Drama TV Series: Midseason 2012-2013

This hub discusses a list of upcoming Drama TV series premiering in Midseason 2012-2013. For each show I have included a synopsis, preview and a review. At the bottom of this hub I've added a list of Do's and Don'ts.

If you're interested in other genres:

• Comedy TV Series: Midseason 2012-2013

Starting January 21st at 9/8c, FOX brings us the new thriller series ‘The Following’. The show revolves around Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon, ‘X-Men: First Class’), a former FBI agent who caught infamous serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy, ‘Rome’) eight years ago. Now, Carroll has escaped from prison and has created himself an army of serial killers. Hardy is brought back on the case, because he was the only one that managed to get inside Carroll’s head all those years ago.

The trailer of ‘The Following’ really sets the mood. The show seems to have a good storyline, but at the same time feels like a real thriller series. That is a pretty rare combination, since thrillers and horror series usually have a weak storyline and only focus on the scary part. I’m not sure if I would enjoy watching the show though, since I like to sleep at night, but I’m really interested to see how it will turn out.

The CW’s new mystery drama ‘Cult’ centers around journalist blogger Jeff (Matt Davis, ‘The Vampire Diaries’) and Skye (Jessica Lucas, ‘Friends With Benefits’), a production assistant on the fictional TV show ‘Cult’. They suspect that Roger Reeves (Robert Knepper, ‘Prison Break’), the star of the series-within-a-series, is somehow making his fans re-create the crimes featured on his show.
‘Cult’ was originally written for The WB, but when that network merged with UPN to form The CW, the show was dropped in the process. Six years later The CW decided to pick up a revised version of ‘Cult’, executive produced by the creators of ‘Gossip Girl’, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.

Since in real life, people are not re-creating crimes featured on shows like ‘CSI’ and ‘NCIS’, there must be a reason why this does happen with the show-within-a-show ‘Cult’. Of course it’ll take a while before it will be revealed what is going on, and only then it becomes clear whether this is actually a drama series or a fantasy series.
Either way, it seems like ‘Cult’ will be some kind of procedural with a twist, but the twist might just be so big that it hardly seems like a procedural after all. Perhaps The CW is trying to appeal both to fans of procedurals and to fans of heavily serialized shows. Let’s just hope that it’s not something in-between that nobody really likes.

‘Do No Harm’ is sort of a modern ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ adaptation, set to premiere on January 13th at 10/9c on NBC. The show revolves around neurosurgeon Dr. Jason Cole (Steven Pasquale, ‘Rescue Me’). Cole has a secret: Every night at precisely the same time he transforms to his dangerous alter-ego Ian Price. Cole uses a powerful sedative to keep Price in check, but his body is starting to become immune, giving Price the ability to come out at any time.
Co-starring in the show are Alana de la Garza (‘Law And Order’), Phylicia Rashad (‘The Cosby Show’) and John Carroll Lynch (‘Body Of Proof’).

From the trailer, there is not much to say about the series yet. The classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story has been interesting people for over a century now, with many film and TV adaptations made, so the premise has potential. Unless of course everyone has seen it by now. Adding to that, a lot depends on the execution; the scripts and what the actors manage to bring to their characters.
NBC has cut the episode order for ‘Do No Harm’ by one due to scheduling problems. The current number of episodes is now 12.

First announced as ‘Notorious’, picked up for a pilot as ‘Infamous’, NBC’s ‘Deception’ is already going by its third name now. The show centers around detective Joanna Locasto (Meagan Good, Nickelodeon’s ‘Cousin Skeeter’) who is going undercover in the wealthy Bowers family. Locasto practically grew up in the Bowers family as her mother was their housekeeper and she was best friends with the Bowers’ daughter Vivian, but they have been estranged for many years now.
In the present day, Locasto is asked to try and work her way back into the Bowers family to find out how her former best friend Vivian, who appears to have taken an overdose, really came to her demise.
The Bowers family is portrayed by Victor Garber (‘Alias’), Katharine LaNasa (‘Three Sisters’), Tate Donovan (‘Damages’) and Marin Hinkle (‘Two And A Half Men’). ‘Deception’ will premiere on January 7th at 10/9c

The trailer of ‘Deception’ reveals very little information about the show, but it does tell the very essentials all in one scene. I like the premise of the show and am curious as to what happened to Vivian Bowers. However, this one murder might not be enough to keep the show interesting for many seasons, so I wonder what the writers will come up with to make it plausible that Locasto stays with the Bowers family after she finds out the truth behind Vivian’s death.

‘Red Widow’ is an upcoming ABC series based on the Dutch drama ‘Penoza’. Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell, ‘Silent Hill’) is a suburban housewife in Northern California. She has a loving husband and three beautiful kids. However, her father, brother and husband are all involved with organized crime. Even though Marta was against it at first, she has learned to accept it.
When her husband is killed, she is determined to avenge his death and keep her family alive. In order to do this, she will have to take over her husband’s role in the family business.

‘Penoza’ is a popular series in The Netherlands and the second season premiered in November. The fact that this show is based on that series doesn’t automatically mean it will be good too. However, the storyline will probably be good, since it’s based on a good story, which is a step in the right direction. When I watched the trailer of ‘Red Widow’ I noticed Marta looked very different from what I expected. Even though she is supposed to be a regular suburban mom, I expected her to look more edgy or different. Although unexpected, I do like that Marta is a normal woman with whom most of us can relate. ‘Red Widow’ could become a great series, just like ‘Penoza’.

Written by Paul T. Scheuring (‘Prison Break’), ‘Zero Hour’ is the story of Hank Galliston (Anthony Edwards, ‘ER’), the publisher of a paranormal enthusiast magazine. When Hank’s wife, Laila (Jacinda Barrett, ‘Millenium’), gets abducted, it’s up to Hank to find her. He will need to decipher and use a treasure map that was hidden in one of the clocks from Laila’s antique clock shop in the hopes of finding the men who took her. To make matters worse, a man they call White Vincent (Michael Nyqvist, ‘Millenium’) is hunting for the secrets of the map. Along with FBI agent Becca Riley (Carmen Ejogo, ‘Away We Go’) and with the help of his two associates, Rachel (Addison Timlin, ‘Californication’) and Arron (Scott Michael Foster, ‘The River’), Hank will have to race against the clock to not only find his wife, but also to save humanity from what could happen if the secrets of the map fall in the wrong hands.

This preview has made me extremely curious to the secrets that the map is hiding. In fact, I care more about this part of the series than I do about Laila’s abduction. Therefore, I hope that the unravelling of the mysteries surrounding the twelve clocks will be the major theme in this series. I don’t really see yet why Hank has to decipher the map to find his wife, but I’m sure there will be a good explanation for that in the series. Apart from that, this series seems to be a mix between an action/drama and a supernatural series. I for one am very interested in seeing the premiere of this series.

The CW’s new series ‘The Carrie Diaries’ stars AnnaSophia Robb as the young Carrie Bradshaw in ‘84. Indeed, THE Carrie Bradshaw, from ‘Sex and the City’. Carrie, sixteen in this series, has recently lost her mother. Her sister is spiraling out of control, and her father is overwhelmed with grief and a sudden increase of responsibility. For Carrie, the suburban Connecticut life provides no distraction from her troubles, so when Carrie’s father Tom (Matt Letscher, ‘Entourage’) offers her an internship at a Manhattan-based law firm, she happily accepts. In Manhattan she discovers the wonders of New York City, and the glamour of working for a magazine. The series is, just like ‘Sex and the City’, based on the books by Candace Bushnell and will premiere on January 14th, at 8/7c.

For those of you hoping for a ‘Sex and the City’-like series: keep on searching. This is definitely a new turn, the only thing reminding us of SATC is the name Carrie Bradshaw. Of course, The CW aims for a younger audience, so it is only logical they would choose to have a censored version of SATC. And obviously without the sex, there isn’t that much left, so it makes sense that this series has a whole new premise. However, to me it just feels as if they’re trying to pull in an audience by using the name Carrie Bradshaw, only to offer them something completely different.

Set to premiere on FX on January 30th at 10/9c, ‘The Americans’ is a spy drama set during the Reagan presidency. KGB spies Keri Russell (‘Felicity’) and Matthew Rhys (‘Brothers & Sisters’) are posing as a regular married couple with their 13-year-old daughter Paige and 10-year-old son Henry, who of course know nothing about their parents' true identities. Even though their marriage is arranged, they are growing more and more fond of each other. However, because of the tensions of the Cold War, both their relationship and they themselves are constantly put to the test. It gets even worse when an FBI-agent working in counter-intelligence (Noah Emmerich, ‘The Walking Dead’) moves in next door.

'The Americans' is created by Joe Weisberg ('Falling Skies'), a former CIA-agent turned successful writer. The premise of the show seems very ambitious and if the actors are any good at their jobs, this could become a great series. The part where the FBI-agent moves in next door, however, sounds more like something from the premise of a comedy series. But that is just something we have to accept, and looking at this short trailer, that might just be really worth it.

Based on Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s novel, ‘Monday Mornings’ follows the lives of five doctors at the (fictional) Chelsea General Hospital in Portland, Oregon. According to TNT the title refers to the weekly conference being held in which the doctors discuss the complications and errors in their cases. The cast includes Jamie Bamber (‘Battlestar Galactica’)as Tyler Wilson, Jennifer Finnigan (‘The Bold and the Beautiful’) as Tina Ridgeway and Bill Irwin (‘Elmo’s World’) as Buck Tierney.

There is no trailer yet, so it is hard for me to form an opinion. However, in the light of all the hospital dramas that are out there, this series will have to deliver an entirely new angle if it wants to succeed. ‘Monday Mornings’ will premiere on February 4th at 10/9c on TNT.

CBS has slated another new crime drama series for midseason, called ‘Golden Boy’. Very little is known about this show, that will follow an ambitious police officer on his meteoric rise to become the youngest NYPD commissioner ever. The show will focus on the impact that his ambition has on both his personal and his professional life.
Starring is British actor Theo James as the titular character. Co-stars of the show include Bonnie Sommerville (‘NYPD Blue’), Kevin Alejandro (‘True Blood’) and there is a recurring role for Odette Annable (‘Breaking In’, wife of ‘Brothers & Sisters’ Dave Annable).

Do:

• Cult (The CW)
• The Following (FOX)
• The Americans (FX)
• Zero Hour (ABC)

Maybe:

• Do No Harm (NBC)
• Deception (NBC)
• Red Widow (ABC)
• Golden Boy (CBS)

Don’t:

• The Carrie Diaries (The CW)
• Monday Mornings (TNT)