Pilot Review: Deception

Deception (NBC)
Released January 7 at 10pm

It’s not much of a surprise that the first new show of 2013 isn’t all that terrific. I didn’t watch “Revenge” past the pilot, but this strikes me as a less soapy, legally-twinged riff on that same idea. Meagan Good, last seen making Hank’s life all the more complicated on season five of “Californication,” definitely has charisma, and it’s a shame that her role here is not very well-written, resigning her to lurking in the shadows and being caught by Bowers family members and referred to derogatorily as a “houseguest.” The two most prominent faces in the cast are both alumni of “Damages,” Victor Garber, who appears as the family’s kindly patriarch, and Tate Donovan, as the extremely rude and paranoid older brother with a distaste for just about everyone. The grander plot may not actually be all that dissimilar to the kind of season-long story that might have been found on that show, with the cancer drug subplot and some definite cover-up going on as well. There were plenty of twists that came around the end of this first hour, namely Joanna getting offered the position of Robert’s assistant, quite a get for someone undercover for only hours, and that Mia might actually be Vivian’s daughter rather than her sister. Joanna and Will calling each other “dummy” and “stupid” and sleeping together does the show a disservice by making it less mature and serious, and, while the music is decently thrilling, the parts of the show meant to be suspenseful and exciting, like the reporter being run off the road while waiting for Joanna to come meet him, just don’t work. This show seems designed as some sort of super-spy, deep-cover, intrigue series, and it’s just not that.

How will it work as a series? It won’t. This premise just isn’t designed for a TV series. At best, it gets a season, but after that, the setup has to be dramatically transformed or the case just goes on forever. This show can’t command the story it’s trying to tell, and I think that continuing to watch it will just prove frustrating.
How long will it last? I watched this show online early, and so I imagine many others did as well. Airing this show in the time slot just occupied by NBC’s first success in a while, “Revolution,” doesn’t do it any favors, especially when it follows “The Biggest Loser” instead of “The Voice.” I suspect that its decent start won’t last and this one will get through just its initial episode order.

Pilot grade: C-