If you want to see what a “big swing” really looks like on prime-time television, check out the second season of ABC’s American Crime, which premieres Wednesday, January 6 at 10 p.m ET.
“Big swing” has become a buzzword du jour in the TV biz, code for a show that commits the financial and talent resources to tackle a tough issue in an ambitious, unblinking way.
A gratifying number of shows have aimed for that in recent years, with varying degrees of success. The Walking Dead works, The Slap did not. American Crime put itself on the list last year with its first season, and it only gets more solid in Season 2.
A big chunk of the credit goes to lead characters Timothy Hutton and Felicity Huffman (top), who were terrific in Season 1 and just as good this second time around. While it’s an ensemble show, certain key characters have to work, and once Huffman and Hutton have nailed down the foundation, it gives everything else a solid footing.
Huffman plays Leslie Graham, headmistress of a private school in the Midwest. Hutton plays Dan Sullivan, the basketball coach and go-to guy for many of his players.
Like many real-life private schools, this one makes a modest effort at diversity, ethnic and economic. That doesn’t erase class divisions, however, and it’s that extremely thorny subject on which American Crime builds its new story.
A student on economic aid, Taylor Blaine (Connor Jessup), becomes the victim of an apparent incident that might be called hazing. Or bullying. Or, perhaps, an indictable offense.
As his mother Anne (Lili Taylor, left) pursues the case, the facts of which are at best fuzzy, lots of untidy and largely unspoken truths about America’s class system spill onto the table.
Headmistress Graham’s first instinct is to protect the school, by keeping everything as contained and quiet as possible. Coach Sullivan wants team unity. Good luck on both those counts.
Blaine Taylor isn’t sure what he wants, but as the train starts to pick up speed, his issues with his sexuality compound all the other discussions.
American Crime wasn’t afraid to ignore stereotypes or make viewers uncomfortable last year, and that seems to be the mantra again. That’s good.
It also doesn’t mind that we’re not going to like every character, and we certainly aren’t going to like everything that every character does. It’s comfortable if at the end of the day we have a better understanding of why they behave as they do.
In one other bold move, the first season of American Crime never gave us a clean explanation of exactly what happened with the incident that triggered the whole season. It was more interested in the impact of the incident, including its grey areas, on everyone it touched.
That’s counterintuitive for television, where people usually can count on answers and wrap up seven in dark shows. In the real world, however, a disquieting number of troubling things never get fully explained.
Season 2 could do the same thing. No one’s saying it will, but it could, and it would still be just as worth taking the ride.
Ratings the first season were relatively modest, so give ABC some points for giving American Crime a second shot. It’s a big swing that connects.