Witchblade

From the ridiculous Matrix rip-off effects, to the bad music, to the muddled incoherent story, this series is a complete embarrassment for Yancy Butler, who's the only one delivering a good performance in that truly awful show. I felt very sorry for her to be in that bad show.

In addition to the wonderfully detailed plots and excellent characters, Witchblade was a triumph in technical performance. The sets were consistently excellent. The crew took chances (and succeeded) with different styles of lighting and camera angles. Time lapse photography and stop action were used to good effect, and yet they did not jar the viewer. The soundtrack was recognized with award nominations, and rightly so. The dialog was extraordinarily well written, and stayed fresh throughout the series. Editing was tight and crisp; there were very few lags in tempo and yet was not too fast either. One of the best production teams in years! Witchblade is a real treat to watch!

One of the worst half-hearted attempts at fantasy, Witchblade was a clunker all the way.

The real question is why doesn't anyone bother to read the scripts before getting into production. It's especially sad for Yancy Butler whose career was eradicated by Witchblade. Did they switch the scripts on her before shooting? Did anyone warn her of what she was getting into? In a world where a number of truly bad actresses get film after film it was truly disheartening to see Ms. Butler fight against a mountain of clichés and bad lines and try to swim upstream against nonsensical plots, all rolled up in ugly, ugly, ugly cinematography.

She may never be seen again except in supporting parts on cable movies, and it's really a shame because she is talented.

At least the awful Ralph Hemecker, the man behind the bad scripts and the ridiculous look of Witchblade, seems to have completely disappeared too. Maybe there is some justice.

Perhaps one would appreciate the series more if one was familiar with the mythological history that invigorates its story. I enjoyed the series tremendously for this reason, and because it presented a vital alternative to the usual fare. A different story with all the same tropes of the genre would have been unexciting. Also, the series tries to cross two genres (fantasy and cop dramas) that probably don't cross well in the American cultural consciousness. The people that enjoy high fantasy and ancient mythology (to put these two together) likely aren't the same people who enjoy gritty cop dramas. That is, the audience is not sufficiently large to justify the show's continued existence.

Likewise, though for different reasons, I attribute the demise of Farscape. It was innovative in ways that a large audience did not sufficiently appreciate, though I would have thought that its audience was sufficiently large for continued production. Again, the danger of breaking conformance to cultural consciousness.

Let's be real; this show is nothing spectacular. BUT there is a lot to appreciate in this series. The environments, sets and overall aestehtics of the show looks great. It really captures that dark early 00's vibe. Nancy Butler does a good job portraying her character and makes her very empathetic. The early episodes are really strong imo, it's just too bad that it doesn't keep up that momentum.