Hello everyone! Welcome to the 2nd edition of SpoilerTV's Weekly Round Table. I hope you've enjoyed the 1st Edition. This week I'm (MP) joined by deangirl (DG), Laura (LL), Milo (MJ), Samantha (SB) and Abigail (AD) to discuss some relevant news in a very slow week. So sit back, enjoy the read and join the discussion in the comment section afterwards.
1.With Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Brothers filling up their ranks, do you think the new Dick Wolf show can come close to the success of Ryan Murphy's ACS: The People v O.J.?
SB: No. Firstly because I don't think much of Dick Wolf's shows. If you've seen one episode of Law & Order & SVU then you've seen them all, and I watched Chicago Fire & PD when they first began and gave up after the first season because they got boring. Even though Glee was an absolute mess in the later years, I still kept up with the show in places & watched because it was fun and every year I see people saying they're going to stop watching AHS but they still end up tuning in because his shows have an addictive quality about them that's hard to match. Secondly, I know True Crime Dramas are the IT thing at the moment, but I think the quality of them depends on where they're airing. Network TV has a lot of restrictions on the language shows can use & what they can show, whilst cable and streaming has more leeway.
AD: In terms of American viewers, quite possibly, but in terms of critical acclaim in the US and worldwide, then absolutely not. I'm sure Dick Wolf is held in semi-high regard but the only reason this show might be a success would be because it has the Law and Order name attached to it. The acting might be good for network standards, but I feel cable is held to a higher calibre when it comes to writing, acting, and storytelling in general, so I doubt it'll be as successful. I wouldn't want to write it off before it airs but I can't see it being as good as ACS.
MP: The one thing that really directly fell into my eye while watching the promo for True Crime was that it had a lot of posing and that they are more interested in portraying it as shiny and scandalous, instead of going into the deep raw stuff like ACS did. Yes, there are certain limitations by being on a broadcast network but American Crime proved that it can be done.
DG: NBC totally made the wrong call. Having seen Jarod Carmichael on Chelsea talk a little about the episode, it would have been far more therapeutic than insensitive. I love this show. It is SO brave and tackles controversial issues head on. I'm confident the episode would have looked at what it's like to survive that kind of shooting and accurately would have reflected the horror and shock at the violence and deaths. It would NOT have made a joke out of a mass shooting. It also would NOT have been "benefitting" from being topical and thus using the terrible real world violence to profit - certainly even less so than something like the OJ or Menendez miniseries have. It would have been a dialogue and added to the conversation over such violence. Definitely the wrong call by NBC. I can't believe anyone who watches the show would think otherwise.
LL: I don’t watch the show, but I personally think NBC made the *wrong* move. Knowing some context of the episode Jerrod intended to air might help, but if it was anything like _black-ish_‘s shooting episode that would’ve been exactly the thing people needed to see after this. Sometimes episodes are made with the wrong intentions at heart (I think _SVU_ does this a lot, especially with Trans-related episodes) but certainly with Jerrod and his team behind it, it seems like they know what they are doing and it should have been aired. It would’ve sparked at least somewhat of a conversation (it’s getting fewer views than _black-ish_ did) and it would’ve been important to see, I think.
SB: I don't watch the show, but I'm still gonna go with it's not insensitive because gun violence is something that Americans have to live with every day. I'm not even an American and I have lost count of how many times it has come up on the news, and there's always the condolences, saying enough is enough and the gun laws need to be looked at, but then it all sort of fades away until the next shooting. Whilst TV is a great distraction from the real world, occasionally it is good to use it for something important. The best episode of One Tree Hill is the school shooting episode, which is still widely praised today & recommended to watch even if you're not interested in the show, and black-ish also covered it well.
AD: I don't watch the show but it doesn't sound like a good move by NBC. I've heard The Carmichael Show is one that does deal with topics that other shows shy away from, so this topic shouldn't be any different. It's a problem that heavily affects Americans so I think it's absolutely something that should be shown in fictional media as it could easily be relatable by people watching it and start a healthy discussion on the topic. I hope they do post it online like they did with one of the lost Powerless episodes or air it at a later date. I'm not American so I can't say if it would seem insensitive to Americans but for me personally, I think to show it would be a good thing.
MP: As Samantha said gun violence is something Americans especially have to live with every day and avoiding the topic cause it is actually happening that day wasn't a smart decision in my opinion. Avoiding never helped or will help for that matter.
3.As the regular season is over, what do you think was the worst plot hole a show has pulled off this season?
MJ: The Flash had plenty of big plot holes this season that it really, really suffered from. Savitar being a time remnant from the future could have easily been prevented as once Barry found out, he could just make a note to not create time remnants in the future, thereby Iris (or more accurately, H.R.) is saved as Savitar never existed. And on top of that, the whole premise of the season is being built around not being able to change the past, but Barry has done exactly that pretty much everything he's gone back in time. Yes, that may lead to another bad thing, but again, Iris (**cough** H.R.) is saved. And more importantly, I get there's network schedules and all, but The Flash never once bothered with coming up with a reason as to why they couldn't have just called Supergirl, Green Arrow or even the Legends to help out with Savitar. Surely it would have made things easier. Even a simple throwaway line would have made the difference, but they didn't even bother. And for that matter, with the amount of time travel going on this season... where the hell are all those Time Wraiths?
SB: I'm gonna go with Blindspot and Borden being revealed as a mole for sandstorm. Nothing at all in season 1 laid any type of breadcrumbs for him to be revealed as a mole. No sneaky looks to indicate he knew Jane before he first met or suspicious activity. He was just the nice friendly psychologist who wanted to help Jane. It was so poorly executed that you could guess weeks ahead of time he was the mole, due to how weird & cagey he suddenly started to act, but the backstory helped to cover up the cracks ever so slightly.
MP: I'm going with Arrow. Plot holes within the Arrowverse are rather common but Arrow irked me out with this one. Back in the episode where they've introduced the new Black Canary they listed her in the CCPD database under her undercover name just so they could pull off the big name reveal in the final minutes of the episode. Felt lazy from the writers.
It is your turn now guys. Scroll down and share your thoughts on our weekly topics in the comment section down below. May we meet again next week.
