Hidden in Plain View is a bi-weekly column where I help you find great shows buried in the clutter that is modern television. With more than 400 original scripted series on TV in 2015 alone, it is simply a fact that you’re missing out on something great. Previously on: “Mr. Robot,” “Review,” “Rectify” and “BoJack Horseman.” This time: “UnREAL.”
Television is in a fascinating time. It’s a time where PlayStation is producing original content. Where Amazon won Emmys for a television show. Where Netflix is a major player in the present and future of the industry. So anything should be possible, right?
Well, here is perhaps the most surprising development of all: I’m watching – and loving – a show on the Lifetime channel.
Listen, I never expected to watch a show on Lifetime. As far as I knew, that channel was for estrogen, runway drama and bad soap operas. Say what you will about masculinity and gender roles, but I was 100 percent sure it was a channel that would never be punched into my remote.
But along came Shiri Appleby and “UnREAL.”
Here’s the thing: I’ve mostly used this space to write about shows that resonate with me on a deeper level. Shows with underlying themes. Shows with complex portrayals of humanity. But television has always been an escapist medium. Shows don’t have to be brilliant works of art. They can just be a time to hang out with your friends. A time to let your problems disappear. A time to simply enjoy yourself.
“UnREAL” occasionally reaches for some kind of statement on the way reality television shapes our perception of people and relationships. But at its core, it’s just a show that is entertaining as hell. And that is more than enough.
“UnREAL” takes place behind the scenes of a fictional reality show named “Everlasting” that is basically a “Bachelor” clone. It details the manipulation, trickery and cruelty that goes into making a reality dating show.* The interesting thing about “UnREAL,” though, is that it focuses on more than just the effect a show like this has on its contestants. It delves into the psychological and emotional damage a show like this has on the people who make it. When you’re constantly manipulating people to make good television, how do you handle real relationships? How much of your identity is steeped in getting good ratings? When the show becomes your life, where else do you have to turn?
*This aspect of the show is lent some credibility by co-creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro’s history as a producer on “The Bachelor.”
The premiere opens with the uncomfortable return of Rachel (Appleby), a producer who suffered a serious on-camera meltdown at the end of the previous season of “Everlasting.” However, the freak-out garnered the show massive ratings and Quinn (Constance Zimmer), the show’s cold and calculating executive producer, decided to give Rachel another chance. Sure, she’s subject to go crazy at any moment, but Rachel knows how to make great TV. Her main target is Adam Cromwell (Freddie Stroma), the season’s bachelor and heir to a British hotel fortune who comes on “Everlasting” to repair his public image. There are also the women, who Quinn lovely categorizes with names like “Desperate MILF,” “Bitch,” and “Horse-Faced Tearjerker.”
Behind the scenes, there are a couple of forced relationship attempts between Quinn and the show’s creator Chet (picture a giant, pot-smoking tool) as well as Rachel and former fling Jeremy (basically a poor man’s Chris Pratt) that don’t really work dramatically. But the heart of the show is Rachel and her struggle to decide whether she can continue devoting herself to such a manipulative and morally repugnant show. There is something in Appleby’s performance, like Melissa Benoist in CBS’s “Supergirl,” that makes you care about her. She has that spark that makes it clear she is a star, and she basically elevates “UnREAL” to a higher plane all on her own. I desperately want Rachel to be happy, to just walk away from “Everlasting,”, but there is something intoxicating about watching her manipulate people while casually lying on a couch or the floor of a limousine. She can get anyone to do what she wants, but her loneliness and need for someone to love her for whatever shell of a person she still is is crushing.
Rachel’s relationship with Quinn also makes for one of the most fascinating female power couples on television. I won’t detail the way things develop here, but it is unexpected and actually kind of refreshing. Who says you can’t have a show about two powerful, complicated women?
Most importantly, though, “UnREAL” is just really damn fun. Morality aside, it is straight up delightful to watch Rachel manipulate people to get what she wants. It can be surprisingly pleasing to watch Quinn say and do horrible things for the sake of “good TV.” The drama behind the scenes of “Everlasting” can be quite compelling, as contestants struggle with their place in the ecosystem.
Is it the best show in the world? No. It stumbles a bit in the season’s second half when it veers too close to serious drama, but it isn’t too distracting. Time flew while I was watching “UnREAL.” I cared about Rachel’s fate. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. And sometimes, that is all you can ask of a television show. To make the time fly by. To help you forget about the world. To entertain you. The set of “Everlasting” might be a cold, dark and calculating place. But it’s a place I’ll go back to over and over again.
Sign me up for my Lifetime season pass, please.
The first season of “UnREAL” (10 episodes) is available for purchase on Amazon Instant Video. The show was renewed for a 10-episode second season, expected to air in 2016. Check it out, and let us know what you think.
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