September 22, 2011

TV: Revenge (ABC, Wed 10)

Coming on the heels of Ringer, Revenge raises one question: Does nobody remember how to do camp anymore?

Our heroine is Emily (Emily VanCamp), whose father was a hedge fund manager falsely convicted ten years ago of funnelling money to terrorists; his friends and co-workers conspired to destroy him for some (as yet unknown) reason, and Emily has returned to the Hamptons, where she lived as a child, to bring down the people who ruined her father.

This ought to be a frothy, silly, lighter-than-air confection; instead, it's a plodding, overly serious, brick of dullness. Only Madeleine Stowe gets the right tone; she's a magnificently bitchy diva as "Queen" Victoria Grayson, the reigning socialite in town, and Emily's biggest target. In the lead role, VanCamp isn't a bad actress, but she's a bit too sweet and lightweight to be convincing as an obsessed seeker of vengeance.

The action of this one takes place between Memorial Day and Labor Day; I suspect it'll be off the air before they reach the 4th of July.

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