In the US: Mondays, 10/9c, NBC. Starts January 7 2013
With NBC doing so well in the ratings right now, it’s tempting to forget that it essentially churns out derivative rubbish. It even rips itself off with Go On, which is an imitation – albeit a not bad one – of Community.
As if to prove a point, here comes Deception, a show that practically screams, “We wish we’d thought of that, ABC!” Combining two of ABC’s stand-out shows of last year – Scandal and Revenge – Deception is a relentlessly monotonous show of ridiculous proportions. Marrying Revenge‘s “crime, East Coast rich people and the poor outsider woman” soap opera with Scandal‘s mystery/thriller and black female lead (when only one network show has a black female lead, you know something’s wrong with the entire industry), Deception sees an FBI officer go undercover to solve the mystery of her former rich girl best friend’s apparent drug overdose. Except it’s really murder – as if you couldn’t see that coming.
Okay, might be good, you might think, except being NBC, it’s the blandest, dullest possible combination of those two shows, offering neither excitement nor vicarious thrills to get you through the fact that despite a decent cast that includes Victor Garber and Tate Donovan, there is absolutely nothing remarkable about the plot, the dialogue, the characters or their relationships. Even the tag line “To find the truth, she’ll become a lie” is boring.
Here’s a trailer. Stay awake if you can.
