provocative and moving elements of New Amsterdam, and that I’ll miss.
Someone Save This Lady!
Question: Fox’s The Cleaning Lady is a wonderful show! Why in the world has it not been renewed yet for a second season? — Tara L
Matt Roush: I felt the same way a year ago with Prodigal Son on the same network, so I’ll just caution you not to get your hopes up but also not to lose hope. (Prodigal Son did get a second season, but that was it.) Densely serialized thrillers like The Cleaning Lady (a genre I would include Prodigal as part of, which is why I brought it up) are difficult to sustain if they’re not breakout hits, which on network TV is a near impossibility anymore. The Cleaning Lady lands firmly in “on the bubble” territory, and until Fox looks at its options for next season and gauges Lady’s potential for growth for another season and beyond, we may not know its fate until the network announces its schedule for 2022-23. It’s also possible that Fox will cut it loose early the way it did The Big Leap. But it’s too soon to tell.
Hits and Misses Are Part of the TV Game
Comment: Before the new TV season started last fall, I studied TV Guide Magazine’s Fall Preview issue and chose four new shows to sample: The Big Leap, Ordinary Joe, The Wonder Years, and Ghosts. In a first for me, I added all of them to my viewing schedule. The former two have been canceled, and the latter two became hits. It’s all such a crapshoot with broadcast shows that I think your advice of watching shows you like while you can and not worrying about whether or not they will be quickly canceled is good. All network programs, with the possible exception of The Simpsons and the news division shows, will eventually end or be canceled. Cancellation of a beloved show can be painful, but there are too many shows out there on cable or streaming to fill the holes to be too sad for too long. — Frank
Matt Roush: Now that’s what I call a healthy approach to being a TV consumer. We are all going to have our hearts broken when a new (or even old) favorite show ends, sometimes abruptly and unfairly, but better to have loved and lost than to never have enjoyed in the first place out of an abundance of skeptical caution. (One last Prodigal Son reference: I don’t regret a minute spent with that wacky thriller.) To your fall list I hope you included at least one midseason keeper: ABC’s Abbott Elementary, thankfully already renewed. To have even two new network sitcoms like this and Ghosts emerge as instant hits is a welcome change.
And Finally …
Question: What’s going on with AMC’s Ragdoll? When it premiered, it was on AFTER Killing Eve on AMC, airing a few weeks at that time. NOW, the network has shoved it AFTER some d**n movie they air instead, at that time. It seems to be on at 1 a.m. or later now. WTH is that about? I know it’s a difficult show, but come on. Clearly, the network really did NOT want to air it at all. If so, they would have KEPT it on after Killing Eve. I suspect, once again, it had to do with ratings. This is TWICE the network has done this with a British mystery. It’s maddening and frankly, I’m quite SICK of their garbage attitude. Maybe SOME of us DON’T want to watch some d**n movie and would rather have an original show, so to speak. Do you know or have heard ANYTHING as to WHY the network moved it? — A Richman
Matt Roush: This has happened quite a few times with AMC scheduling, and they don’t communicate these moves very well, at least not to me. (I had watched this graphic crime thriller on the AMC+ streaming platform, where it premiered before this linear airing, so wasn’t aware of the time change until this complaint appeared.) So your assumption is no doubt right, that if Ragdoll had attracted an audience in its initial airings it would probably still be airing in prime time. A reminder that if there’s a show you’re particularly keen on watching, especially on this channel, it’s a good idea to set the DVR to record the series (not just individual episodes) so it will find the series whenever it ends up airing.
That’s all for now—and for the next week, as I’ll be taking a brief spring break. We can’t do this without your participation, so please keep sending questions and comments about TV to [email protected] or shoot me a line on Twitter (@TVGMMattRoush), and you can also submit questions via the handy form below. (Please include a first name with your question.)
