Spoilers abound, so beware.
Ringer22 episodes, CW (September 2011 - April 2012)
I wasn't exactly eager to write about Ringer anymore. I'd already spent a year writing the same complaints over and over again that writing about it even more just had to be some form of sadomasochism. So I'm going to try and keep this short, for everyone's sanity. It sort of goes without saying that Ringer was the disappointment of the year. We watched Sarah Michelle Gellar for seven years on Buffy, in which she proved to be a freakishly multi-talented performer with an enormous range, somebody just at home playing a zany comedy moment as she was pummeling a demon in the face with a hammer. But, as much as I adore her and have this eternal goodwill for her as an actress, she rarely did anything of note on Ringer. You would assume that playing soapy twins would be an actor's dream, but Bridget and Siobhan ended up being personality-challenged drones, just as directionless as they were hard to give two shits about.
Unfortunately, I just realized I came off like I was blaming Sarah for the failure of the show, when that really isn't the case at all. Sure, she could have tried harder to differentiate the twins or at least give Siobhan a naughtier edge through her performances, but the writing was consistently so banal and hairbrained that it would challenge any actor to lift what amounted to a bunch of exposition and vagueness purely to fake-out the audience.
In the end, Ringer became this strangely detached show that literally did nothing of any note. There were a couple of blips towards the end of the year that upped the bananas-ness of everything, but generally the show remained a cold mystery drama with characters you didn't care about and relationships that were as lifeless as your average zombie. It wasn't even something that was interesting enough to actively dislike, like a Glee or whatever, where it's so insane and awful that you can't help but watch. Ringer just crumbled to an anti-climax, a pale imitation of the type of show it so easily could have been, failing to utilize the talents of a true TV icon with a huge fanbase. Fail all round. D
Favorite Episode Because it was the only episode that seemed to hit that soapy ridiculousness that Ringer was seemingly always aiming to be, It's Called Improvising, Bitch! (1.21).
What else is there left to say? You, Panda, and I went on quite the journey this year reviewing and discussing this utter mess of a show. And you know what pisses me off most? All the interviews I've read with the show's executive producers pretty much confirm that the crew thought this show was a masterpiece and blame its failure on scheduling reasons (!!!!!!). They didn't see any flaws in the way the show was executed. I just, have no words.
ReplyDeleteFor the last time: I've never seen this much potential in a show (premise & lead actress) squandered so effectively. A pity...
I think we've pretty much discussed everything about Ringer at this stage, and you really encapsulated my, and probably Nadim's, thoughts on it. Just a massive disappointment in the end.
ReplyDeleteLooking at my early reviews this season, I was actually quite positive, but I think I was liking what the show could have been, rather than what it was: a fail, just like yous aid. Hopefully this experience won't scare Sarah off TV again, she deserves some big co-starring role on some high profile cable show. Imagine if she showed up on True Blood?
I can't see Sarah working in features any time soon, so I'm assuming she'll go back to TV in two years or so. But she needs something off-beat and interesting, with actual humor. She had a HBO pilot a couple of years ago which seemed like a better fit (she's a really strong comedy actress, something people forget) but it didn't go.
ReplyDeleteShe'll get more opportunities though, regardless of Ringer bombing.