Growing up, as a kid, I used to enjoy reading the Doom Patrol. I was a little excited when I heard DC made a series based on it. I thought my kids might even like it.
However, I’ve come to discover that DC has just completely ruined it.
I kept waiting for it to get better – thinking, well, maybe, just maybe, this next episode would have some redeeming qualities. I wanted to believe. I wanted to think that the episode was just some abnormality – that, perhaps, this show would eventually be suitable for my kids, too. Alas, I was constantly left disappointed, and just had to give it up – leaving it to wishful thinking.
I’m not sure if the creators of the comic book ate too many magic mushrooms as children.
Perhaps, their joints were laced with angel dust, which they smoked non-stop.
Maybe, they were wrestling, and their opponent dropped them on their heads.
Or, quite possibly, they were good friends of the Joker at Arkham – or perhaps the people on which the character was based.
Or, maybe, they are visionaries, and I’m just a dim-witted viewer who just can’t truly appreciate their artistic genius.
Any one of those scenarios might explain it – except for the last scenario, with the dizzying, bizarre plots, with each getting increasingly weirder than the next.
Of course, I should’ve known the series was amiss from the beginning – from the soft-porn overtones of the initial show.
Any thought of allowing family members to watch it were quickly dismissed. And, I’m not really sure why the need was felt to make certain that it was a show that was not family friendly, but they definitely succeeded in that goal, if nothing else.
And, from there, it just got increasingly weird - the fragmented man, the thinking city that teleports, the mule that leads to another dimension, the flying alligator – basically, mindless, senseless, drivel – stuff that makes you say, “WTF?”
It’s really quite perplexing that DC would provide for a large budget show like this – something that they’d presumably want to attract customers – and allow their script writers to do the exact opposite.
Or, who did they survey when they came up with the plot – certainly, not the public at large. Who did they ask what they thought of the show – others at DC?
The Teen Titans had hope, but they just had to toss some F-bombs in there, just to make sure that parents who had morals wouldn’t want their kids watching it. I’m not really sure who’s DC’s audience, and why they want to alienate a large segment of the population who have money to purchase their goods. That’s only a question DC can truly answer.
But, DC can do what it wants. They can make bizarre shows. They can have their shows be as twisted as they want. They can have magical, talking cities jump around the globe, and fill their shows with PDA and soft-porn at every corner. They can toss in F-bombs every other word. Who am I to judge?
Alas, all I can do is cancel my subscription when my year expires. And, given DC’s fascination with the bizarre and adult-themed TV that’s quite twisted, that is quite likely what I’ll do after my year is up.
If the goal was to waste money and make a show that few could admire, DC has succeeded in ways that only it knows.
So, DC, if your network flops, don’t blame your viewers who leave; it will be entirely your fault.
You’ve got some heavy competition coming your way – by a company (no names) that will be pursuing the exact opposite theme of your anti-family, anti-normal freakfest. That work has evidently led to several $1B movies, and some very popular TV shows.
But, hey, you don’t have to follow their lead; just do whatever the heck you want. It’s your money. Who ever said that your shows had to be a success? Perhaps, you can get people to get your service for the old shows – till they get bored.
Of course, after parents get the service for their children and catch a whiff of your “wonderful” Doom Patrol, it will be out-the-door for it. But, again, just make whatever makes you feel good; it’s funner to waste money than to make it.
And, good luck!