AMC's The Killing renewed for season 3

[Dream]

AMC has now set a late May 2013 bow for the third season, with development starting imminently. While Netflix's involvement isn't yet confirmed -- the deal hasn't been finalized -- it does seem as if AMC will be partnering with somebody to help share the costs, which seems to be the reason "The Killing" is coming back at all. As for the storyline, there's no word yet, however, Joel Kinnaman and Mireille Enos last we heard were apparently both already signed to return (though Variety suggests this may not be the case, but we can't really see the show happening without them) while Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton may not come back. Billy Campbell is also uncertain at the moment.

Either way, "The Killing" really has to come back ferociously and with some purpose if it wants to survive past the third season. As we wrote about season two, "[it] soon turned into an irritating jerk around, resulting in a kind of blue balls for the audience." Hopefully the writers and showrunner Veena Sud have heard the criticism and are ready to have this show live up to its potential.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...miere-20121201

Talk about a magic save. How many people will be watching if the show returns though? I heard many people were disappointed with the second season.

[bigdaddy]

No many people were disappointed with the first season, then ditched in the second season because they didn't reveal the killer and we didn't want to waste another 13 hours of our time.

It honestly doesn't deserve to come back, it's dark, rainy, depressing, badly written and worse of all, boring.

And Billy Campbell is gone, I read that weeks ago on TVline.com.

[Takeru]

The cast is great, they deserve to be on a show that's not written by an untalented hack like Veena Sud, that woman hasn't written a single good episode of The Killing.

[gblews]

This is great news. I will definitely be watching. This renewal has to be based mostly on the basis of the show's quality. As for the cast, as long as Enos and Kinnaman are back, that's all that is needed.

How often does this happen? Great news indeed.

[Takeru]

gblews wrote:

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This is great news. I will definitely be watching. This renewal has to be based mostly on the basis of the show's quality.

It's most likely based on the fact that AMC is desperate, Breaking Bad is ending, Mad Men won't be around much longer and they can't just rely on The Walking Dead. The Killing isn't great but they know what to expect ratings wise.

The only reason some people think of The Killing as a high quality is because of the first few episodes that were translations of the danish version, as soon as they started doing their own thing the quality went down the toilet.

[trevanian]

No, I find the show still incredibly daring (even if I didn't love the last couple eps), especially 2nd season with the cinematography. Unbelievably low light levels, and shot ON FILM - an extreme rarity for TV these days. I'll definitely be watching (and hoping they keep the same DoP.)

[gblews]

Takeru wrote:

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It's most likely based on the fact that AMC is desperate, Breaking Bad is ending, Mad Men won't be around much longer and they can't just rely on The Walking Dead. The Killing isn't great but they know what to expect ratings wise.

The only reason some people think of The Killing as a high quality is because of the first few episodes that were translations of the danish version, as soon as they started doing their own thing the quality went down the toilet.

BS. I never saw the Danish version and I think the AMC version was great. And no, I think AMC is bringing the show back because of it's high quality.

[Takeru]

gblews wrote:

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BS. I never saw the Danish version and I think the AMC version was great.

You should watch it, if you like The Killing you'll abolutely love Forbrydelsen.

And no, I think AMC is bringing the show back because of it's high quality.

No way, AMC wouldn't know quality if it bites it in the ass. It doesn't even matter if you or I like or dislike The Killing. And it's not like the level of quality or critical reception changed between the cancellation and the revival, it's most likely that they realized that they really have nothing to fill the slots and replace their soon ending shows. AMC stumbled into all of their successes, they are not HBO or Showtime, they don't know how to handle original programming. Look at The Walking Dead, it's an incredible success and AMC's strategy since the first season seems to be "Slash the budget, piss off the talent" when thy should throw money at Mazzara right now telling him "Do what you want!" considering the ratings the show brings.

[bigdaddy]

Takeru wrote:

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You should watch it, if you like The Killing you'll abolutely love Forbrydelsen.

No way, AMC wouldn't know quality if it bites it in the ass. It doesn't even matter if you or I like or dislike The Killing. And it's not like the level of quality or critical reception changed between the cancellation and the revival, it's most likely that they realized that they really have nothing to fill the slots and replace their soon ending shows. AMC stumbled into all of their successes, they are not HBO or Showtime, they don't know how to handle original programming. Look at The Walking Dead, it's an incredible success and AMC's strategy since the first season seems to be "Slash the budget, piss off the talent" when thy should throw money at Mazzara right now telling him "Do what you want!" considering the ratings the show brings.

I completely agree. I'm not a fan of The Walking Dead, but it's the popular show is the history of cable TV. Give them whatever they want!

[gblews]

Takeru wrote:

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You should watch it, if you like The Killing you'll abolutely love Forbrydelsen.

No way, AMC wouldn't know quality if it bites it in the ass. It doesn't even matter if you or I like or dislike The Killing. And it's not like the level of quality or critical reception changed between the cancellation and the revival, it's most likely that they realized that they really have nothing to fill the slots and replace their soon ending shows. AMC stumbled into all of their successes, they are not HBO or Showtime, they don't know how to handle original programming. Look at The Walking Dead, it's an incredible success and AMC's strategy since the first season seems to be "Slash the budget, piss off the talent" when thy should throw money at Mazzara right now telling him "Do what you want!" considering the ratings the show brings.

AMC gave us Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Rubicon, The Killing, and some would say, The Walking Dead.

They may not know what to do with great shows when they get them (they screwed around with the budgets on MM, BB, and prematurely cancelled Rubicon and The Killing), but AMC most definitely knows quality when they come across it.

[bigdaddy]

The Killing deserved to be canceled.

Let's be real here people. Why is The Killing getting a third season and getting uncanceled? It's cheap. Netflix is clearly paying for a lot of the budget, otherwise it would have stayed canceled.

[trevanian]

bigdaddy wrote:

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The Killing deserved to be canceled.

Let's be real here people. Why is The Killing getting a third season and getting uncanceled? It's cheap. Netflix is clearly paying for a lot of the budget, otherwise it would have stayed canceled.

With that kind of weak logic, why didn't they just do a continuation of that horrid PRISONER series instead? That at least has marquee value, and some people would tune in just to bitch about how bad it is.

And if it were that cheap, then they wouldn't be shooting on film, which is what they do (and do expertly, with more daring than anybody on tv.)

[sidious618]

The Killing is pretty reviled among critics so they're definitely not bringing it back for quality/critical acclaim.

[gblews]

sidious618 wrote:

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The Killing is pretty reviled among critics so they're definitely not bringing it back for quality/critical acclaim.

The critics are no objective arbitor of quality and no one has said that season 2 (at least) was a "critical" success.

But AMC sure as heck wouldn't give it another go unless they thought there was a fair amount of quality there -- and considering this network's track record with one hour dramas, I'd say they are at least as good judges of quality as the critics if not considerably better.

[sidious618]

gblews wrote:

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The critics are no objective arbitor of quality and no one has said that season 2 (at least) was a "critical" success.

But AMC sure as heck wouldn't give it another go unless they thought there was a fair amount of quality there -- and considering this network's track record with one hour dramas, I'd say they are at least as good judges of quality as the critics if not considerably better.

Networks don't keep shows on just because they think it's good. That simply doesn't happen. If it has CRITICAL acclaim then it might be kept on, especially if the channel is interested in that (i.e. HBO). There's nothing wrong with liking the show but to say that it's seen as high quality is simply incorrect.