AROUND TOWN | LAURA ANDERSON Awfully great
I enjoy watching a wide variety of programs on television and on streaming services, and often get recommendations from friends and co-workers about new shows to check out. Lately, I’ve heard a lot of buzz about the HBO show, “Succession” which just premiered it’s third season. Looking for something new, I thought I’d watch the first episode and see if it was worth all the hype surrounding it.
By the end of the first episode, I thought to myself, "My gosh, these people are all awful," followed immediately by, I wonder what will happen next.
When I say awful, I mean really, truly terribly awful people. In a nutshell, the show is about a mega-rich family whose patriarch is a Rupert Murdoch-esque media baron. Three of his four spoiled children are vying for the top spot when their pop retires. And will say or do some of the worst things to make it happen. They are truly reprehensible individuals. And yet I can’t stop watching.
What is it about these awful characters that fascinates us so? I watched every single episode of Breaking Bad and was gripped by the story arc of the main character, Walter White. His journey from sad sack, terminally ill, beloved chemistry teacher to full-blown, cold-blooded drug kingpin was, by turns, engrossing, exhilarating, heartbreaking and shocking. Half the time I wanted his character to get caught while the other half I wanted him to get away with it.
Is it because these characters act in a manner completely opposite (hopefully) of their viewers? Deep down are we living vicariously through them, watching them say and do all the things we secretly wish we could do if we had no morals or conscience? Or does watching someone so depraved make us feel better about our own lives, our own choices?
I think back to the days of Archie Bunker and ''All in the Family.''
This was groundbreaking television at the time, and though he was a chauvinist and prejudiced against pretty much every race or religion other than his own, audiences couldn’t get enough of him.
My husband reminded me we don’t limit our villains to just fictional characters. The popularity of such programs as Gordon Ramsay’s ''Kitchen Nightmares,'' ''Dance Moms” and “Real Housewives of New York” and the like are ratings gold. My son and I used to love watching “Survivor” together and the bad guys (and girls) like Johnny Fairplay and Russell Hantz and the aptly named Parvati Shallow were always more fun to watch than their well-behaved counterparts.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy heartwarming programming as well. My husband and I have a standing Friday night date to watch ''The Great British Baking Show'' on Netflix, and even though it’s a competition with weekly eliminations, the contestants seem to really like each other, always help and support each other, and genuinely seem happy for the winners and sad for the ones who are eliminated. I could watch ''Love Actually'' again and again. I cry at the end of ''It’s a Wonderful Life'' when George Bailey is surrounded by all his friends in town who have shown up to support him in his hour of need.
Given all that, there’s still something intriguing about the unsavory characters. With each subsequent episode of ‘Succession’, the characters stoop even lower to connive, scheme and hurt each other. Just when you think it can’t get worse, it does. It’s a show about some folks who are truly awful.
And awfully entertaining.