Violent shows come under attack
Despite criticism, viewers are tuning into mainstream series where brutality is commonplace
The reaction was swift, and immediate.
“CBS’s Stalker presents violence against women as a horror movie sideshow,” the U. K.’ s Guardian proclaimed.
“Stalker: Another dive into violence porn,” noted USA Today’s Robert Bianco.
“Watch me … turn off this repellent police procedural,” echoed a writer for New Jersey’s NJ. com.
“In violent Stalker, depravity seems to be the point,” Mary McNamara, lead critic for The Los Angeles Times, found. “Say this for Stalker,” she added: “It makes its troubling intentions and insurmountable flaws instantly clear.”
Reviewers were appalled by Stalker when they first saw it in July, and opinions have not moderated since. Stalker, from the creator of the similarly violent The Following, opens with a scene of a woman being doused in gasoline and set ablaze. Subsequent episodes have dwelled on scenes of women being stalked, attacked and murdered.
Stalker premiered to decent ratings last month — “Thanks, America,” a writer for CriticWire posted — but reviewers like the Huffington Post’s Maureen Ryan, former lead critic for the Chicago Tribune, and Vulture. com’s Matt Zoller Seitz are growing tired of mainstream broadcast network crime procedurals and their penchant for stoking fears of violence, in what Rolling Stone has dubbed “the SODL” — Stacks O’ Dead Ladies — school of network TV.
Stalker has fared equally well in Canada. Of the fall’s new dramas, Stalker finished behind only Gotham and How to Get Away with Murder in its premiere week. Gotham and Murder drew three million viewers across Canada; Stalker drew almost two million. Gotham isn’t immune either, though, where violence is concerned. The opening episode depicted a bloody gang beating.
Violence on the mainstream broadcast networks is a burning issue because, unlike premium cable channels like HBO, AMC and FX, with their often violent series like Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy and American Horror Story, the mainstream broadcast networks reach into every home. Homeowners can only get HBO, AMC and FX by asking for them, while mainstream networks like CBS, Fox and, in Canada, Global, CTV and City are in virtually every home, whether homeowners want them or not.
Stalker creator Kevin Williamson has countered that if viewers don’t want to watch, they don’t have to.
“This show is drama,” he said. “It’s a character piece. It’s a hybrid of a show that I think most shows have become these days. There may be some aspects of violence, but it’s a little like comparing apples and oranges to compare The Following to this. I ‘ m hoping to tell a dramatic, compelling story each week.”
If you don’t care for it, Williamson added coolly, “Turn the channel.”