Smallville's Kristin Kreuk is back on the small screen in this modern take on the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast.
Quite possibly the only CW series that is not heavily serialized, Beauty and the Beast is a loose adaptation of the 1980's television series of the same name that aired on CBS. Kristin Kreuk stars as Catharine Chandler, a no-nonsense homicide detective in New York City, and Jay Ryan stars as the not-so-ugly beast Vincent Keller.
The Pilot Episode opens in a bar in a small town. A young Catharine (Kreuk) is closing up the bar, but as she leaves is unable to start the engine of her car. She calls her mother for help, and as her mom is trying to help her start the car, two men pull up and kill Catharine's mom. Catharine flees into the woods, and just as the two men are about to kill her as well, she is rescued by a beast. Ten years later, Catharine is working as a detective in New York City. She's had a string of bad relationships and she breaks up with her latest boyfriend just as she heads in to a homicide case. The case ultimately leads her to Vincent Keller, which reopens the door to Catharine trying to uncover who killed her mother that night. What follows in the remainder of the episode is a paranormal romance amidst a case-of-the-week that is being solved.
The familiarity of seeing Clark Kent's love interest and the sweet girl-next-door back on TV is what makes the Pilot Episode remotely enjoyable. Like Rachel Bilson's return to television last year in Hart of Dixie, fans of Kreuk will be glad to have her back on a weekly basis. However, unlike Dixie, Kreuk is the only redeeming quality about this show. Clogged with poor writing and cliche dialogue, there is nothing here that hasn't been seen before in previous shows. Further, Australian actor Jay Ryan is no male lead material. His acting is subpar at best, with a scene near the end of the episode exposing his acting flaws as he transforms into the "beast" when angered.
What this series also needs to figure out is what they want the "beast" to look like. When Vincent is the beast in the episode, he is either shaded by dark lighting or impaired vision from another character's point-of-view. And when the appearance of the creature is revealed, it is a little underwhelming. Opting to use CG to create the beast rather than to go the route of Buffy and Angel and use make-up, Vincent's beastly appearance is more laughable than frightening.
Other than the ongoing mystery sub-plot regarding the death of Catherine's mom, there isn't much to Beauty and the Beast that makes it worth returning for a second viewing. What the series tried to do was two things: Tell a paranormal romance a la Vampire Diaries, and create a crime procedural like CSI. But poor writing made for both elements to be rather lackluster. My suggestion to the creative team of the show is this—Pick one or the other and perfect it rather than trying to do both.
Beauty and the Beast premieres Thursday, October 11 at 9/8c on The CW. **Please note that this is only a preview of the early version of the pilot**
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This review basically confirms what everyone was thinking from the trailers and sneak peeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review Kyle. Pretty much as I expected.
ReplyDeleteOne to miss me thinks!
Wow, I think Kreuk cannot act so there is nothing here for me. Thank goodness this didn't get paired with Supernatural. I'll pass.
ReplyDeleteNothing to recommend this. TBH, I've spent quite some time studying fairytales and none of the TV series based on storybook material have been even remotely interesting for me. As opposed to some recent films (Snow White and the Huntsman, Alice in Wonderland, Black Swan), shows like "Grimm" and "Once Upon a Time" either miss the point completely or twist it until it's something they can use. Looks like this "Beauty and the Beast" is another one to add to the pile, whoch is a shame because the ABC pilot with the same name seemed so much more appealing, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when I've read that the pilot will be airing on some other channel than the CW a week before the premier that the whole things is deliberate to kill it off as soon as possible. After this review I think I was right about it.
ReplyDeleteBuy Fringe, bring back Firefly, Angel and all the other killed before their time shows if you want to do good CW.
They might want to kill it to replace it with 'Cult'. But then again... why give the pilot green light in the first place? Weren't 'Cult' actors available these months to begin shooting the series?
ReplyDeleteI'm having a really hard time understanding how this got the green light in the first place. The premise seemed okay. But every clip and review are not so good. My gut instinct after watching 30 seconds of it is an unequivocal "no"...so what am I missing that caused this to get picked up?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't all of you just try to give the show a chance? Watch it yourself and form your own opinion.... Besides, you can never really judge a show by its pilot because most of the times they don`t really represent the show for what it is. I mean, they usually get much better.
ReplyDeleteI agree a hundred percent.
ReplyDeleteWhy should one accept someone else's judgement?
We've all got brains of our own.
Watch at least the first two or three episodes and then decide if it's worth continuing or not!
Sorry, I wasn't being rhetorically negative. I was actually looking for a response like "The CW loves Kristin Kreuk and they are trying to recreate the girl kicking butt world of Buffy." Or insight into her leaving Smallville or something. I almost always try out WB/CW shows and based on premise this should be up my alley, but I'm like "hold up this is awful" so I am genuinely perplexed. Perhaps the show will be very different from the promos etc. that we've seen so far?
ReplyDeleteOstroff gave it green light. Pedowitz said that he didn't have any say in what shows got a chance this season. Maybe this is his way of setting that right...
ReplyDeleteActually he did, Dawn had nothing to do with the 2012/2013 pickups.
ReplyDeleteI've read he said otherwise. Now I am not sure anymore...
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched Grimm, but I know my sister really enjoys it. I do however love Once Upon A Time and I enjoy their take on the fairy tales. I am aware of the point of the original fairy tales, however I don't think that Once or Grimm want to tell about the original stories. They have taken the characters and made new stories and new way to tell them. I don't care to see Snow White and the Huntsman, more for the actress that is in it then anything else. I have never enjoyed the story Alice in Wonderland, so I won't be seeing that movie either.
ReplyDeleteJay is a Kiwi!
ReplyDeleteand I´ll wait to see it, pilots are not the whole show last season there were some shows that no one thought were good and they´ve became favorites.
Well, there isn't much to say to your post other than to acknowledge that we have different tastes, which is obviously why not every TV show or film is for everyone. My point is simply that I feel screenwriters should comprehend those stories before using them. If you feel that has been accomplished, that's obviously a good thing and you're looking at it from a different viewpoint than I am.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an amazing show! I dont agree with you at all, Jay Ryan is an amazing actor. This show is definatly worth watching, it is soo good!
ReplyDeleteI agree. I've seen the 80s version and this new one is way better. I love the cast and the chemistry between the leads. Jay Ryan is incredible. I got few friends to watch it and now they're hooked. Every episode gets better and better.
ReplyDelete