Since I want to write for television, I watch a lot of television. If there is a pilot coming on and I’m not actually repulsed by the premise, I will watch it. Last night there were two – Scoundrels and The Gates. I’ll write up on ABC’s Scoundrels first.

There are some minor spoilers in here so consider yourself warned.

If you are in the US, you can watch the pilot at ABC’s website- it is geoblocked here in Canada. In the Great White North the government is protecting CTV’s profits so you can watch the Scoundrels pilot on CTV as long as they keep it on their servers… then there are the not so legitimate websites that collect and serve.

It irks me that Canadian networks get the government to block American programs so that they can pretend that they are performing an actual service when they are simply functioning as parasites when they fly down to Las Angeles with suitcases full of money so that they don’t have to do the hard work of creating their own content.

Yes, the Canadian networks do create a little of their own stuff, the government won’t give them that lucrative cartel on American programming if they don’t… but I’ll rant about the state of Canadian regulations and network programming another time… okay, I’ll rant about it many, many other times- but right now I’ll get back to Scoundrels.

I didn’t like it.

Okay, the actors are good so the blame can shift from them. Virginia Madsen is always reliable and David James Elliott, especially toward the end of the pilot, shows that he can be a real prick when the part calls for it.

The problem for me was that the characters are not good people and they aren’t interesting of unique enough to get me to engage with them. When characters are actually bad people there has to be something about them that really grabs the audience’s attention or makes us empathize or sympathize with them – and the West family leaves me cold.

The only character on the show that was less likable than the Wests was the photographer who tried to roofie and rape Heather West… and all that happened to him was that she stole some pictures from him.

She didn’t care in the least bit about all the girls this guy had done this to before and all the girls that he will do this to in the future. She got what she wanted and moved on with a smile and a clear conscience- to hell with everyone else.

And that sums up the sentiments of the whole family. There is no remorse or conscience in the lot of them, it is like the family unit is sociopathic. They may care about each other but everyone outside is there simply to be used. They resent that there are repercussions to their actions and they seem to find it inexcusable that the father is actually sent to prison for stealing, or that one son may do time for a home invasion.

The writers did try to build some empathy by having them exposit on the “West Code” where they don’t do violence and they don’t deal in drugs. One- this seems like an artificial construct that wouldn’t exist in the real world. Two- if you break into my home and steal what I have worked long and hard for- that you don’t break my arm while doing it does not make me like you. Three- the non-violent production and distribution of drugs is not morally wrong and a step up from stealing.

The series is supposed to be about Cheryl trying to get herself and her three children to pursue legal means of making a living now that Wolfgang, the father, is sent to prison… not because what they do is wrong but because she isn’t as good at stealing things as Wolfgang was and Cal is too dim-witted to take over. She is worried that more of her family will get caught and put in prison- that is her incentive to change.

That incentive is one of the purposes of the criminal justice system- to make the price they may pay for committing a crime great enough for it to replace the moral compass that some people are missing.There are a lot of real people like that and the world would be a better place without them.

If you want to build a show around characters that have twisted moral codes and who blithely prey on other people- It takes a very strong combination of writing and acting to get me to engage with those characters. It has worked before, and with characters who did far worse things than the Wests.

I watched right through to the cut to black.

A sociopath trying to play by our rules is interesting.

Hell, I actually have one series idea that takes place inside the world of art heists and another set in a boxing club that gets tied up with Russian organized crime… so I don’t have anything against writing in that world and with characters that are not good people… but it is not easy to make those characters relatable or empathetic.

In the sentiment of not breaking something if you can’t fix it:

It might have been better if Wolfgang West had been a more overtly vicious and domineering figure who had given them no choice in what they did- if he had used beatings, lies and threats to force the family to a life of crime they really didn’t want. Once he is sent to prison and could no longer get to them they would try to right their lives. They would have known no other life and would have to struggle to leave the world world of crime. There would also be the always looming threat of the eventual release of Wolfgang.

That show I might have been able to get behind. The one that actually got made loses its “Record All New” setting on my DVR.

PS. Kudos to Neal McDonough for sticking to his principals and getting fired for it. All he had to do to play Wolfgang was to make out with Virginian Madsen… and he’d be making a million dollars or more working on this show. Making out with Virginia Madsen is not an onerous task, I would do it for free as a matter of fact, but years ago Neal drew a line in the sand saying that he would not simulate sex on camera, that it is against his principals. He stuck by that and was replaced. I’m not saying David was wrong or that Neal was right in what they are willing to do- just that Neal should be commended for sticking to what he thought was right.