MovieChat Forums > Undercovers (2010) Discussion > The show would have survived if...

The show would have survived if...

posted 13 years ago by pasadenacatpink
35 replies | jump to latest

The lead characters were white. I'm a black person myself, but if they hired white actors as leads in "Undercovers," the show would have better ratings so that NBC would keep the show a little longer. Maybe NBC cancel "Undercovers" not because of the poor writing, acting, and ratings, but the lead characters were black. And I doubt it that no one doesn't know about the woman who played Boris Kojoe's character's wife named GuGu. I don't know why she is named "GuGu!" I researched GuGu and "Undercovers" is her first American show that she ever did. The rest of her works are in the UK, (which where she is normally from). It feels like more people are tuning into shows with white leads than black leads. I guess NBC has turned into the "Nothing But Cr@p" network. Sorry to say that, but that's my opinion.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] catarinaloss 13 years ago

^Not true. 30 Rock and Parks & Rec. are awesome. And The Office used to be good.

[–] michael_j_scofield 13 years ago

Undercovers, Heroes and the new Knight Rider series were the best series on NBC, and they are all cancelled without an end ! :(

I loved Undercovers and i'm definitly going to try to get it back...
Signing petitions will maybe help, i mean, it worked with Jericho, because the fans signed alot of petition and the show recieved a second season of 7 episodes, so if a petition can make NBC change their minds to produce more episodes, then maybe it will be picked up for a full season after the ratings are going up each episode ?

[–] Alinos 13 years ago

heroes should have been cancelled after season 2.

when they decided to save the world instead of let the world get infected by the virus like they had originally planned it ruined the show(thats what cost cutting gets you

[–] TheDuchessofM 13 years ago

Uh....what?

NBC kept UnderCovers on air longer than they did other shows, which they will happily pull the plug on after one or two episodes (anyone remember the much-hyped US version of Coupling?). If anything, they let the show limp its way to lower ratings each week because of Boris and Gugu, and because of J.J. Abrams. I think people are being too hasty in ascribing the cancellation to race; if that's the case, why weren't YOU (and all other black folks) tuning in each week in droves? You know why? Because the show was blandly written and the actors couldn't get the chemistry together.

[–] Salt-and-Limes 13 years ago

I'm a black person myself, and I somewhat disagree with the OP. Let's face it, Undercovers wasn't engaging enough to last more than 1 season. I'm very disappointed with that because I was really rooting for Boris Kodjoe to have another hit show.

[–] gilltee1 13 years ago

To the person insinuating that 'blacks weren't watching the show:' How do you know? Who's monitoring what we're watching? Seriously - I have never been invited to report what I've watched on TV. I think America would be blown away if there were an honest, voluntary system in place to disclose what viewers of all races, creeds and colors are watching. Until then, we're only pawns of whatever we're fed.

That said: Undercovers was not engaging. I don't think this disappointed anyone as much as myself; to think that JJ would save his more uninspired writing for what was considered a somewhat-watershed moment for blacks truly hurts my heart.

Shame on you, J.J.

[–] sbmarto 13 years ago

I love the show, however let's be real. It comes down to ratings (supply and demand). If the African American/Black community isn't going out of their way to support the show, it was going to fail. At least NBC gave the show a shot. That's better than most networks.

[–] madbandit20002000 13 years ago

Bingo.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Washingtonian 13 years ago

Race has nothing to do with this show.

The problem is all the episodes are the same. Dude comes into the catering business, gives them the mission, meets techie somewhere, accomplishes mission, and that's it. We already know the sister knows more than she is leading on, and the couple is starting to ask questions, but ADVANCE THE STORYLINE!

"Alias" always had twists and advanced storylines. The reason viewers dropped is because you had to watch it from the beginning for anything to make sense.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] ladywyntre 13 years ago

For what it's worth, I'm white (as is my husband), and we really enjoyed the show.

[–] gilltee1 13 years ago

Well said, Pizie. Not to mention that we didn't have much of an option other than to watch "white" shows for years.

Nevertheless, the fact that "white" viewers accuse blacks of failing to support "black" shows is sheer ignorance at its best. "Nielsen" isn't handing out boxes and survey sheets to any of the blacks I know - ranging from the lower income to upper income classes. I'm upper-middle class and have never been asked to report on what I watch.

It's easy to dish out assumptions and accusations based on ignorance, isn't it?

[–] Crossingthegulf 10 years ago

I thought the neislen ratings boxes went out in the 90s. It is also equally ignorant for someone to claim that no white people watched the show because it had black leads.

[–] jeffrey_doobin 13 years ago

You're a moron. Who cares if the leads were black. I don't see race, so I don't know. All I know is that this show suffered on many levels - preposterous premise (ex CIA masters who act like amateurs) - poor chemistry - unbelievability - lack of tension - dull lead characters - sloppy, cliched writing.

If anything, the characters being mocha and sexy was the high point of the show.

[–] tramlaw301 13 years ago

It was very bland for a network show. I have to agree with another thread and say that this series would've survived just fine on the USA Network but for prime time TV it didn't have enough drama.

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I'm the Most Special.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] SydneyAlias1306 13 years ago

actually, the show would have survived if they kick Stephen Williams off from the show and find someone else to take over as a head director of the show which would be a co-executive producer going onto an executive producer. I would have been interested if Tucker Gates took over or someone else but not Stephen Williams. Stephen Williams directed episodes got lowest ratings out of other episodes.

[–] Trik_Ster 13 years ago

I'm white (get that out of the way)
I consider the two leads to both be very fine actors and among the most attractive people in media. Top 20 percent easily.

The reasons I quit tuning in wasn't because of them

It was because of the writing I believe, the 2ndary characters and that there was never a feeling of peril

I couldn't stand the *I slept with your wife* guy or *hero worship brown nose* guy

The show was like Charmed in that in the middle of heated battle they'd stop and have long conversations without regard to safety

They were never in danger

And that's why I quite tuning in

I wish the leads the best and look forward to their future works

[–] sasazg-1 13 years ago

You are way of base here....let's be perfectly honest, this show got cancelled because the actors were poor, the chemistry was poor, and some of the spy/action scenes were just plain ridiculous, who on earth heard about spies who suck at spying?!?!

The show got a little better as it went on, but still, the final judgment was that is a bad product. JJ Abrams and his team should have spent more time casting lead characters.