Promised Land - New Midseason Drama

[kalbir]

Grand Hotel with grapes. At least Grand Hotel had Miami heat (pun not intended), but I didn't get that from Promised Land.

[Taoboi]

PREACH!!!

[Soaplovers]

Bellamy Young as the Alexis Colby of the 2020s.....I'm in

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[janea4old]

From TV insider:
Matt Cedeño is set to guest on Promised Land. He plays "Tomas Gutierrez, a labor attorney representing the fruit workers against the Sandovals’ Heritage House vineyard. Look for sparks to fly between this one and Veronica after she is installed as CEO."

Edited February 5, 2022 by janea4old

[Melroser]

This show keeps getting more fun as it goes along. I hope it's given a chance by ABC. I'd love for it to come back in the Fall. 

[Faulkner]

It’s been pulled from ABC and will finish out its season on Hulu.

 

[Soaplovers]

I think it should have been a Hulu, or a Netflix series.  Primetime soaps would have a long life if all 10 to 13 episodes are dropped at once.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Oh wow. 

The series is not terrible. Although I find the backstory to be far more interesting than the current stories, which seem fairly generic.

They seem to use that character Margaret to lay out exposition. I did like how that conversation between Lettie and Margaret was written in episode 3. Not too expository (for once) and just enough sniping dialogue beneath the surface to give the scene some bite. And in the meantime, we get to learn some nuggets about the family dynamics and the nature of Lettie and Margaret's relationship. If only all the scenes where writers needed to inform us could have been written that way.

Still, the pacing within episode 3 was solid, it certainly didn't drag.

Margaret's dialogues need to be improved, they often come off as somewhat clumsy, laying out exposition for the sake of giving out information, but given the ABC/Hulu situation, the writers may not have time.

 

[janea4old]

Just watched episode 4 on Hulu.  Really enjoyed it.  Lots of interesting intertwining stories coming to points of tension.  All the siblings were interesting!  Loved all the dynamics.

I can't wait to see what happens next! so that's a good sign.

FYI, in episode 4. I thought present-day Margaret fit better this time as part of the larger canopy of all the extended family.  Her dialog wasn't as forced/expositional as previously.

However, Bellamy Young doesn't feel like as good an actor as the rest of the cast. (IMO).
The present-day Margaret is written to be phony, but still.
She's so different from the days-of-their-youth Margaret.

All the rest of the characters feel like real people to me, which is a real achievement for a soap that features a wealthy family.  A testimony to good acting and writing, I think.

Edited February 16, 2022 by janea4old

[te.]

I hope it can somehow thrive on Hulu, but I'm not getting my hopes up and will just enjoy the six episodes that are left.

 

I really enjoy that it's a fairly straight-forward prime time soap that's not necessarily trying to be clever. But maybe that's the issue in todays landscape where you have to have a twist? Featuring a largely latin cast and flashbacks isn't enough to capture people's attention.

[Taoboi]

Ugh!

 

They really don't give any shows a fair chance these days, do they?

 

Two seasons to find an audience. Simple as that. 

 

Just ugh.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

The Netflix effect.

[Taoboi]

Sad, but true. 

 

I can only hope that perhaps this is the show that being on streaming will reach more people and thus get more people to watch and that saves it. 

[te.]

To be fair - the ratings were really bad. The last episode had a 0.15 in the 18-49 demographic, which means it was almost adjusted down to 0.1 in the finals and even with the poor broadcast ratings these days ABC just can't let that stand. I hope it can somehow thrive on streaming as I personally enjoy it and like that it's a no frills prime time soap.

[gtru1981]

Why? Everyone know each season ratings will dip with TV shows. If the first season had terrible ratings, don't expect season two to get any better, probably get worse. It didn't find its audience and lets be real, Prime Time TV is no longer the king, with so many streaming services taking over.