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?
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
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
Cannot agree with your opinion on Homeland, I find it way too American, therefore uninteresting. That’s life however, one man’s
satisfaction is another man’s load of codswallop.
Agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on Revenge. Only last evening I commented to the missus the show appears to have
lost its way and does not resemble what it was not that long ago. Still prefer it to Homeland however.
Revenge has more viewers simply because it is better. no need for explaination
Let’s just pretend for a moment there was a way to have already watched the entire series so far without ads. Let’s further pretend that a good weekend “guilty pleasure” was sitting down on a Friday night and watching three eps in a row.
I’d imagine if that were ever possible, the show might possibly feel like a better-paced piece of “guilty pleasure” television… and actually may have become more entertainingly complex by, say, ep10 or so.
Of course, I’m just speculating. Don’t mind me…
Well i agree eps 1-4 are slow…once 5 starts and goes through till the end of the current bunch i know you will write an apology and i look forward to it 🙂
as a TV reviewer im sure you will keep watching if for nothing else but its your job.
Undecided about sticking with it. When you’re pressed for time, you have to make choices and these days I can’t watch everything (there were 5 FTAs when I started!). But the general response from readers that it improves is what will influence me most. There would be no apology. Even if I did grow to like it, it wouldn’t change the fact the three I have watched have underwhelmed me.
Revenge – I like based on the fact that it isn’t the usual drama, but has a suspense element and the fact the hero character is basically a killer is excellent. 4/5
Homeland – More episodes into than Revenge and am enthralled by it so far, the strange storyline has me pvr’ing every Sunday night. 5/5
Alcatraz – Tonight is my last night watching it, as a ‘Lost’ addict, I wanted this JJ Abrams show to be good, but after seeing the ‘Bomb Shelter’ last week, which resembled a particular ‘Hatch’ too much, I’m not interested in dedicating six seasons of TV viewing for no pay off again! 3/5
It really should not matter which channel has which show. If it is a good enough show people should be interested in watching it regardless. I started watching all three, Homeland, Revenge and Alcatraz. Now a few weeks in my very favourite is Homeland, I can’t take my eyes off it when it is on. My second favourite is Revenge, although I feel I may need to rewatch some episodes to decipher what is going on, the thing with the dog is worrying me, I do not see how her puppy that was taken away could still be alive, but maybe I got it mixed up somewhere. My least favourite is Alcatraz, in fact I have now stopped watching it, it seems too unbelievable, a bit like Lost.
Revenge so far doesn’t show any great “highs” with tension ,This is especially so in the acting of the lead actress,,Emily Van Camp..the plot is so predictable and the lingering shots of Madeleine Stowe , were very laughable and very much day time soap.
I love everything about Homeland..Maybe Revenge is a real “chick” show