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Undercovers Cancelled

However, I am utterly enthralled by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who's the most gorgeous woman in my TV viewing lineup this season -- and the show does an excellent job of showcasing her, visually and otherwise.
Agreed. She's quite lovely and the main reason I'll miss the show.
 
However, I am utterly enthralled by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who's the most gorgeous woman in my TV viewing lineup this season -- and the show does an excellent job of showcasing her, visually and otherwise. So I'll miss seeing her (though hopefully she'll get a gig on a better show soon). And the actress playing her sister is pretty hot too.

Agreed. She's absolutely amazing to look at, and man, when I heard her real accent in an interview I think I stopped breathing for a second. :)
 
I knew this'd fail as soon as I heard it was about two married spies. Way to not have any will-they-or-won't-they romantic tension, showrunners.

I mean, seriously. I'm not a betting man but I might have bet $100 on it not making a second season, even with JJ producing.
 
This whole spies kick is meh. Who decided that spies should be the next big thing anyway? Regardless, I think CBS's Chaos might be worthwhile (debuting midseason). But it doesn't surprise me that the audience's appetite for the spy genre is very limited.
It seems like we only want to watch spying on ourselves like on Covert Affairs or Nikita :confused:

Is it true they had the couple go undercover in North not South Korea? :guffaw:
 
This whole spies kick is meh. Who decided that spies should be the next big thing anyway?
It's not that unusual. The 60's also had an annoying oversaturation with spy shows (The Man From UNCLE, Wild Wild West, Mission:Impossible, Get Smart, ...) and the usual crapload of crime stuff. Same during the 90's.

Is it true they had the couple go undercover in North not South Korea? :guffaw:
The episode had them go into the north under the guise of Canadian food relief inspectors. It helps that Boris Kodjoe (the male lead actor) is fluent in English, French and German. That way at least his acting was believable, even if the script wasn't exactly Shakespeare material.
 
This whole spies kick is meh. Who decided that spies should be the next big thing anyway?

The viewers who made Chuck successful, I guess. Success breeds imitation.

Chuck is a fun show, but it's never remotely been a ratings success. It's lucky to have been on NBC, where anything that isn't a flaming wreck will be renewed. :rommie:

It's still a mystery where the spy show stuff came from. There wasn't any successful example on the air when it all broke upon us. Cover Affairs has since been proven successful, but what spawned it?
 
Twitter

Boris Kodjoe
Four advils and a heating pad later. Laying in my trailer
41 minutes ago

Boris Kodjoe
Nice. Just threw my back out in the middle of a fight scene. Paiiiiiin. My stand-in Craig shaved his head and jumped in. WTF Am I stressed?
1 hour ago

Boris Kodjoe
@
@Elle3110 UC was finding its tone. We had a half mil more viewers than last week, were growing!! Others r going down still. They quit on us.
2 hours ago

Boris Kodjoe
LMAO RT @rejectedjokes: Shame UnderCovers is ending w Ep 13. Ep 14 wouldve featured Batman, the cast of Twilight and nude Angelina Jolie.
9 hours ago

Boris Kodjoe
We have three more weeks of #Undercovers and the episodes are incredible. Best way to show them is to tune in. Thx 4 ur love. Love you all.
4 Nov

Boris Kodjoe
My kids are happy to have me back for story time. :-) Sophie: 'Mommy, where the heck is Daddy?' LOL
4 Nov

Boris Kodjoe
@
@Only4RM All speculation. 'Chase' had lower ratings than us in demo and overall, with 'Event' as lead-in show, and they were picked up. ???
4 Nov

Boris Kodjoe
@
@LaurielVM Hatte mich auch schon darauf gefreut. :-(
4 Nov

Boris Kodjoe
Now I gotta find a job. Let me know if you hear of any openings.
4 Nov

Boris Kodjoe
@ABRAMSology, @joshreims, @rejectedjokes, @mekiaofficial, Gugu, Carter, and UC writing staff and crew. Best people I've ever worked with.
4 Nov

Boris Kodjoe
But I had an amazing time. I'm forever thankful to @JJAbramsX and @joshreims for giving me this opportunity. Our hard work was so worth it!
4 Nov

Boris Kodjoe
Hey fam. I'm sad and disappointed. I wish they'd given us a chance to find our place. I love the show and I love you all for your support.
 
mythology storyline of upcoming episodes

plans are to air the next three episodes and then leave the final three in the can with the possibility they may run at some unknown point in the future, according to The Hollywood Reporter.com...

"And we find out in episode 12 or 13, I can't remember which, the real reason that Steven and Samantha were actually brought back to the CIA.

And we'll miss a cool guest stint by Dollhouse's Harry Lennix, who plays Steven's brother in an episode where the team heads to a Croatian casino to deal with counterfeiting. "We get to meet Steven's brother ... who we haven't really heard about. He's also an agent, and they get to be in the field together,

Undercovers canceled (and wait'll you hear what we may never see)
http://blastr.com/2010/11/nbcs-cancels-undercovers.php
 
Re: mythology storyline of upcoming episodes

Ya know, I was never impressed enough with the series' premise or the advertising to tune in to watch. The only reason I paid any attention at all was J.J. Abrams name being attached to the project. But it seems like Abrams may be spreading himself too thin. He's had his name attached to a number of TV projects in the last couple of years that have gone nowhere ("Six Degrees", "What About Brian" and now "Undercovers"). When he's heavily involved with a project it seems to do well, but some of the other projects with his name attached to it aren't exactly the best.
 
Re: mythology storyline of upcoming episodes

plans are to air the next three episodes and then leave the final three in the can with the possibility they may run at some unknown point in the future, according to The Hollywood Reporter.com...

"And we find out in episode 12 or 13, I can't remember which, the real reason that Steven and Samantha were actually brought back to the CIA.

And we'll miss a cool guest stint by Dollhouse's Harry Lennix, who plays Steven's brother in an episode where the team heads to a Croatian casino to deal with counterfeiting. "We get to meet Steven's brother ... who we haven't really heard about. He's also an agent, and they get to be in the field together,

Undercovers canceled (and wait'll you hear what we may never see)
http://blastr.com/2010/11/nbcs-cancels-undercovers.php

So the writers intentionally held off on giving us anything remotely interesting in favor of cardboard cutouts with zero backstory playing spy and expected their audience to wait until 13 episodes in for a big twist? Yeah, that was BRILLIANT.
 
Re: mythology storyline of upcoming episodes

I just hope it won't take another ten years for a network drama to prominently feature to black actors in the leading roles. Still, being a complete cynic, I expect the worst.
 
Celebrate.jpg
 
I won't much miss the show; it was mediocre and not very engaging, and the characters of Hoyt and Leo were both intensely annoying. However, I am utterly enthralled by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who's the most gorgeous woman in my TV viewing lineup this season -- and the show does an excellent job of showcasing her, visually and otherwise.

Absolutely agree.

But the show just didn't have that snap - the linear storytelling, it just didn't make for compelling T.V. The show depended too much on the "mission" story to carry it and the mission was never that great a story. The emphasis should have been on the relationship between Smantha and Steven, and it was just blah.

My sister suggested that the show should have begun with us finding out not until the end of the episode, that the Blooms were separated or maybe even divorced - but still with strong feelings for each other. It was like the producers (and maybe the network) were afraid to take any chances with the premise. I continue to think that NBC was hunting for another version of the Cosbys, the Blooms' relationship sort of reminded me of Cliff and Claire - if they'd secretly been spys.

Nice try, though. Hope to see Gugu another American show soon. I'd give it a try just to see her.
 
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I won't much miss the show; it was mediocre and not very engaging, and the characters of Hoyt and Leo were both intensely annoying. However, I am utterly enthralled by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who's the most gorgeous woman in my TV viewing lineup this season -- and the show does an excellent job of showcasing her, visually and otherwise. So I'll miss seeing her (though hopefully she'll get a gig on a better show soon). And the actress playing her sister is pretty hot too.

Also I liked Gerald McRaney here. This show has convinced me that he should play J. Jonah Jameson in the new Spider-Man movies.

The main thing I'm afraid of is that networks will see this show's failure as "proof" that hourlong dramas with African-American (or Afro-British) leads can't succeed, and it'll be another decade or two before we see another.

I share this fear as well. I liked Undercovers. Though I don't think it was necessarily compelling TV, I will miss it. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was amazing. Kodjoe was suave and McRaney was lovingly crusty. Plus, I loved seeing two African-American characters in a 'non-traditional' show and in a not traditional for media anyway relationship (i.e. happy and functional). I also found Leo very annoying. Hoyt was okay. He was no Marshall (Alias), but he was decent.

The show had a tough row to hoe and it didn't do itself any favors by not being gripping. There were no really strong villains and I never really felt the Blooms were in danger once. It's mix of comedy and drama didn't work. Perhaps the show would've worked better if the Blooms had been separated or divorced and the espionage game bought them back together with the potential to rekindle their relationship, like gblews was saying. Who knows? Though I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't relieved to see a functional marriage between black characters that had a healthy sex life. Yes, its that bad when it comes to the depictions of black relationships/love in the media for me. It's a shame though that the show never caught on or got to find its footing.

I hope its failure doesn't continue to relegate black characters to two-dimensional bosses, sidekicks and best friends or stereotypical drug dealers/users, prostitutes, and degenerates on TV. The fact that Undercovers was perhaps the first TV drama (since DS9 perhaps) to have two physically attractive black leads who were both professionals and married is pretty telling about the history and the current state of American TV. Unfortunately I don't have high hopes that we'll get to see a better stab at casting blacks in lead roles not related to stereotypically black themes for quite some time.
 
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