The new HBO crime drama
Mare of Easttown opens with shots of a small town tableau. Soon after, we see a beleaguered Kate Winslet hitting a vape.
Wait a minute now, I thought,
are we in a tight-knit community where nobody is quite what they seem … and is this detective trying to solve a crime while she’s wrestling with her personal demons???
The sad TV detective trope is well-worn by now. Sometime in the last 15 years, it was decided that if we’re going to see a character solve a crime on television, they better come with some serious baggage. (I like to imagine that the directive came from a fat cat studio exec chomping on a cigar and shouting “Sadder! Make ‘em sadder!”)
The Outsider: HBO Boss Explains Why Stephen King Series Was Cancelled
Stephen King fans were disappointed when it was confirmed by HBO last fall that
The Outsider wouldn t return for a Season 2, with HBO s chief content officer Casey Bloys detailing that the decision was made due to the failure to find a story worth telling. While some King adaptations only borrow some components of their source material, the first season of
The Outsider covered almost all the details of the original novel, which would require an entirely new adventure be crafted, as Bloys detailed that they couldn t settle on a concept that would match the quality of the first season.