Tell-Tale TV Series Premiere Panels: Conviction

Conviction follows Hayes Morrison, former first daughter, as she is forced to head up a new unit that aims to overturn wrongful convictions. It was either that or go to jail for possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to distribute.

She didn’t really have much of a choice, but you do. So, what will it be? Will you keep watching or are you going to pass? Join the discussion by leaving your thoughts in the comments.

Our panelists are:

• Lissete Lanuza Saenz, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV
• Cade Taylor, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Shabnaj Chowdhury, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Allison Nichols, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV
• Sage Young from Head Over Feels
• Jennifer Stasak from Just About Write

Give it to me straight. What did you think of the premiere?

Jenn: I really enjoyed it! I was looking forward to the show because Hayley Atwell has an amazing presence on screen (and Eddie Cahill is now a silver fox, guys).

The pilot didn’t disappoint in either of those areas, but I think it’s still got a little bit of an uphill battle, especially to separate itself from all of the Shondaland series that focus on headstrong women and serialized drama.

Sage: Oof. That’s a technical TV criticism term: “oof.” I was really rooting for this one, Hayley Atwell reasons, and I’m never above a crowd-pleasing procedural.

But this pilot fell flat for me in just about every way, from the scattered characterization of Hayes Morrison to the lack of even an attempt to justify the ludicrous premise to the stock support ensemble. The countdown clock was unnecessary and lazy.

I’m embarrassed that they actually shot scene where Hayes is inspired to a moment of self-reflection because she sees herself in a store window. And that pig stunt. Come on. Who do you guys think you are, the Squint Squad?

Cade: Honestly, I’m still on the fence. I was really excited for this show just because I love Emily Kinney. I never watched Agent Carter, so I really wasn’t expecting much from Hayley Atwell.

The premiere itself was good, but I think that they’re really going to have to push to separate themselves from other crime procedurals and show fans why they should stick around to watch.

Lizzie: Bored. I’m so bored. I just watched and I already can’t remember half of what happened in it. I think Hayley Atwell was there. She looked pretty. She also had attitude, as per the norm.

I don’t remember much else. Because this thing just doesn’t make an impression. I won’t be watching again. Sorry Hayley.

Shabnaj: I’m very much on the same page as Sage and Lizzie. I typically dislike procedurals but figured I’d give this one a shot because a) the cast is pretty decent and b) I’m craving a quality legal drama.

The premise itself is not bad. Sure, it’s not the most original or groundbreaking idea, but if the show had heart and a deliberate and careful pacing and direction, then there’d be something there. Instead, the pilot was pretty vacant and boring.

It seems like the whole appeal rests on Hayley Atwell being the lead as if that’s enough, and it’s not.

Allison: I watch a fair amount of procedurals, and so if I’m going to add another one to my DVR, there has to be something special about it. Conviction doesn’t have anything that makes me want to keep watching.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the cast, but Hayley Atwell and Shawn Ashmore aren’t enough to make me sit through slow moving and ridiculously boring case. Like Lizzie said, it was so boring that I don’t remember a lot about it, and I just watched it. I do, unfortunately, remember the pig thing.

I agree with Sage about Hayes’ characterization as well. It was all over the place, and so I don’t really feel like I know who she is. Also, what was that ridiculously melodramatic between her and her mom?

The premiere was a miss, and that’s putting it lightly.

What’s the show’s biggest problem?

Jenn: Right now, the serialization of it is probably going to be the show’s weakness. I was bored about halfway through with the case, and though I think Hayley Atwell can carry pretty much anything you put her at the forefront of, it’ll take a bit of work to separate this show from the rest of the ABC drama pack.

And maybe the biggest problem isn’t necessarily in the show itself (though I do think the case-of-the-week writing needs to be paced a bit better to keep me interested), but the fact that it airs on a network already so jam-packed with shows very similar to it.

You’ve got all of the Shonda shows which are (for the most part) dramas that focus on some sort of ensemble with a case-of-the-week — and then The Catch and Quantico — that Conviction really needs to find a way to stand on its own and separate itself from being just another show similar to that.

I think the power is in its cast and their versatility as actors, as well as the genuine emotion that Atwell can convey, so I hope the writing reflects that.

Sage: *Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle voice* Well, how long is your program?

Seriously though, the show’s biggest problem might be an inextricable strand of its DNA. There was actually a scene in this pilot where a young, black man sitting in jail for a murder he didn’t commit helped the rich, white protagonist realize something about herself.

Yes, Hayes got shamed for referring to her first client as a “good-looking black poster boy.” Even so, that client’s main purpose in the episode was to lead our heroine to a personal epiphany about duty that encourages her to commit to this gig. Hayes is flawed, yes, but she has plenty more advantages than the people she’s working for.

If we’re going through a case a week, her clients — more of whom I’m sure will be POC — won’t have the opportunity to do much more than serve her story.

Cade: It didn’t make me get attached to any of the characters. The only one I truly liked and thought was interesting was Maxine Bohen, and even then, I wasn’t super attached to her. They need to pick up the pace of the show if they want people to continue watching.

Lizzie: IT’S BORING. I don’t care for any character. I don’t want any more of them. The case of the week was self-serving at best, and though I have a thing for procedurals AND law, this show just didn’t hook me.

To be fair, it wasn’t awful, but on this day and age, that’s not enough for a show to stay on the air.

Shabnaj: There wasn’t a single moment that felt dropped in. The pacing was just off. I wish they took their time with the scenes and didn’t rush through it.

I know a lot of pilots are guilty of this, but, it just felt mindless the way they were jumping from scene to scenes. Sometimes you just have to sit with a quiet, character-revealing moment in order to feel something. That moment never came.

Allison: Pacing is a huge problem. Everything happened too slowly on the case, and yet some of the personal storylines and drama happened so quickly that I was confused by what was going on and how we got there.

Nothing hooked me. There wasn’t a part of the premiere that had me captivated or even remotely interested. I didn’t like any of the characters. I found the case boring, and I didn’t even care if the client was guilty or innocent, jailed or freed.

What/Who do you want to see more of?

Jenn: EMILY KINNEY’S CHARACTER. Also, Shawn Ashmore. I really always want to see more of Shawn Ashmore.

Sage: Agent Carter?

Cade: Emily Kinney and Daniel Franzese’s characters!

Lizzie: I want to see much more of me not watching this show.

Shabnaj: I’m probably not going to continue watching, but if I were, I’d want to see the cases not be treated as cases-of-the-week. It would allow the viewer to care more to see the characters care about a case over the course of several episodes.

I think if the season revolved around just one, complicated case, I’d be more interesting. But, I know that’s not the kind of show this is.

Allison: Jarvis. You put Jarvis on this show, and I’m in.

What was your favorite moment/quote?

Jenn: Look, Hayley Atwell and Eddie Cahill already have chemistry, so any scenes between them were gold. But geez, the moment that Hayes actually began to cry and show some vulnerability, I was sold.

(Can I say that my other favorite moment was whenever wardrobe thought: “Let’s put Hayley Atwell in an outfit that looks like menswear?” Because dang, she rocked that look HARD.)

Sage: When Eddie Cahill’s character pushed past Hayes to do a line of coke off her desk, I thought, “Now we’re getting somewhere interesting.”

What if she and her new boss share more than history? What if he’s the opposite of Hayes, in that he can live a hedonistic lifestyle while maintaining a respectable surface?

I suddenly wanted to see the way that those two people might wrestle their demons and maybe come back together through it. It was the one moment in the pilot that surprised me, and of course it was a fake-out.

Cade: I really liked the chemistry between Hayes and Wallace throughout the entire episode. It seems as if they have a past that we don’t know about yet and I’m excited to see what happens between the two.

Lizzie: My favorite moment was Hayley Atwell, because she’s usually awesome and I was really hoping they would give her a good pilot, so I could be assured she was going to be on my TV for years to come. Alas, that did not happen.

Shabnaj: I’m so thoroughly unimpressed with this pilot that it’s hard to come up with anything. I guess the conversation between Atwell’s character and her mom was all right. As trite as the dialogue was, Atwell was emoting beautifully through her eyes.

Allison: I honestly can’t think of anything.  I did like that Hayes knows the politics game because she was the first daughter. She knew that Aaron Ashmore’s character was asked to spy and potentially rat her out, and she didn’t care.

This could have been a tense storyline that led to a dramatic reveal, but instead, Hayes just said that if he was going to do it, to make sure that he did it for him and not for someone else.

Conviction airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.

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