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In 2004, the film “Crash” captured both audiences, with its daring and gritty exposé of Los Angeles, and the Academy, who awarded the film Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. “Crash” brought to light how presumably disparate lives intersect in unexpected ways, and in the process, it uncovered the prejudices we all may quietly harbor. “Crash” is now a television series based on the film. It premiered Oct. 17 on the premium channel Starz.
This is Starz’s first stab at an hour-long scripted drama. It ordered 13 episodes, hoping to draw in viewers still intrigued with the concept of the film (which itself was conceived as a television series). The show explores America’s social issues through the intersecting lives of a group of people living in Los Angeles.
Dennis Hopper stars as Ben Cendars, a damaged, drug-addled record producer who hires Anthony Adams (Jocko Sims), an African-American poet, as his personal driver. Cop characters almost overwhelm the storyline: LAPD Lieutenant Axel Finet (Nick E. Tarabay) pursues criminals by disregarding the law and violently clashes with Korean EMT and former gang member Eddie Choi (Brian Tee). Axel’s character also tries to keep alive an affair with Officer Bebe Arcel (Arlene Tur). Her partner, Kenny Battaglia (Ross McCall), finds himself oddly drawn to a woman he crashes into and then arrests, Inez (Moran Atias). Housewife Christine Emory (Clare Carey) tries to maintain her perfect façade of a life, while immigrant Cesar Uman (Luis Chavez) works to stay in the States. As they cope with their individual dilemmas, their lives cross, bringing out the best and the worst in one another.
Starz has been promoting the TV series as inventive and modern; however, while the intersecting plotlines of the film blended seamlessly, nothing in the first two episodes of the show quite connects. The first episode commits the fatal TV sin of “pilotitis” (noun, a disease whose main symptom is the ramming of too much material into a pilot episode to make it believable or cohesive). Kevin Beggs, president of TV programming at production company Lionsgate, noted that the film’s structure of intersecting story lines would have been challenging to capture in a single pilot episode, but with 13 episodes, characters can be introduced at a leisurely pace over long arcs.
That’s a bad sign for the show, because the longer it takes for the plotlines to unwind dramatically, the longer it takes for the stories to connect. And television producers are well known for their patience for story arcs and low ratings. However, considering it’s an entire show about interweaving lives, the audience won’t care about any of the plotlines if the characters don’t get enough screen time to develop, and viewers won’t be attached if none of the characters connect as promised. Based on the first few episodes, there is not much to compel the viewer to care about the plotlines, since the characters are mostly insensitive and driven by passé stereotypes.
While it’s obvious that “Crash” will continue to layer its heavy themes, it just appears to be a show that is more concerned by its own ability to be daring and groundbreaking than remotely realistic. What else would you expect from a show whose first episode begins with Dennis Hopper’s mumbling disjointed poetry to his penis in the back seat of a limo? I expect some viewers to enjoy the show, as it provides an intense experience, ripe with strong language, nudity and violence. However, I expected more from a show whose executive producers came from “The Shield,” “The Sopranos” and “The Wire,” all of which have harsh themes and complex narratives that made them highly respected television. If Starz wants its first drama to be well received, it has to pick up the pace.
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