David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. "Kidnapped" abducted
In the premiere episode of “Kidnapped,� Dana Delaney’s character, the mother of an abducted teen, gazes out over Manhattan from her posh penthouse and philosophizes: “Business as usual out there. The ebb and flow of the tides. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Traffic jams, baseball games, a teenager’s first kiss. I don’t understand how it all hasn’t come to a halt, how the world can keep spinning on its axis and not miss one silly revolution for my boy.�
Indeed, and expect a similar cosmic shrug now that NBC is expected to cancel “Kidnapped� at any moment.
(UPDATE: NBC concluded production of the series and moved the show to Saturdays, where no original scripted show not in repeats has run for years. Death by a million paper cuts.)
Not a bad show, but simply a non-starter. The competition wasn’t terribly fierce, though “CSI: NY� does just fine and ABC’s “The Nine� debuted successfully last night, but “Kidnapped’s� lead-in, “The Biggest Loser,� was wholly incompatible. “Kidnapped’s� viewership last night was just slightly better than that of a repeat of the Tuesday debut of “Friday Night Lights,� which was pretty abysmal in its own right.
If a polished show with a cast as impressive as "Kidnapped's" -- Emmy-winner Delaney, Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton, Delroy Lindo and Jeremy Sisto -- barely makes a ripple on the TV landscape, I imagine folks at the networks (and particularly NBC) might be feeling pretty terrified right about now, wondering just what they need to do to lure a fickle audience.
Comments
Ah, ha! See? I stayed with "Vanished" and shunned Kidnapped (with its far superior cast) because two shows about the same thing? No. And the first one to air won.
Now, if those TV execs would just listen to me, they'd have started "Kidnapped" somewhere around...February. No one ever starts anything then.
Posted by: Suzy Q | October 5, 2006 3:27 PM