Swimming with Sharks

This may look like prestige TV, but rest assured that it is not. It is entertaining, though. The plot twists are out of a soap opera and characters are as clichéd as they come. Donald Sutherland playing his best Harvey Weinstein is a scene stealer.

This series deserves my rating of 7 simply because it is very dark (and by "dark" I mean noir and not poorly lit), something Hollywood rarely wants to touch with a ten-foot pole. Film makers aren't afraid of violence, not even a little, but it's mostly of the cartoonish variety like John Wick of superhero doggerel in which there are no consequences for the actions. They will show brains painting walls that would put Jackson Pollock to shame, but dark and noir scare the crap out of most film makers. That's too edgy, too emotional, so better just stick to over-the-top Road Runner cartoon violence so as not to upset anyone.

I would rate this even higher if they hadn't thrown a monkey wrench into the pacing in the middle episodes with a few inexplicable music videos which completely deflated the tension they had built in the beginning.

*The Bad Seed 1956 knew a lot about being dark. Totally creeped me out when I watched it when I was ten or eleven.

The re-written version of the 2022 Swimming with Sharks misses the tough-to-come-to-grips-with lessons portrayed in the 1994 original movie. The 2022 series is fine for a consumptive time-passer... The 1994 original will stick with you for life.

I gives this series 6 Stars based solely on the what Kieran Shipka and Diane Kruger offered. The series was 6 episodes and seemed like it was limited due to financial considerations. The premise and the potential story had merits. Unfortunately, the characters (Joyce and Lou) were not developed sufficiently which left unanswered questions about what shaped their personalities and determined their actions. And, there were substantial holes in the story, particularly in Episode 6. With appropriate development of both the characters and the storyline another 4 episodes would have been warranted. And, it easily could have been expanded to a Season 2. Unfortunately, Shipka and Kruger's brilliant portrayals we're wasted.

This is nothing like the original movie starring Kevin Spacey which was about a Hollywood monster turning an innocent dreamer into another Hollywood monster. This is the exact opposite. It's more like THE TEMP or SINGLE WHITE FEMALE (i.e. Intern from hell).

Not sure why you would do that to this theme, but if you know that it's not totally terrible, though it is choppy and cryptic with not much character development.