Even though How to Get Away with Murder has a shorter season than more TV dramas, surely that wasn’t going to let ABC ruin their #TGIT, all Shondaland programming block, right? That’s why tonight the alphabet network will debut The Catch, starring Mireille Enos (Big Love, The Killing) and Peter Krause (Six Feet Under, Sports Night). While Ms. Rhimes didn’t create the program originally, she does executive produce it and her influence can surely be felt throughout, making it a perfect companion to the other Thursday night shows.
The Catch tells the tale of Alice Vaughan — a P.I. with a specialty in catching fraudsters and is very good at her job. On the home front, she’s also engaged to the man of her dreams. Naturally, with this being a pilot and a Shondaland one at that, both sides of her life are jeopardized when we learn that her lover is not who he says he is and ends up leaving her with nothing. What’s next? Revenge.
Watching the pilot for The Catch I was reminded of the first season of Scandal. While this wasn’t a procedural like that show used to be, both were fun and exciting even if you may have seen some of the “big twists” coming. However, as someone who ended his Scandal binge after laboriously completing season 2, I can only wonder if what ABC promos are dubbing “the sexiest game of cat and mouse on television” will grow stale 20, 50, 100 episodes in.
Another reason to be fearful about the future of The Catch is the supporting cast. While Krause and Enos are great both together and apart, there was nothing overly exciting about the company they kept. While Olivia Pope’s gladiators each bring something to table, Vaughan’s coworkers seem to come up empty-handed for the most part. However, I did enjoy Jay Hayden in his role, but that’s probably just residual fondness I had of him on Hulu’s Battleground (am I the only one who remembers that show?). In defense of the others, I did only get to screen the pilot, so hopefully their characters get to grow and develop in subsequent episodes.
Overall I can’t say that I didn’t have a good time watching The Catch. That’s high praise considering they did make me sit through all of Pitbull’s “Fireball” which was really just plain rude. But the real question is whether or not the fun can last. Personally, I’ll be waiting to stream this season once it’s over to find out.
The Catch joins ABC’s Thursday night lineup tonight, airing at 10 p.m.