Fox’s ‘Gracepoint’ Starts Off Slow In The Ratings Game, Critics Respond
Fox’s new miniseries Gracepoint started off slow in the ratings, but to be fair it was on Thursday night. Currently, producer, writer, and creator Shonda Rhimes basically owns the whole night over at ABC with Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder.
Despite a strong lead in with veteran series Bones, Gracepoint only brought in 4.8 million viewers against Shonda’s 9 p.m. slot of Scandal, which brought in 10.4 million viewers.
Gracepoint is a drama starring Kevin Zegers, David Tennant, Anna Gunn, and Sarah-Jane Potts. According to IMDb, “When a young boy is found dead on an idyllic beach, a major police investigation gets underway in the small California seaside town where the tragedy occurred. Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy, which throws the boy’s family into further turmoil and upends the lives of all of the town’s residents.”
What did critics think of Gracepoint? Well, The AV Club was not impressed and gave the pilot a C+. Highlighting how the show is a U.S. version of the UK series Broadchurch, they call Gracepoint “a shot-for-shot remake of the British series’ pilot, the first episode of ‘Gracepoint’ (and apparently, several episodes to follow), leave the viewer perplexed as to what exactly the point of this version is.”
They continue to say that setting the show in sunny California for a gloomy premise is a huge mistake, but an even bigger offense seems to be the lack of chemistry throughout the cast.
“The parents of the murdered boy barely seem connected, and Anna Gunn and David Tennant could be on separate shows.”
Screen Rant was far more hopeful, even though they did name Tennant’s horrible American accent as a downfall. That said, the outlet decided to focus on how big of an undertaking this was for a network like Fox to turn out a dramatic miniseries.
“If you were a fan of Broadchurch then you should definitely give this highly anticipated series a chance. It will feel like familiar ground man times throughout the premiere.”
Variety notes that Broadchurch, while it was a fresh take, might seem too familiar to a U.S. audience.
“It does speak to one of the dangers of such adaptations: Not only do you lose part of the impact among those who watched the original, but you trail far enough behind it to allow the inevitable clones to creep into the equation.”
Looks like it’s a split on Gracepoint. The Fox show airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m.
[Image via Fox]
