Shonda Rhimes' Scandal Gets Great Ratings; Episode 1 and 2 Review

Let’s start with the good news! Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal on ABC is doing quite well for itself in the ratings. And as a fan of the show, this makes me VERY happy. The show held on to the coveted 18-49 demographic quite well, and even brought in good ratings from the adult crowd. The show kept building and that’s good for Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, Columbus Short and the whole gang of “Fixers”.

Continuing to exhibit solid retention of its Grey’s lead-in during the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s Scandal ranked #1 among Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54. In the hour, ABC’s Scandal more than doubled its freshman drama competition, defeating NBC’s Awake by 188% in Total Viewers, by 170% in Adults 25-54 and by 133% in Adults 18-49. In addition, the new drama won its slot among Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 for the 2nd week in a row.

Bucking the general trend for new shows, ABC’s Scandal was up over its week-ago debut across a number of key demos: Total Viewers (+3%), AD18-34 (+15%), AD18-49 (+5%) and AD25-54 (+4%).

Scandal attracted ABC’s largest audience in the time period in more than 3 months – since 1/5/12.

Yay! I’ve been watching the show religiously and I love the characters (for the most part). Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope is really good. She brings that signature emotion and drama that she is so well known for and the sexual tension between her and Mr. President (Tony Goldwyn) is intense. They are so going to get it on in the White House, mark my words.

In the first episode, we meet Olivia Pope and her crew of “Fixers”. They’re lawyers and one tech guy, but they don’t practice law in the traditional way. They have clients but they represent them like in-house detectives really. They don’t necessarily even stick around to see what ultimately happens, they just help their clients navigate some serious problems like murder (Scandal episode 1) and prostitution (Scandal episode 2).

Scandal takes place in Washington D.C. naturally, so there is tons of juicy, secretive drama going on in the nation’s capital. The first episode of Scandal introduced us to a Republican, anti-gay war hero who turned out to be gay himself and that fact is what saved him from a murder that seemed to be lead all the way back to him. The second episode had to deal with a Supreme Court nominee who came up on a D.C. madam’s list of clients… Only thing is he never went. What he didn’t know (and does find out thanks to Olivia Pope) is that his wife was a call girl and that’s how he ended up on the list. Oh, the DRAMA!

What seems to be impossible to fix at this point is Olivia’s love life. Why? Because she used to screw the President who is married, of course. She left the WH because she wanted him to do the right thing. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen and after an intense first season kiss–I mean, damn! That was hot–I am pretty sure they will meet beneath the sheets once again. *grabs popcorn and 3D glasses*

Tony Goldwyn looks so good for his age and he makes a really good President…when he’s not breaking aides’ hearts, of course. Columbus Short (Harrison Wright) is very sharp but I want more from his character. Right now, he’s Olivia’s top ace but so is Stephen ( played by Henry Ian Cusick). It would be good to develop his character a bit more. Will he save Olivia? What’s going to happen?

The way they treat the new girl, Quinn ( played by Katie Lowes) is a bit annoying. Yes, she’s so green she’s growing moss from her nostrils and ears, but help her out a bit. Why hire her if there is not going to be some sort of tutelage? It’s a waste of time. She asks questions instead of listening and trying to figure stuff out, and when they do deign to answer her, it’s cryptic. When she finds out the answers to her questions, she looks like a deer in the headlights. I hope they develop her character some more as well.

Abby (played by Darby Stanchfield) was very good in the first episode but annoyed me in the second episode. I swear if I had a dollar for every time she complained about Stephen having visited prostitutes, I’d be rich. Enough already. She just seems petty and I need for her to grow up a bit, especially when she works with and for Olivia Pope. She is still affable, but that is sketchy after last night’s episode.

Guillermo Diaz (Half-Baked and Chappelle Show notoriety) is surprisingly calm, cool and collected. I am also intrigued by his character Huck. This is because I remember him from Pop-Copy on Chappelle Show. No, he is like still waters with a whole lot of current going on beneath. I hope we learn more about him soon.

So far, they’ve got a fan in me. It doesn’t hurt to finally see a show where a woman of color is not just tough but vulnerable. She’s in charge, but is trying to make sense of her own life and decisions. I like that. Hopefully, this will be the first of many shows like this. It’s also a really good indicator of how more POCs need to get into writing and tell stories that all of us can identify with. I love Sons of Anarchy and Jax Teller, but I also want to see a show that represents me as well.

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