It's an interesting idea, a show about hostage negotiations. I wish they had actually made a show about hostage negotiations, though. Because Standoff is actually a "quirky" romantic comedy.
Matt and Emily are a wackily mismatched couple, in the usual "men and women just can't get along!" sort of way. He's a slackery, seat-of-his-pants kind of guy who likes to throw the rule book out the window, and to validate this characterization, his job is threatened twice in the space of the hour-long premiere. She is a straight-laced sidekick who does more reacting to him than acting. Oh, and they're also FBI hostage negotiators or something. But mostly they're in a relationship. They spend every spare moment talking about their relationship, even while hostage negotiating, even while teaching a class about hostage negotiating. Everyone around them talks about their relationship too.
"Is this about them or is it about us?" Emily asks at one point. Girl, it's all about you! How did you manage to get confused? There wasn't anything else to distract you!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Standoff Pilot: A Little More Negotiation Would Be Nice
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4 comments:
Yeah, my mom watched the pilot and maybe an episode or two, dont know when it aired, and she said she was confused why it set them up as a couple from the beginning. She was like, "Ok, theyre a couple, so what? Now they cant use that as a plot element or whatever..." I agreed. I mean, the entire like last three or more seasons of X-Files were carried COMPLETELY on the tension between mulder and scully. Dont deny it. Im still not a shipper tho.
Yeah, if they set up the couple at the beginning, the show has to be not about the couple or it'll get boring. Like on NewsRadio, Dave and Lisa were a couple from the beginning, but the show was about everyone, so it worked, until they threw Walt the Show-Destroying Intern in there.
In this case, the show is totally about them, and how they're a couple, so how are they going to keep that interesting? Either they need other characters to put more focus on or they need to do more hostage negotiating.
P.S. I'm not a shipper either.
The couple from the beginning thing can work, I think. It's a nice departure from the whole "we'll go off of tensions for seasons before resolving it one way or another" that X-Files, Bones, Scrubs, Grey's, yaddayadda use over and over. I kind of like being thrown in in the beginning of the relationship. It's ar least something new to whine about.
That said, good grief! Anna Espinoza is totally (so far) and woefully miscast. None of the characters are likable. And what is with the leader of the tac team? Honestly!?
I just hope they end up being more interesting as, oh, I don't know, people. Since the show is clearly not about the negotiating.
I know what you mean about Gina Torres. We know she's a good actress, and she can do well with just about anything they throw at her, but first they need to actually... throw something at her. Otherwise, what's the use of casting her?
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