MovieChat Forums > The Assets (2014) Discussion > The family non-sense is stupid filler

The family non-sense is stupid filler

posted 11 years ago by echoecho69
8 replies | jump to latest

The show doesn't have a clear focus. Most people don't care about the family stuff, it's very lame and non-essential to the plot. We do not know their life nor do we care to know. We are not watching soap-drama. It's frustrating to see these family non-sense interrupting the real spy story.

People who are interested in the espionage topic don't give a damn about some random teenage rebellion problems, and people who watches the typical dramas would not find the spy plot appealing and probably get confused and think it's too complicated.

This lack of awareness of what the intended audience is and what would they want to watch is what contributed to its downfall.

[–] Phylot 11 years ago

This "show" had time for filler?

HAH!

[–] acb132 11 years ago

disagree

[–] Shadoefax 11 years ago

I think you are confusing this show with The Americans (2013).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/board/?ref_=tt_ql_5

[–] !!!deleted!!! (41638798) 11 years ago

This lack of awareness of what the intended audience is and what would they want to watch is what contributed to its downfall.

Well, it's true that this was badly placed on a major-three network. Shows like this were on ABC back in the 1970s and 1980s when they actually did quality work. The three networks did extensive miniseries back in the day, "Winds of War," "War and Remembrance," "Roots," and endless historical dramas of great quality. Meryl Streep starred in "Holocaust" back then. It was serious stuff.

When "Roots" aired, we three young women who shared a house, unplugged the phone so nobody could call (yes you could do that back then before answering machines and cell phones) and we made sure we were in front of that tv every week at the same time for "Roots." (No VCR players either). It was serious business, watching those old miniseries. It was water cooler stuff.

That's what this reminds me of. It takes an historic event, based on a book, and does a dozen hours or so to show the story. This kind of drama died a sad death on ABC 35 years ago.

Watching "The Assets" for me is like having a 40-year flashback to the old ABC when they actually did quality, serious programming. I can't remember who first coined TV "bubblegum for the mind." But I think the three networks probably inspired it.

[–] dudestein 11 years ago

Unfortunately we rely on human beings to do this kind of work, and many of them have these biological reproductions of themselves demanding Clock time from them.

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[–] rtlh1982 10 years ago

I wondered if Sandy would end up solving the case only to lose her family in the process. I also wondered what kind of work her husband did that his coworkers didn't know who Sandy worked for. And in the end, Ames's family is used as leverage against him.

[–] acb132 10 years ago

And yet in the end Ames' family was somewhat critical to it all, no?
And there is nothing wrong with seeing a bit of the behind the scenes trouble of Sandy and the strain of the job, etc.

[–] funkenstein3 10 years ago

Agreed and agreed. It was a useless distraction and detracted from otherwise very strong content. I wish we had never met the teenage daughter and that the husband was not the ideal, smarmy type who always knew the right thing to say. It's not that I necessarily disagree with the inclusion of her personal story, but it was done so poorly. The interaction in the kitchen when Sandy yells "Not now!" was the single worst moment in the entire series. Thankfully the family's screentime decreased signficantly after the first two episodes, which, not coincindentally, was when I really started to enjoy the series.