# The Black List



## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

Pilot? Pretty intense; maybe a bit overblown as pilots can be, but promising.

I have always been a huge James Spader fan, but could not watch him in dreck like _Boston Public_. Here, he pretty much resurrects an older version of his character from _Two Days In The Valley,_ which because of his performance ranks right up there in my top ten. _Less Than Zero _is I guess when I knew he was really a terrific actor and not just a Brat Pack flash in the pan.

That said, without JS this show has promise. With him, even more.

Your thoughts, please.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

I thought it was good. To me it is like 24 meets Silence of The Lambs. I liked it a lot. That being said, I am still upset at NBC for cutting the show "Chase" a few years ago. It was really good. I will say that FOX is worse at cutting shows as I really got into Chicago Code and Alcatraz and both were cut after 1 season. I am definitely gonna watch The Blacklist though. It could get old after 1-2 seasons. Not sure how they would keep it fresh.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

It was an excellent pilot designed to grab that demo crowd that "The Voice" lead-in gave it, much like "Revolution" last year. And it held more viewers in the second half hour than the "Revolution" premier.

With that said, I think it is a good basic story premise with some great opportunities for backstories offered by good writers and a very good cast.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Yes this one is definitely a keeper! I really enjoyed it, also always been a Spader fan, I even liked him in Boston Legal. Of course the one thing that did surprise me is that they didn't reveal that Spader's character is the father of the young FBI agent he insists on working with exclusively. It just seemed so obvious to me that I was sure by the end of the hour they were going to reveal that, but maybe they want to see how long they can get away with dragging out that little secret. Of course the longer they take the more people are going to be figuring it out and will be less surprised when they finally reveal it. It'll actually make me happy if I'm wrong because there's nothing better than a show where you think you've got it figured out and then they totally end up going in a direction you didn't see coming at all. Anyway despite that little distraction I did enjoy it and it'll be near the top of my list of shows that I watch soon after it's recorded.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

tsmacro said:


> ... the one thing that did surprise me is that they didn't reveal that Spader's character is the father of the young FBI agent he insists on working with exclusively. It just seemed so obvious to me that I was sure by the end of the hour they were going to reveal that, but maybe they want to see how long they can get away with dragging out that little secret. Of course the longer they take the more people are going to be figuring it out and will be less surprised when they finally reveal it...


What I find interesting here is that they may never have thought of this, but it is such a good idea that someone from the show may see this and lift your idea to incorporate into the storyline. Stranger things have happened; I once invented a forum user title only to see it appear two years later on a T-shirt Stewey was wearing in _Family Guy _(Spiritual Gyn.....).


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## Church AV Guy (Jul 9, 2007)

The carving on the front of her husband's secret box matches the scar on her hand. I'll bet it isn't a scar (in the usual sense) but a deliberate brand put on her for identification purposes, by her now absent father. Guesses who that might be? He did actually ask about it--dead giveaway.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Church AV Guy said:


> The carving on the front of her husband's secret box matches the scar on her hand. I'll bet it isn't a scar (in the usual sense) but a deliberate brand put on her for identification purposes, by her now absent father. Guesses who that might be? He did actually ask about it--dead giveaway.


Sounds reasonable to me.
It was definitely intense. So were several of the others that started back up this week, like NCIS, etc.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

tsmacro said:


> ...the one thing that did surprise me is that they didn't reveal that Spader's character is the father of the young FBI agent he insists on working with exclusively. It just seemed so obvious to me that I was sure by the end of the hour they were going to reveal that, but maybe they want to see how long they can get away with dragging out that little secret...


Since your post I have seen a number of folks speculating this same thing.

This makes Red's offhand comment in last night's terrific ep 2 even more interesting (paraphrasing) "OK, we'll tell them you're my daughter".

What I found really interesting is the use of _Sympathy For The Devil _in the opening scene. It seems obvious that the Stones have lowered their sellout price...even _America's Got Talent _used it last year. But what is unusual is that they remixed it significantly, something the artist rarely agrees to, intellectual content and all.

The original has two shakers, one panned right and one panned left, and congas, panned right. The remix from BL was obviously the same vocal track, but they had frequency-notched out both shakers and congas, and added some electronic rap percussion effect. It was a good remix and probably updated pretty well from 1975 or whenever this song debuted, but that is not something that happens very often on a network show.

But I consider ep 2 a step up from ep 1.

A couple of things did not make sense, tho, and maybe I was just distracted.



Spoiler



FIrst, I did not understand the "third option", and it was not clear what path she took regarding that.

Second, how did Red know to have the "antidote"? Was he behind the attempted demise of this person, and did he engineer this with a cohort? If so, that could threaten his bid for a comfortable incarceration. None of that made much sense to me, motivationally.


Those are not spoilers, but if you have the answer you should probably respond in spoiler formatting.


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## Church AV Guy (Jul 9, 2007)

Well first,


Spoiler



he said that there were two options, to confront the husband and ask for an explanation, or turn him into the authorities, where the passports would get him x years in jail each, etc. OR, there was a third unspoken option, and that was what she went with--don't mention the box to the husband and just put it back under the floor and under the carpet.



And second,


Spoiler



he later said that the antidote was a lie. There was NO antidote, which is why the woman died. No matter how quickly it would have been administered, it wouldn't have mattered since it would not have worked. He admitted to killed her with the same drug she was using to kidnap and sell into sexual slavery all those teenage girls. A fitting end, from his perspective. Yes, HE did it.



For some reason, I'm really liking this show. I can't explain it. I usually am pulled out of the story by such implausibilities, but for some reason, it is working for me.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

Yes, I agree, and it is only getting better (at least in ep 2).

But


Spoiler



While it was obvious that the "antidote" was a ruse that he used to get a deathbed confession, it seems like a boneheaded move to kill her. Exposing her would have been enough to end her, and now he is on record as a murderer, even if vigilanteistic, and he is trying to garner favor with law enforcement so it seems at cross purposes.

How I will interpret this is that he is ruthless enough to not care about that, and that he is confident he is holding enough high cards to be able to get away with that in spite of what it might do to put the value of working with him in question.

That makes the character that much more interesting.


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## Church AV Guy (Jul 9, 2007)

TomCat said:


> Yes, I agree, and it is only getting better (at least in ep 2).
> 
> But
> 
> ...


well, my take on it is:


Spoiler



He despised her thoroughly. She admitted to the same thing about him. For two people, that deeply into evil, it's not surprising that they would have attempted to kill each other. Oh, and I don't think Red did it personally, but he somehow got "The Freelancer" to do it for him. Either way, he was responsible for her death. She was reprehensible, but that does not justify cold-blooded murder.


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## bnwrx (Dec 29, 2007)

TomCat said:


> Since your post I have seen a number of folks speculating this same thing.
> 
> This makes Red's offhand comment in last night's terrific ep 2 even more interesting (paraphrasing) "OK, we'll tell them you're my daughter".
> 
> ...


Just some info here.....The year was 1968, the Album "Beggars Banquet".....


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

You pick your source web site, but just to note that "The Blacklist" has received a full season order from NBC.


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## cj9788 (May 14, 2003)

The freelancer poisoned the wine, he was the waiter and when Red revealed the poison they did a little flashback showing her taking the wine from the freelancer and drinking it.

As to him being her father, did they say how old she was when he disappeared? One would think if she was old enough to remember then she would recognize him as her dad. Also being in the Navy they would have her dads finger prints and possibly DNA on file to match against Red.

Personally i think her dad was selling secrets to Red and they became very close. Her dad is either dead or in hiding somewhere. It would be really lame and predictable if it turns out Red is her dad..

Just my two cents........


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Wonder why they had spader open a letter that showed



Spoiler



Megan Boone's birthday


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

First, how did you figure that out, and second, Yeah, Shes nice...


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

cj9788 said:


> As to him being her father, ....
> ...It would be really lame and predictable if it turns out Red is her dad...


As for lame, I fail to see why that would be.

As for predictable, you have to be not paying attention to not suspect this, and every internet fool you run accross seems to want to trumpet this as is they discovered the cure for cancer.

All they do not have is the element of surprise. And so what? The "truth" that she bargained out of Red in ep 3, and the answer to "why me?", was "it's about your father", which likely means he was technically probably telling the truth, yet still being cagey and trying to not tell her that "your father" was someone who he could refer to in the first person instead of the third person.

But that was still somewhat short of a dead giveaway. If it turns out he is not her father and this internet meme turns out to be as ridiculous as "Paul is dead" was in 1969, then they will have pulled off one of the great head fakes of all time.

And in spite of all of that, the show just keeps getting better every week.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

I like this new series. It has many possibilities because nothing is quite what it seems.


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## cj9788 (May 14, 2003)

TomCat said:


> As for lame, I fail to see why that would be.
> 
> As for predictable, you have to be not paying attention to not suspect this, and every internet fool you run accross seems to want to trumpet this as is they discovered the cure for cancer.
> 
> ...


If Red is her father that would be predictable and that would make it lame. I hate when shows follow a template of predictability, I want to be surprised with plot twists and not being able to see things coming. So far this show doing well in that regard. I was surprised at who the "bad guy" turned out to be in the second episode. I did not see that one coming. All I can say with any degree of certainty is that this show has my attention and has piqued my interest. I do not think Red is her father and I will eat the predicable plate of crow if it turns out that he is. But for that to happen they have to do a lot of explaining and twisting of the story to make that real, given what we know about Red and the little bit of info they have given us on her father. I just hope that the writers do not disappoint us either way.......


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

I think It's good enough to be able to get over any "lameness" that predictability might incur. You even admit that it has a running track record of being entertainingly unpredictable in other ways, so I would just accept that and cut them a break. Not much of anything in TV is perfect.

Think of it the same way we positively regard the concept of "flawed beauty". After all, not many straight men would turn down supermodel Cindy Crawford because she has "that mole". A "lame" little problem like being predictable one time can't really hurt a show this good very much; it would be just one more reason to not watch a show that was already lame <_cough_<_lucky 7_>_cough_>.

The concept of it being true is so entrenched out there already that it makes one wonder if the show didn't try to plant this themselves just as a red herring.

It's my current fave among the new shows, and the show to beat.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

The Blacklist is being preempted next week for a The Voice special.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/11/13/nbc-pre-empting-the-blacklist-on-monday-november-18-airing-the-voice-from-9-11pm/215488/


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## yosoyellobo (Nov 1, 2006)

dpeters11 said:


> The Blacklist is being preempted next week for a The Voice special.
> 
> http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/11/13/nbc-pre-empting-the-blacklist-on-monday-november-18-airing-the-voice-from-9-11pm/215488/


Minus one viewer.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Remember to extend Blacklist Sunday, it's after the Super Bowl.


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## seern (Jan 13, 2007)

Already did it by 3 hours, I have been burned often enough on shows that come after sporting events.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

Thanks,
I would have missed that.


dpeters11 said:


> Remember to extend Blacklist Sunday, it's after the Super Bowl.


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## Henry (Nov 15, 2007)

> Remember to extend Blacklist Sunday, it's after the Super Bowl.


Done, thanks.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

dpeters11 said:


> Remember to extend Blacklist Sunday, it's after the Super Bowl.


Done. Thanks for the reminder.

However, if for some reason the extended recording doesn't work NBC is showing this episode at 8 pm Thursday before the next new episode at its new regular day and time, Thursdays at 9 pm.

If you missed the news the folks in the NBC scheduling department have taken on the challenge to see if they can kill their highest rated scripted drama by putting it opposite ABC"s "Scandal", as well as opposite the final episodes of CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and doubtful Fox newby "Backstrom."

In the meantime they are going to see if they can finally give away the Monday 10 pm slot with "The Night Shift", a just ok summer medical drama I really don't believe "The Voice" lead in is going to make 10 pm viewers watch "The Night Shift" in droves against "Castle" and "NCIS: LA". But what do I know?


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

dpeters11 said:


> Remember to extend Blacklist Sunday, it's after the Super Bowl.


Thanks. One would think NBC would reschedule it for the following week.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

MysteryMan said:


> Thanks. One would think NBC would reschedule it for the following week.


In their minds, the Super Bowl (or The Big Game for the lawyers) is a great lead in.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

What they need to do is make sure it repeates later in the week... and screw with guide data and label it as new again... People would get over it...


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## 1980ws (Mar 18, 2008)

dpeters11 said:


> Remember to extend Blacklist Sunday, it's after the Super Bowl.


The nights of me watching anything after 10 PM are long gone. All hail the DVR!


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## yosoyellobo (Nov 1, 2006)

1980ws said:


> The nights of me watching anything after 10 PM are long gone. All hail the DVR!


I still stay up late. Getting up early is now a thing of the past for me.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

I extended my timer by 45 minutes, but my Hopper ignored me, and only recorded an hour's worth. Good thing it is being repeated.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

I added three hours to the SB, then also recorded BL, but without padding. Forgot that, and deleted the SB recording and so my BL was truncated. Have to wait till Thursday night.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I had a timer set for the late local news ... just in case. I ended up watching "live TV" paused for about a half an hour on the main tuner while the recordings took place on another tuner.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

phrelin said:


> If you missed the news the folks in the NBC scheduling department have taken on the challenge to see if they can kill their highest rated scripted drama by putting it opposite ABC"s "Scandal", as well as opposite the final episodes of CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and doubtful Fox newby "Backstrom."


Prior to the last Thursday, "The Blacklist" on Monday enjoyed ratings that ran in the area of 2.7/8 - 9.5 million _in a 10 pm slot_. So they looked around and noticed that at 9 pm on Thursday ABC's "Scandal" was doing even better even against the CBS comedy llineup, so they moved "The Blacklist" there where this week it scored 1.7/5 - 8.00 million, ranking it #3 in that timeslot in broadcast TV live+same day.

My guess is it will do well in live+7 day and various streaming/on demand. And I recognize that on Monday it would not have had "The Voice" as a lead-in. But IMHO this show's ratings bragging rights were given away for no good reason. I don't understand NBC.


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