TV GUIDE: Ask Matt: Major Crimes, Covert Affairs, MTV's Inbetweeners and More
Sep 4, 2012
by Matt Roush
Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow on Twitter!
... Question: I have noticed that you do not take too kindly to the AMC Western Hell On Wheels. I am wondering if you watch the whole season if you don't like the first episodes of a season, and whether you might be persuaded to change your opinion as the season goes on. I am of the opinion that this show takes a little time to grow on you and it is now at the must-watch stage for me. I now have all my friends addicted also. The last two episodes being so compelling, please tell me if you might just admire the show just a little bit more. I certainly do. — Tracy
Matt Roush: So far, I've stuck with Hell on Wheels this season (and I watched all of last season, I believe), as well as my other great disappointment this summer in the field of historical drama: BBC America's similarly turgid Copper. I like the genre, so keep watching hoping to be more engaged. But I can't guarantee staying current when the networks kick in with more urgent and appealing Sunday programming over the next few weeks (Hell's season finale is currently scheduled for Oct. 7). And in general, if I don't like a show after the first few episodes, I see no reason to subject myself to it anymore than anyone else would. There's too much TV and too little time. I would concede that the conflicts in the last few episodes of Hell have picked up steam, but just because I have my nose rubbed in gruesome violence and a gritty mud-and-blood milieu doesn't convince me I'm watching powerful drama. Truth is: I still can't connect to almost any of these clichéd characters and the largely inferior acting, which ranges from wooden to pompous to mumbling (a trait shared by Copper, whose premise I find intriguing but whose execution I am finding excruciatingly dull). I want to like these two series, and am glad there's an audience for them, but I'm still waiting to be wowed or moved — or even possibly entertained...
Hell on Wheels airs Sunday at 9/8C on AMC.
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