★★★★★ 0/5

Sorry …I just don’t get Revenge.

Revenge isn't half the show that Homeland is -so how come it's got way more viewers?

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Confession time. I’m now three episodes into Revenge and I’m bored.

Yet two million other Aussies, and 1.8m last week, are hooked on the thing. What am I not getting?

Sorry, but it’s not half the show that Homeland is.

I keep waiting for Revenge to excite me, but all I am seeing are one-dimensional characters wading through sluggish scenes about lies and affairs. I can’t work out what the appeal is.

It’s not that I don’t like Emily VanCamp, she’s a stunner and I enjoyed her in Brothers and Sisters. It’s not that I don’t like the genre (I was a big fan of Dallas and Melrose Place). I can see Madeline Stowe is loving playing a bitch in high heels. But the rest of it is just Mills and Boon meets The Bold and the Beautiful with a beach-house.

At least Dirty Sexy Money had a send of fun. At least Desperate Housewives had character. These people have no humour, no humility, and so far have been nothing more than rich folk with nothing better to do. Was The Count of Monte Cristo as bland as this?

As a colleague recently said of the show “I’m going to need more than her just crossing names off a list every week.”

Why is Australia hooked on it?

Homeland on the other hand has me intrigued by the depth of its characters. There are subplots going on all over the place -and subtext too- and the performances are outstanding. The plotting leaves me doubting myself about what I thought I knew (just wait for tonight’s episode). Yet it’s not getting anywhere near the numbers of Revenge.

The only thing I can attribute this to is Seven’s expert ability to market their shows. Revenge was plugged throughout the Australian Open and it follows My Kitchen Rules. Seven is so successful  at this you’d swear they could have Ray Meagher reciting the White Pages and it would probably rate.

So kudos to them for that.

If Homeland or The Good Wife were running on Seven you could probably whack on another 500,000 straight off the bat.

And I didn’t mind the season premiere of Alcatraz, but need to check its subsequent eps.

It’s as if some networks have a glass ceiling on the number of viewers their shows can attract, according to the success of the network as a whole.

Oh well. Good luck to Revenge. If Seven can promote a show that’s really worth about 1.2m and land above 1.8m then bully for them.

But I’m just about done.

84 Responses

  1. i loved both Homeland and Revenge…

    Revenge does just get better and better… and epsiode 15 was great… but keep watching i enjoyed it a lot more from episode 5 too… like people are saying i enjoy revenge because it is abt another world, another life – its escapism – love it.

    Homeland.. well thats got too be one of the best series i have seen in years, great topics, great scripts, great acting and it kept me guessing.. reminded me of watching season 1 of 24… i think homeland would have rated a lot better on seven obviously… im just glad its getting the slot it deserves atm..

    while i love both shows homeland deserves the critical acclaim – its brilliant – but i still love revenge and escaping too the Hamptons!

  2. I love Revenge and Homeland. But i think i prefer Revenge. A show like Homeland you expect quality and it delivers. Revenge just had me hooked though and now I can’t wait for each episode. I stopped watching Grey’s Anatomy cos i thought it was becoming too soap opera, so it’s strange how much i like Revenge. And it does get better each ep. The first few it’s formulaic, pick a target, get revenge, cross off list, but that all changes and it gets quite intriguing. The last episode it finally caught up to the first minutes of episode 1, and it was a great episode. Stick with it.

    I do agree about Seven though. It could put on naything at rate, Please Marry My Boy and Four Weddings are trash, but people watch. People will sadly watch Brynne Edelstein too. Seven know how to market their shows. Ten i think has the best list of shows of all networks but look at how they treat them, and then look at the ratings. They move successful shows to different days and timeslots every few months so people give up.

  3. Sorry…I just don’t get The Slap…..
    Same feeling….everyone raved about that show…and it was just, to me, full of cleche characters and situations…
    Yours opinions about Revenge were just how I felt about The Slap….
    I am almost as old as dirt….so I am not sure why Revenge appeals…not normally my cup of tea…but I do enjoy it….
    I simply want to be entertained…not freaked out …when it is almost time for bed….
    And I do not care what network a show is on….I watch what I like and enjoy….
    I certainly do not watch TV to stretch my brain…and extend my intellect….there is little credible TV that could do that!

  4. It’s as simple as Revenge is total escapism. Real people don’t live like that, and thats the key. Homeland is a good show, however its possibe that it can happen (eg the terrorism) & people don’t really wanna know what might happen in their lives. We’d rather watch something thats so far removed from our everyday lives.

  6. Well…. lots of debate, and some great points, including from those who disagree with me. Life would be pretty dull if we all agreed. As always, I only ever seek to give an honest, individual opinion. Not sure I can make it to episode 5. We’ll see….

    Kathy: there have been other 5 star reviews here including Cloudstreet, Go Back to Where You Came From, Damages, The Eternity Man, Great Migrations.

  7. @ Sam — Well put. That’s exactly why I watch Revenge, too.

    I’m looking forward to episode 5 where, according to so many people on this site, the game changes. Can’t wait!

  8. Interesting how some shows grab us and others don’t.

    David, in all the years that I have been following TV Tonight (and that would be way back when it first started), and if my memory serves me well, I think ‘The Walking Dead’ is the first 5 star rating you have ever given a show in your reviews. Correct?

    I got to episode two of that show and hated it so much I did not bother watching the rest of the season… yet I love Revenge, and like others have said, it get’s better say from around Episode 5. 🙂

  9. I enjoy both Homeland and Revenge, although, I’m one of the people who prefer Revenge.

    Television for me is mainly about escapism. I don’t really want to watch the most accurate, the most topical, or the most real. Revenge is extremely heightened (but it hasn’t reached ridiculous…yet) and therefore a lot more fun. Plus, the setting is beautiful and the cast, I find, is very likeable.

    Plus, just the whole concept of having a show based around betrayal lends itself to emotional investment. The characters are driven by it, and I would think, the audience is attracted to it. So even though their world is about wealth, everyone can relate to the themes of the show to a certain extent. You understand their motives quite simply and cleanly.

  10. The answer David, as I’m sure you already know, is that you – apparently in possession of a brain – are no longer in the target demographic of Revenge. Although why you are such a fan of the equally stereotyped, soapy and unbelieveable characters in Homeland is beyond me.

    Revenge, like all soaps (including MKR) (and inflammatory opinion pieces) always rate well, as evidenced by the 40-odd responses you’ve got to this opinion piece, as opposed to the many fewer comments your less ingenuous blogs attract 😉

  12. I can appreciate both Homeland and Revenge, though they’re clearly not intended for the same audience. Homeland is smart, topical and demanding, aimed at viewers who are politically engaged and prepared to make the effort to keep up with the intricate and subtle plotting. It’s “lean forward” TV. Revenge, on the other hand, is “lean back” TV. It’s also intricately plotted, but everything is carefully signposted, so little effort is required to follow it, even if you’re more interested in the lavish sets and fashions. Whatever your preference, they’re both excellent shows – and we should salute the Yanks for being able to produce cerebral TV and trash TV with equal class. It’s worth noting that the EP of Revenge is Australian director Phillip Noyce. It’s a shame no Australian network would engage him to produce something of even half the quality here.

  13. It’s all about the demos. Revenge is a perfect super soap following in the footsteps of Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy for Seven. The figures are so high because it has secured the younger demos – so Seven have hit the jackpot with it. They sure did luck out with this one! Compare that to Phyrne Fisher’s audience on Friday night – 70% was 55+. What is the ABC going to do about their audience skewing so old? The battlelines are drawn and there’s no way 10 can say they are appealing to the attractive younger demos with those figures for Homeland and The Good Wife.

  14. @Dodge – Yeah, Like The Event, A Night With the Stars, etc.?
    @cglenn1988 – Exactly likewise. There’s nothing on 9 that attracts me and only 1 hour on TEN. My weekly schedule is Revenge, Homeland, 4Corners (maybe), SBS doco, Q&A, ABC24News, Sunday Night (maybe), Downton Abbey (when). Simply bored with same-old NCIS, NCISLA, SVU, CSIx3, H5-0, Bones, etc., For a bit of comedy, MKR – for the bitchiness, hardly for the cooking talent. Agree. Always has been “garbage rates” and “target the bogans”, to quote an out-there ex-9-now-7 exec.

  16. I have said this many times before but I believe a more successful way of screening these programmes with heavy subplots is to bulk up on the first 4 or 5 Epps and set the underlying mood and direction.
    I remember 5 or 6 years ago they done this with 24 by screening 6 Epps over 3 nights in the first weeks and it worked a treat, as a society our attention span and need for resolution is in a heightened state and I tend to think this Series goes someway to appease that need by having a character pay in each of the early Epps and therefore a mini conclusion at the end of each instalment.
    By the time the series reaches the beginning in Epp 15 anyone who is not a fan will be and I can’t wait for the real plot to begin.

  17. Like cglenn1988, I’m more interested in the program and rarely notice what network it’s on (that’s where the ubiquitous watermarks DO come in handy!), but never to the extent of quoting audience numbers! I couldn’t give a toss about that, although ratings in general are interesting, but probably wildly inaccurate. How accurate could they be, with the ratings ‘boxes’ in the same homes for years. If we had one, sport wouldn’t rate at all, and The Project would be up near the top!

  22. Totally agree with you. I watched episode 1 and was bored stupid by it, so I have no intention of watching it again. It’s just a prime time version of The Bold and The Beautiful crossed with Dynasty by way of The Young and The Restless.

    I think you are right about Channel Seven – they are so far ahead of the pack in terms of hyping their shows that it is almost embarrassing. That is one of the reasons why the other two commercial stations have been eating their dust for years. Seven hype themselves up way more expertly – compare their self-promotion to Channel Nine’s amateurish rebranding efforts of late (Home of Laughter, anybody?). If Homeland were on Seven, it would be doing 1.6M, easy. I also think Seven can read their audience better and are more prepared to take programming risks.

  24. As each episode of Homeland unfolds, you’re going to be even more baffled as to why Revenge is the preferred choice of the majority David. Not for one moment can I or will I criticise the plot or acting, both of which have been praised by all and sundry.

    The main problem, in my humble opinion, is the subject matter which simply does not appeal to the average Australian and over the next few weeks I can see Homeland’s ratings slipping slowly, but ever so surely downwards. The War on Terror may be of interest still in the US of A, but very few Aussies give a damn about it, while watching villians being given their cum-uppance is satisfying and can be fun as other contributors have stated.

    As for the Revenge characters being one dimensional, all I can say is you must be watching Homeland with blinkers on.

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