This is one half of a dueling column about Fox’s new fall comedy, Red Band Society. See the argument for Red Band Society here.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t really get into Red Band Society. The show has so much potential with its fresh and intriguing plot and the fierce Octavia Spencer as one of the main characters. However, the pilot just didn’t sway me. It honestly feels like a slightly forced attempt at a Breakfast Club-like premise where these people who wouldn’t normally be friends come together at this hospital. (They even mention a few times that they wouldn’t be friends otherwise and one of their promotional posters shows the kids raising their fists in the air in triumph. The Breakfast Club comparison is definitely warranted.)
Like The Breakfast Club, Red Band Society relies heavily on friendships and relationships between characters. However, they aren’t developed well enough to the point that would support the manner in which the show depends on them. You get a sense of how the characters relate to each other, but the few characters that probably have a more developed friendship aren’t together enough. The show also tries to bring together juvenile hospital veterans and newcomers, but their interactions are awkward and feel rushed. One moment, they’re trying to get to know one another and, the next, a character starts giving out important tokens to all of them as if they had all known each other for ages.
And then there’s the part where the show introduces a brooding “will they or won’t they?” romance within the first five minutes and gives it the potential of being a love triangle by the end of the episode. That was the last thing I expected out of Red Band Society and one of the things that disappointed me the most, especially after I saw that the showrunners want to make the show as “soapy” as possible. So there’s that.
In addition to genuine relationships, the Red Band Society pilot suffers from a lack of plot trajectory. Sure, there are some questions and situations that the episode poses, but the answers to those questions seem like they’d be relatively simplistic. Not only that, but the solution to a few of the stories would lead to the characters not being on the show anymore. Sure, it’s only the pilot, but I thought it would’ve given some sense of direction.
One of the aspects of Red Band Society that bugged me the most was the dialogue and speech patterns of the kids on the show. You know how some shows or movies depict young teenagers speaking in a weird sort of language that you’ve never heard in your life? Or in a manner that’s too mature for their age range? The characters in Red Band Society speak like a mixture of both of those dialogue “don’ts.” When they’re not speaking in nonsensical witticisms, the characters appear to be having conversations with each other that play more as dialogues of speeches.
I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have a few eyeroll moments while watching the pilot. I really wish I didn’t, especially when watching and listening to these young hospital residents try to explain what they’re going through, but the characters’ lines are just trying too hard to be philosophical. The only one who has a semblance of normal lines is one of the hospital newcomers. The rest of the characters have at least 2-3 incredibly cheesy lines apiece.
The least likable character is definitely the other hospital newcomer. The show takes the mean-girl cheerleader stereotype and pushes it to the point where the character isn’t likable or relateable at all. She’s too over-the-top in the way she acts and talks (I think she speaks her own language at times). Other shows or movies would give the girl some sort of redeemable quality, but this character sorely lacks one. She’s so unlikable that she negatively affects my view of Red Band Society as a whole. Even if the show were otherwise flawless, I don’t think I could watch it if her character was still around.
While Red Band Society does have potential for improvement and Octavia Spencer is one of the best characters (if not the best), the show just doesn’t offer as much return value as I would have hoped. There’s nothing about it that has left me waiting in anticipation to watch the next episode. I may give the show another shot by attempting to watch episode two, but my time might be better served discovering other shows. I just don’t think that Red Band Society is for me.