Analyzing "Red Widow"

This has been an inordinately poor year for new shows. I mean, can you think of any new shows on the networks that have been great? "Revolution" is decent, but that's not setting the bar high and the fact that the show has been off the air for four months might kill that momentum.

I personally have been a fan of "The Mindy Project," which started out as amusing and has improved steadily throughout the year. "Elementary" has been a strong new show for CBS and has gotten steadily better too, but that's about it. "Nashville" was critically lauded but has been sort of hit-and-miss for me.

But for as marginal as the fall was, this spring has been incredibly worse. Another prime example of that is "Red Widow," which took over the 10 p.m. slot on Sunday night beginning last week. The show comes from Melissa Rosenberg — a writer for "Dexter" and "The Twilight Saga" — and, oddly, it sort of feels like a mash up of the two.

Sure, there are some incredible delicate strains. And, sure, there are some potentially tense moments. But the whole package sort of comes off as a little bit laughable. And that's a problem. The acting isn't terrible, it's just as uninteresting as the story.

The show jumped off with a two hour premier which was really the first two episodes of the series. The central conceit is that you are supposed to feel for the main character, Marta (Radha Mitchell), is doing all these things because she doesn't have a choice. She is indebted to the mob, so she has to make her way in a criminal world because that's her only option.

Except it's not. Her husband, before his untimely but predictable pilot death, had agreed to turn over information on the criminal enterprises he was involved in to get them out of "the life." This is what Marta allegedly wanted most. Yet, after he died, she decided not to turn over the evidence, instead destroying it, so she could settle the family debt by becoming a criminal. Um, that's not a super likeable position.

When you add that to everything else, this just isn't a show that offers anything compelling. The former occupant of the time slot — "666 Park Avenue" — failed because it didn't create memorable or interesting characters. "Red Widow" suffers the same fate while also failing to create a story that's original. This one appears to be dead on arrival.

Grade: C-