The Following Season 1 (1 Viewer)

Fox premieres "The Following" on Monday. Retired FBI Agent (Kevin Bacon) comes out of retirement to recapture serial killer (James Purofoy) and his acolytes. So far, the premier has one of the highest reviewed on a major net in quite some time, so Fox has high hopes for this one. One hitch: this is a HIGHLY serialized show according to those who have seen the first four eps, so if this thing doesn't do well in the ratings.. But Fox seems pretty committed to it.

I'm not so sure about this show, especially given the timing. Real life events have made people take a second look at what they expose others too, including themselves. We have some unrealistic gory shows that is pure fantasy like Walking Dead, but a show about a more real subject is another matter. This is more or less just a serialized Manson type of story which has followers and cults like he did. I am just not sure about this show given the tragedies we have seen recently in real life. Regardless of rather it is good, it may just be too much and the wrong time.

Jeffery_H said:

I'm not so sure about this show, especially given the timing. Real life events have made people take a second look at what they expose others too, including themselves.

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I think you underestimate people's intelligence. After the Sandy Hook massacre, I didn't see too many people try to blame The Matrix or Marilyn Manson or Natural Born Killers or whatever other scapegoat that lazy people use when they want headlines and an easy answer. The few that did we're basically ignored because the vast majority of people know that blaming entertainment is ludicrous and just a way to avoid looking at the real causes of violence.

I've pretty much sworn off major network television, but I may give this one a try if it really is truly serialized. Although I worry it will be serialized more in the sense like 'Alcatraz' was, where there was still an "Escapee of the week."

TravisR said:

I think you underestimate people's intelligence. After the Sandy Hook massacre, I didn't see too many people try to blame The Matrix or Marilyn Manson or Natural Born Killers or whatever other scapegoat that lazy people use when they want headlines and an easy answer. The few that did we're basically ignored because the vast majority of people know that blaming entertainment is ludicrous and just a way to avoid looking at the real causes of violence.

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You took what I said out of context and made your own assumptions, which you know what that means. Anyway, that's your opinion and I have mine. Personally, I won't be watching, but again that's just me.

Our local TV critic praised this show while at the same time warning that there was plenty of explicit gore and violence. If this show is successful that means there are several years of chasing one serial killer ahead? I can't get interested in this and I like Kevin Bacon.

Jeffery_H said:

You took what I said out of context and made your own assumptions, which you know what that means. Anyway, that's your opinion and I have mine. Personally, I won't be watching, but again that's just me.

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I made assumptions that I feel were reasonable to make based on your post but to respond only to what you posted, I don't think that real life events will have any effect at all on people watching this show or any other show. The old news adage- if it bleeds, it leads- will probably remain as true now as it was a month and a half ago. Whether the show is a success remains to be seen but if people tune out, it will because they don't like the show and not because they're re-evaluating what they're exposing themselves to.

TravisR said:

I made assumptions that I feel were reasonable to make based on your post but to respond only to what you posted, I don't think that real life events will have any effect at all on people watching this show or any other show. The old news adage- if it bleeds, it leads- will probably remain as true now as it was a month and a half ago. Whether the show is a success remains to be seen but if people tune out, it will because they don't like the show and not because they're re-evaluating what they're exposing themselves to.

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Really? Actual events won't effect what people want to watch? I think if a network had put out a series in 1964 about the Secret Service trying to locate and stop a would-be presidential assassin, it would have flopped. I think a series about terrorist attack released in 2002 would have faired poorly. There's such a thing as "hitting to close to home." I'm not saying this series is like that, I haven't seen it. Real life can and does effect what the public will watch.

It had a couple of jump moments in it, and I'll continue watching for a few more episodes, though I think I'll tire of being suspicious of every new face for fear they're a part of his cult. Can't believe these neighbors and friends wouldn't have been vetted well enough for the FBI to notice that they had signed in to see the killer in prison.

Johnny Angell said:

Really? Actual events won't effect what people want to watch? I think if a network had put out a series in 1964 about the Secret Service trying to locate and stop a would-be presidential assassin, it would have flopped. I think a series about terrorist attack released in 2002 would have faired poorly.

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Less than two months after September 11, 24's pilot episode showed a plane getting blown up by a terrorist. About 2/3 of the 2002-03 season of 24 had the characters trying to thwart a nuclear bomb from being detonated in Los Angeles. During that time, 24's audience kept on growing overall.

There's such a thing as "hitting to close to home." I'm not saying this series is like that, I haven't seen it. Real life can and does effect what the public will watch.

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Of course things can hit too close to home and if The Following had a scene where some sick maniac shot up children at a school, it would certainly turn viewers off. However, the violence in this show will likely all be creepy serial killer murder so I don't think people are going to watch the show and relate a school massacre to what they're seeing onscreen. Having seen the pilot, the show's biggest enemy isn't its violence, it's that it's average. I've seen plenty of pilots where a show gets much better over time and I hope that's the case here because this was fairly cliched. That being said, the cast seems solid and some of the twists were off the wall but fun so I'll keep watching.

Originally Posted by TravisR
I made assumptions that I feel were reasonable to make based on your post but to respond only to what you posted, I don't think that real life events will have any effect at all on people watching this show or any other show. The old news adage- if it bleeds, it leads- will probably remain as true now as it was a month and a half ago. Whether the show is a success remains to be seen but if people tune out, it will because they don't like the show and not because they're re-evaluating what they're exposing themselves to.

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It's very difficult to speak for others, so I try to stay away from such comments. I'm staying away from the show because I want to limit my exposure to such a show. How many of me are there? Probably more than a few, but it remains to be true whether this show will make it or not.

Robert Crawford said:

It's very difficult to speak for others, so I try to stay away from such comments.  I'm staying away from the show because I want to limit my exposure to such a show.  How many of me are there?  Probably more than a few, but it remains to be true whether this show will make it or not.

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Is that due to the shooting at Sandy Hook or just a genral distaste for the likely violent subject matter of this show? I'm not trying to talk you or anyone else into watching this show (everyone should only watch what they're comfortable viewing), I'm just curious about your opinion the topic.

Originally Posted by TravisR
Is that due to the shooting at Sandy Hook or just a genral distaste for the likely violent subject matter of this show?

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It's due to the sensationalism of mass murderers by the media in general. It's almost like they're glorifying these criminal creatures.
Crawdaddy

Robert Crawford said:

It's due to the sensationalism of mass murderers by the media in general.  It's almost like they're glorifying these criminal creatures.

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Without getting way off topic, I wholeheartedly agree with you on that about the news media (but not media as a whole). Based on the pilot, I don't think they will be glorifying the bad guys on The Following because so far, the bad guys are bad and you'll want the good guys to stop them. It's not like shows like Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, The Shield, Sons Of Anarchy, The Sopranos, etc. where the majority of the characters are criminals but you still end up liking or rooting for them in spite of the terrible things they do.

Originally Posted by TravisR
Without getting way off topic, I wholeheartedly agree with you on that about the news media (but not media as a whole). Based on the pilot, I don't think they will be glorifying the bad guys on The Following because so far, the bad guys are bad and you'll want the good guys to stop them. It's not like shows like Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, The Shield, Sons Of Anarchy, The Sopranos, etc. where the majority of the characters are criminals but you still end up liking or rooting for them in spite of the terrible things they do.

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However, you just made my point based on those shows. Anyhow, I'm just sick of seeing serial killers or mass murderers like they're the flavor of the month for the various networks.

Robert Crawford said:

However, you just made my point based on those shows.

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It depends on each viewer though. While it's natural to root for the main characters to some degree, I don't lose sight of that they're bad guys and I think if most people thought about it, they'd feel the same. Although if I'm being honest, The Shield is an example of where I was always kinda surprised and even disturbed by how many people seemed to want Mackey to get away with all of his crimes.

I liked the initial set-up of the show. Too bad they killed off MG's character so early(maybe MG only signed on as long as it was one episode...has a good movie career going). Anyway, they packed in a bunch in the pilot...maybe 1 or 2 things too many. Granted an escaped serial killer probably does have 5 things going at once. But to climax 2, start 1 and give away the "happenstance" of the other two...ALL in the pilot? Maybe the 5th surprise(in my house it was missed by the other 5 people watching it till I pointed it out...it was that subtle) could have been held onto...and his "escape" left to episode 2-3? Action 4(the security guard) and the 5th surprise both should have overlapped the escape.

I agree with the comment that the show was pretty average -- the dialogue, especially, was one cliche after another. And it absolutely glorifies the bad guy, in a way, by making him out to be a hyper-literate, seductive, mad genius. He's like a Batman villain. That said, the setup is kind of intriguing, so I may give it a few episodes to see if it gets interesting. As a side note, the violence on this show is EXTREMELY bloody. Frankly, it makes me quite sad to live in a country where this is considered perfectly acceptable but a semi-exposed breast warrants a multi-million dollar fine (at least until it gets overturned, years later ).

schan1269 said:

Maybe the 5th surprise(in my house it was missed by the other 5 people watching it till I pointed it out...it was that subtle)

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What are you referring to?

The "cult inside man"... The guy(have no clue his name...character or actor) that was in X-Men that creates ice... Go back and re-watch the entire scene where he is giving his take on the professor. There is no way he could give that much "false info and insight" and be "such the fan of Hardy's book"...that he isn't a plant. It could also be possible he himself isn't the plant, but he(unknowing or not) is the relay of inside info back to the cult. After some perusing...Shawn Ashmore/Mike Weston. Pretty much guarantee in future episodes...he's going to be the leak.