Blood & Oil

I watched the pilot episode for Blood & Oil and this new soap, set during the oil boom in North Dakota, held my attention from start to finish and has an engaging, attractive cast of characters. There is the wealthy oil baron (Don Johnson), his power hungry wife (Amber Valetta) and the black sheep son, who is unable or unwilling to please his hard driving father and despises his stepmother. Then, there is the working class couple who comes to the boomtown to seek their fortune (aptly played by Chace Crawford and Rebecca Rittenhouse). These characters are well cast and very appealing, with good chemistry between them. Chace Crawford is especially good as Billy and shows that he has grown up since Gossip Girl.

The themes of family dysfunction, love and money and power struggles don't break any new ground, but that's what the soap opera genre is all about. I enjoyed the pilot, the actors and the character development and am looking forward to future episodes.

Interesting setting - check. Great chemistry between lead actors - check. Solid supporting cast - check. Story moving along briskly - check. Great cinematography - check.

This promises to be just the right kind of slickly done action-soap-opera, a world with modern-day-Wild-West intrigue. This show reminds me of Hell On Wheels, despite the obvious anachronism of being set in modern times.

It is filmed well, the couple who are the main protagonists have genuine chemistry. They don't seem like "actors", "acting to be a couple" - at all.

The characters have believable motivations, and the show has heart.

Heart is something that's been present in many shows of the 90s and earlier, regardless of their objective quality, but in the cynical age of today it has been lost. "Breaking Bad", for example, a great show otherwise, didn't have heart. Many shows of today find it safer to stick to cynicism and negative humor.

"Blood & Oil" is refreshingly earnest - it doesn't twist itself into a pretzel to manipulate the viewer. As result, its emotion is simple and therefore relatable. When you feel for someone in this show, you feel it with them.

Whoever's in charge of this show, has a clarity of vision. Let them never lose it.

This prime time drama isn't a typical soap. People expecting a "Dallas" or "Revenge" glamour with high fashion and mansions won't find it here. It's set in rural oil fields. An ambitious young couple arrive in a town set to boom from oil discovery and tangle with local big wig couple. Quite a bit happens in the pilot with some things that seem a bit over the top to grab your attention like cars going off the road twice in 1 episode.

The main cast is watchable and attractive. Newcomer Rebecca Rittenhouse is pretty enough - not too glam to be unbelievable. Chace Crawford transitions well from Upper East Side to blue collar. Don Johnson has always been quite watchable and hasn't let himself go. Amber Valetta plays the ultimate second wife well. She was great in Revenge and looks to be a scene stealer here.

You want to see what happens hopefully it won't give into irritating clichés - the bad son seems a bit clichéd.

"ABC's" new series "Blood and Oil" has all the themes of modern day soap operas which shines at night it has sex, lust, greed, and revenge! Set in North Dakota during the modern day oil boom, a young man named Billy(Chace Crawford)and his wife move to town to start a new life for love and money! Soon upon meeting oil tycoon and business magnet Hap Briggs(glad to see the great Don Johnson working again)Billy strikes it rich with oil gold! However life at the top sure does come with some drama as this series shows everything from murder and greed which blends well with sex as old Hap is a ladies man even having a mistress, and Hap has a hard headed son who's in the way it's all in the family with drama! Overall well done series that has all the elements that make a night time soap a winner check out "Blood and Oil" it's one slick drama!

For all intents and purposes, I found this show to peak my initial interest. Yes, it feels a lot like the old Dallas show, but frankly, I kinda want that, a bit. I wasn't around when the old show aired and I wouldn't mind getting a similar feeling from more modern showing.

Pros: The chemistry of the characters. Hod-damn, they work extremely well together. I mean, REALLY well. They come off as very believable group of people to the viewer. Either from modest or wealthy backgrounds, each character is individualized to the point of strong believe-ability, which I cannot stress enough is something I've longed for in a show for some time. And while it's only been the first episode, I look forward to seeing it develop into something entertaining to, perhaps, re-watch in the future.

Cons: Yes, there is certainly a Dallas feel to it. So what? Dallas was great, why can't this be? I see too many people crying about how it is similar to one show that they can't appreciate it for that fact alone (that's more of a personal irritation, I'll admit). I guess a negative would be that the aspect of the whole town hasn't been thoroughly shown yet in the first episode, aiming instead to focus more on the main characters, initially. Not necessarily a bad thing, and it is only the first episode, so I mostly let it slide. But the action of the first episode - can they make it last? That's another worry. I found it to be a solid opening, so I wonder if they can keep that strong approach going.

In the end, Blood and Oil does have my recommendation. Yes, it is not a perfectly original show, but heck, if Dallas never existed, I'd find this show to be a good contender for best pilot episode of the year.

So, by the end, give it a chance, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.