I want to like any television show I sit down to review. A lot of talented people come together to create the average series and I have enough friends in the business that I have some small sense of the challenges involved in getting something worthwhile on the screen.
So in almost all cases, I'll wait until I'm four or five episodes into a new show before I render my final judgment on whether I'll continue to watch. I typically review the pilot, then at the minimum I'll tackle write another review a few episodes in. I try and give a show every possible chance to succeed and I don't enjoy ripping into anyone's best efforts.
This is a long way of saying that I have really wanted to appreciate "Unforgettable." I'm a fan of series lead Poppy Montgomery and of the creativity of co-creator Ed Relich, who worked with Montgomery on "Without A Trace."
But despite all that good will I really disliked the pilot. And even though I've continued to sample the show I still find myself distracted by some central problems with the premise. So convincing me to try again was not an easy task. In the end, I watched this week's episode primarily because I wanted to see if the addition of Jane Curtin to the cast altered the chemistry of the show.
Despite the cast addition, "Unforgettable" still struggles with a core problem that I simply can't get past. What do you do when you've painted yourself into a creative corner and there's no way to significantly alter the premise without destroying the show?
"Unforgettable" centers around Detective Carrie Wells (Montgomery) who remembers everything she's ever seen, heard or felt. She remembers facts and images that she didn't even realize she had noticed and is able to replay them in her mind at any time.
That perfect memory makes her a formidable detective and that is part of the problem with the show. When you have a central character who remembers everything, the temptation is to use her gift as a short cut to solving crimes. You don't actually have to write a scene or two where the police figure out some plausible way to uncover the truth. You just need Wells to spool her memory back and remember some odd fact or clue that will make everything seem clear.
The writers try to get around this superwoman challenge by making Wells a tragically flawed character. Her sister was murdered when she was young and that death is the one thing she can't remember. Of course she obsesses about the event and that obsession is supposed to counterbalance her otherwise unbeatable mental skills.
Despite everyone's best efforts, the resulting mess is nearly impossible to watch. Each episode veers from a scene that seem real and honest to the next scene which is so unrealistic it's almost laughable. Montgomery's charms and acting skills are lost in the confusion and the rest of the ensemble doesn't fare any better. If a strong effort and good intentions were enough to make a show a hit, "Unforgettable" would run for a decade.
The good news is that I liked Curtin's character and it did make the show much more even-keeled and human. Her backstory--as a hardheaded medical examiner banished to the precinct for not playing ball--are no doubt meant as a plot counterpoint to the obsessions of Wells and her inability to relate to authority figures. But all the addition of Curtin does is remind me just how unpleasant and awkward the core of "Unbelievable" is on a weekly basis.
The show is getting decent ratings and may survive in the long run. But the fact that I'd rather be watching a show starring Curtin doesn't bode well for the chances of me watching "Unforgettable" anytime soon.
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