INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Wicked City’: Eerily Similar To Real-Life 1980s Clark-Bundy Murders, It Bombs In The Ratings

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:58 PST, Nov 20, 2015

Wicked City is twisted and disturbing, at least according to Bustle. The show, based on a serial murderer running rampant in Los Angeles, is completely fictional, according to ABC. However, the couple in Wicked City, Kent Galloway and Betty Beaumontaine, are compared by Bustle to the real-life couple Doug Clark and Carol Bundy, who terrorized the Sunset Strip in the 1980s.

“Although ABC told Bustle that Wicked City is fictional, there’s no denying the disturbing parallels between Kent and Betty and a real life couple that terrorized Sunset Strip in the 1980s — Doug Clark and Carol Bundy.”

This comparison does tend to bring out the goosebumps. With three episodes under their belt, ABC has released the trailer for Episode 4 of Wicked City, which goes deeper into the motivations of the killer.

Aside from the real-life parallel, Wicked City also has a talented cast that has proven themselves time and again. Ed Westwick takes the lead role as Kent Granger, the nighttime killer who manages a car upholstery business by day.

Jeremy Sisto is Jack Roth, the dark detective who is drawn to the case. Erika Christensen plays Betty Beaumontaine, a nurse by day and a woman looking for a man at night, drawn by Kent and his strange ways. Other cast members include Gabriel Luna, Anne Winters, Taissa Farmiga, Karolina Wydra, Evan Ross, and Jaimie Ray Newman.

As for the character Kent Granger, is he nothing but a cold-hearted killer? Not according to the man who portrays the character. Ed Westwick, of Gossip Girl fame, told Hello! that the killer has layers.

“I love the layers. I mean it’s not just a straight-up monster. I mean he is a monster but there’s a lot of other things going on there.”

Westwick also said he came back to television for this role because of the challenge.

“I think that one of the things that you’re always looking for is a challenge, and that’s why I was so excited to come back to television and especially to come back to this job because it is such a challenge.”

The idea that the couple in Wicked City parallels real-life killers in many ways is disturbing, but even the gruesomeness of the murders in the show, the captivating storyline, and the talented cast do not seem to be giving the show the boost it needs in the ratings. According to the Buffalo News, the pilot drew in a mere 3.3 million viewers. Granted, Wicked City was competing with the World Series, which drew over 16 million viewers. That’s a big difference!

Since that first show of Wicked City, the ratings haven’t gotten any better. In fact, they have gone down. Deadline reports that ratings for Episode 2 placed it at 0.7 in the key 18-49 demographic, the level required for cancellation, and Episode 3 plunged a further 43 percent, landing at 0.4. There were only 1.69 million viewers! This ties Wicked City with NBC’s American Odyssey & A to Z and Fox’s Mulaney as a lowest rating for a Big 4 original.

With all these bad ratings, what’s going around on Facebook? Many fans are really into the show, although a few aren’t 100 percent sure they’re committed to it. If the show loses the meager following it has, it will definitely spell the end of it. Wicked City had a short run and gave everything it had, but sometimes that’s not enough. As Cinema Blend reports, there haven’t been any cancellations so far this fall. Instead, orders of episodes are being cut on underperforming shows. Time will tell the fate of Wicked City.

[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

Share this article: ‘Wicked City’: Eerily Similar To Real-Life 1980s Clark-Bundy Murders, It Bombs In The Ratings
ed westwick
More from Inquisitr