Pardon me if I get up on my soapbox for a minute ... and all of you damn kids get off of my lawn!
Word reached me just this morning that Evil -- a true stand-out genre program from CBS's 2019-2020 -- will, in fact be returning (finally!) for a second season ... but the network has decided to banish it behind the pay wall that is Paramount+.
Argh!!!!!
For those of you caught unawares, Evil was a weekly procedural exploring a trio of investigators teamed up by the Church to kinda/sorta debunk the nature of every day evil -- exorcisms, psychological illnesses, demonic possession, etc. -- in order to make things right with the world. In many respects, I'd called it a "thinking man's Supernatural" (yes, the long-running paranormal program on The CW) as it gave more of an adult exploration to many of the topics that have been around for generations. Starring the incredibly talented Katja Herbers, the incredibly underrated Mike Colter, and the incredibly yet deservedly cynical Aasif Mandvi, the drama from Michelle and Robert King finally looked like the powers that be answered fandom's prayers and gave us something similar to Fox TV's stellar The X-Files to digest on a weekly basis.
I suspect this move is being done to reward streaming platforms whose audiences have been increasingly kind to this drama's freshman season. While it wasn't doing anything special in Nielsen ratings, Evil has become a bit of a bright star amongst those who've found it (apparently on the accursed anti-American platform that is Netflix), so the network executives have agreed to shake it from their cable line-up to give it a second chance behind the insufferable pay wall.
Although I do hate showing my age, I can't help but wonder what good this will do to the program. As private pay platforms are free from the constraints of network censors, I can imagine the storytellers are ready to amp up the violence and the nudity; and maybe they're even salivating at the prospect of consummating Kristen Bouchard and fallen priest David Acosta's fledgling relationship (the two talents have great on-screen chemistry) for the audience that follows them. Hopefully the intelligent writing around its supernatural elements won't suffer, but sometimes it's hard to resist the temptation "tits & ass" can bring to super-pay cable.
Ugh.
Though I'm saddened that I'll likely see no more of Evil (I'm currently not a Paramount+ subscriber, nor am I planning to become one), I do bless all involved with the show as it truly was a phenomenon in waiting. If this keeps genre alive, then more power to it.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
Word reached me just this morning that Evil -- a true stand-out genre program from CBS's 2019-2020 -- will, in fact be returning (finally!) for a second season ... but the network has decided to banish it behind the pay wall that is Paramount+.
Argh!!!!!
For those of you caught unawares, Evil was a weekly procedural exploring a trio of investigators teamed up by the Church to kinda/sorta debunk the nature of every day evil -- exorcisms, psychological illnesses, demonic possession, etc. -- in order to make things right with the world. In many respects, I'd called it a "thinking man's Supernatural" (yes, the long-running paranormal program on The CW) as it gave more of an adult exploration to many of the topics that have been around for generations. Starring the incredibly talented Katja Herbers, the incredibly underrated Mike Colter, and the incredibly yet deservedly cynical Aasif Mandvi, the drama from Michelle and Robert King finally looked like the powers that be answered fandom's prayers and gave us something similar to Fox TV's stellar The X-Files to digest on a weekly basis.
I suspect this move is being done to reward streaming platforms whose audiences have been increasingly kind to this drama's freshman season. While it wasn't doing anything special in Nielsen ratings, Evil has become a bit of a bright star amongst those who've found it (apparently on the accursed anti-American platform that is Netflix), so the network executives have agreed to shake it from their cable line-up to give it a second chance behind the insufferable pay wall.
Although I do hate showing my age, I can't help but wonder what good this will do to the program. As private pay platforms are free from the constraints of network censors, I can imagine the storytellers are ready to amp up the violence and the nudity; and maybe they're even salivating at the prospect of consummating Kristen Bouchard and fallen priest David Acosta's fledgling relationship (the two talents have great on-screen chemistry) for the audience that follows them. Hopefully the intelligent writing around its supernatural elements won't suffer, but sometimes it's hard to resist the temptation "tits & ass" can bring to super-pay cable.
Ugh.
Though I'm saddened that I'll likely see no more of Evil (I'm currently not a Paramount+ subscriber, nor am I planning to become one), I do bless all involved with the show as it truly was a phenomenon in waiting. If this keeps genre alive, then more power to it.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
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