I’m enjoying WILL TRENT on ABC

[samhexum]

Interesting characters.

[samhexum]

Can't wait for season 2.  I haven't read if it will be 13 episodes or 22 (minus however many are lost to the writers' strike).

[samhexum]

If anyone here watches, did you catch the blooper at the end of the finale?

Amanda and Will were standing in front of the coffee machine, and she put her credit card in the slot and offered him a cup. Then, after she gave him his mother's necklace, she walked away.  So, unless Will thought to take her credit card out of the machine, the good people at that hospital are still getting free coffee.

 

My best friend and I both caught this, but my sister didn't.

 

[+ purplekow]

I thought this was the best new show I had seen in a few years.  

[+ DynamicUno]

I enjoyed the first season.  I'm kind of a sucker for shows set in Atlanta, especially when they use the local locations well.  Seeing the Silver Skillet and Colonnade show up was fun for me personally.  And nobody ever called the Perimeter "the 285" which is a cardinal sin in my book.

The "defective detective" trope is a bit overdone, but they use his backstory as a product of abuse in the foster care system to good effect. The dynamic with his cop girlfriend also being a product of the system was well done.

Sadly some of the episodes were frustratingly poorly executed.  The episode with the software company conspiracy stands out as particularly bad, especially because the resolution had no implications outside of that episode.

They also had a couple big thematic swings that fell short.  The cold case episode where the murder of a black family was covered up by the local police could have been a centerpiece for the season.  It was arranged too soon in the season, and it seems the story was trying to take a jim crow era crime story from the 60s but pull it into the 90s to allow for the main plot to take place today, leading to some jarringly anachronistic plot points.

Overall, I liked it. It probably shouldn't have been a network series, given the limitations they impose. Hopefully, if it is still renewed for another season after the writers strike, they will have a chance to mature the writing a bit better. Still it's worth a watch.

[samhexum]

On 7/13/2023 at 12:00 AM, purplekow said:

I thought this was the best new show I had seen in a few years.  

 

On 7/17/2023 at 3:06 AM, DynamicUno said:

I enjoyed the first season...  Overall, I liked it. It probably shouldn't have been a network series, given the limitations they impose. Hopefully, if it is still renewed for another season after the writers strike, they will have a chance to mature the writing a bit better. Still it's worth a watch.

Good 1st episode.

[+ purplekow]

Agree that the first episode was a good one.  This show could be much better on basic cable or other service.

[samhexum]

On 7/13/2023 at 12:00 AM, purplekow said:

I thought this was the best new show I had seen in a few years.  

 

On 7/17/2023 at 3:06 AM, DynamicUno said:

I enjoyed the first season.  I'm kind of a sucker for shows set in Atlanta, especially when they use the local locations well.  

I am very happy that I am enjoying the second season as much as I did the first. It is such a quirky show that I don't think that was a given.
 

I think the cast is uniformly excellent, but there is no doubt that Betty is the true star of the show.

[samhexum]

PICKED UP FOR SEASON 3!!!

[Becket]

Another good new one is TRACKER, on CBS. Lots of shirtless scenes of the main character, who is lovely.

Good show, too.

Edited April 4 by Becket

[+ purplekow]

From my point of view they did not have him shirtless nearly enough when he was on This Is Us and while they are a bit better on this show, I think he needs to be tracking people down to nudist colonies and poolside resorts like White Lotus or even better Indulge this next week.  

[+ DynamicUno]

The writing quality for Will Trent seems to be much more even this season.  That's partly because they seem to be playing things safer thematically, since the big swings they took last season were the weaker entries.  Hoping that the renewal gives them some space to work with for the character arcs.

 

[samhexum]

On 4/4/2024 at 7:44 AM, Becket said:

Another good new one is TRACKER, on CBS. Lots of shirtless scenes of the main character, who is lovely.

Good show, too.

 

1 hour ago, purplekow said:

From my point of view they did not have him shirtless nearly enough when he was on This Is Us and while they are a bit better on this show, I think he needs to be tracking people down to nudist colonies and poolside resorts like White Lotus or even better Indulge this next week.  

He did an episode of celebrity IOU on HGTV a couple years ago. I don't remember much about it but the celebrities usually do at least a little bit of physical labor, so he probably at least sweated, even if his shirt didn't come off. I'm not saying that it definitely did not come off; I'm just saying that I don't remember whether or not it did.

[samhexum]

I really love this show.

[samhexum]

Karin Slaughter fans can rest assured that Sara Linton is on Will Trent‘s radar.

Though it’d be premature to report that the ABC procedural is planning a trip to Grant County, series star/producer Ramón Rodríguez tells TVLine that Slaughter’s other book protagonist is frequently brought up in conversation with his fellow producers. More specifically, they discuss when (and how) they should introduce Sara.

“We’ve talked about it,” the actor confirms during an in-studio interview. “You know, it’s a big deal. We don’t take that lightly. It’s such a big character in the books, and would potentially be a big character in the series, so we want to be really mindful [about how we do that].

“We have an amazing cast, as well, so you have to interweave things in a way,” Rodríguez continues, alluding to the complexity of inserting Sara into a well-established ensemble. “Whenever you’re entering another piece, and it’s a big piece, you want to be really smart about it.”

For the uninitiated: The Will Trent book series was preceded by Slaughter’s Grant County series. “Set in the fictional town of Heartsdale, Ga., in the fictional Grant County, the narrative takes place from the perspective of three main characters: Sara Linton, the town’s pediatrician and part-time coroner; her ex-husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, who is chief of police; and his subordinate, detective Lena Adams,” according to the official description.

Sara Linton was first introduced in 2001’s “Blindsighted,” and would later cross over to Slaughter’s Will Trent series, beginning with its third installment, 2009’s “Undone.” Eventually, Will and Sara are romantically involved.

Now that Season 2 of ABC’s Will Trent has wrapped production — three episodes remain, which Rodríguez says culminate in a “really intense” finale — “we’ll actually start having those conversations about Season 3 — what that’s going to look like, and what those arcs are going to be, and I’m sure the [Sara Linton] conversation will come up,” he says. “How do you bring that character into this world? Who might play that character? I’m sure there are a lot of ideas out there, but it’s something we are definitely mindful of…. We just want to make sure that we do it right.

“Our showrunners, Liz [Heldens] and Dan [Thomsen], and all of the producers, want to be really smart about how you bring in such a big character and do it justice,” Rodríguez stresses. “If and when, the timing of that is key…. There are people who are fans of the books that want to see that [and] there are people who have joined the show who have never read the books, and are now maybe going to read the books. I know there’s a lot of chatter about it, though.”

[samhexum]

Once this season ends, Will Trent will not return until January, but once it starts, there will be 18 episodes in a row, with no repeats or weeks off.

The final six episodes of the Conners are being held until 2025 as well. 

Edited May 14 by samhexum
Because I figured, what the hell, why not?

[samhexum]

I love this show, but the last couple of episodes were not particularly good. They felt rushed and underdeveloped at the same time. I know they only had a limited amount of episodes to deal with because of the strikes but ending the season this way was definitely a big disappointment for me. I’ll still be happy when it comes back in January, but I hope they figure out a better way to get out of the situation than they did to put themselves into it.