Scorpion on CBS

I watch every episode. I like the characters.

What amuses me about the show is that the take this whole "genius" angle, coming up with elaborate solutions to problems that "normal" people couldn't possibly think up, and then proceed to become a cartoon that defies all scientific laws. My favorite example of this is when Walter ran and jumped onto the outside of a subway car going 90 miles per hour. It's hilarious.

That, and the fact that Robert Patrick gets to play every Clint Eastwood stereotype episode after episode just entertains the hell out of me.

 

Let me check the meter:



That's pretty much the level of their bad writing and inept plots. Haaaaaaarible show.

 

It is absurd, but absurd in the tradition of 'Mission Impossible', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and 'The A Team'. The show is a live cartoon or comic book, with an ensemble team (a surrogate family - a paradigm that has proven successful in shows like NCIS) of computer nerds instead of super heroes.

Not the worst show to be renewed; there are far worse. CBS itself has 'Mom', 'Two Broke Girls', 'NCIS: LA', 'NCIS" NO' and 'Criminal Minds'.

While I don't hate them, I don't particularly love the characters, the actors portraying them or the acting - but that may be all due to the poor writing.

Katharine McPhee is the real reason (perhaps the only reason) to watch the show. And has anyone noticed that the romantic sub-plot, which I presume will drag out until whenever the show finally ends, is basically a lame high-school story-line: the nerd is in love with the hot cheerleader who is dating a jock.

 

Naw, those shows were fun and stupid. This show is just stupid.

I've been told by a very high-level source that Katherine McPhee is very difficult on set.

 

i would imagine she is because she can be. without her this stinker becomes even worse that it already is.

she is very good looking girl, with a very bright future. she really needs to get away from this drivel, get an acting coach, get some good scripts and take off.

 

Isn't McPhee involved with the other main lead in real life?

I think "Scorpion" is one of the worst shows I can think of. Just utterly awful.

 

You're absolutely right that the show is silly and McPhee as the single mom caretaker of the motley crew of geniuses is the most important cast character. Obviously she's the only one with whom most viewers can directly relate ...although some guys may commisserate with Walter as the misunderstood genius awkwardly trying to make a serious relationship work and never figuring out the opposite sex..., but that might be more about wish fulfillment than anything else.

The plot resolutions are like MacGyver on steroids. I doubt seriously that anyone watching this series is intrigued by the inventive[sic] plot devices. What works, ...and perhaps the most important themes selling this series... is the complicated relationship between Walter and Paige (unrequited love interest), and the fish ...or rather fishes, ...out of water subtext.

In fact, Scorpion may be the boldest fish out of water dramatic comedy ever conceived! We've seen this concept used to great effect for half a century of television series, perhaps the first and best known of those being the original Star Trek, where Leonard Nimoy portrayed the tragically brilliant but socially awkward half-human/half-alien Spock. Data would expand on that roll as an android wishing to understand human emotions in ST: The Next Gen. Other series, like Monk, and more recently Lucifer, have employed this tried and true method of appealing to viewer empathy.

Which brings us to Scorpion, a series where a whole team of nerdy geniuses are social outcasts. They don't fit in with normal society at all, but as a dysfunctional family ...ostracized from society by their geeky appearance and superiority... unite in a purpose to save the human race on a weekly basis. In this respect, they're sorta like the X-Men without super powers or plagued by xenophobic mutant paranoia, and on that one level it could be argued that the series works brilliantly. Faint praise, but worth acknowledging.

It's worth noting that the carrot & stick of Paige's ongoing relationship with Walter is undoubtably the cornerstone of the series. When that relationship is resolved with finality in one fashion or another, I predict the series will end quicker than one of Walter's conveniently timed saves.

The biggest problem with Scorpion, of course, is that little thought has gone into the painfully contrived plots. The resolution to each thrill-packed[sic] episode turns on one Facepalm worthy implausibility after another. And yet, the unsettled romantic backstory still manages to hold viewers. The $64,000 question is for how long?


Cat

 

I like the characters (for the most-part- but I am finding the Psychiatrist constantly obsessing about Happy is getting really annoying), but the plots are really ridiculous. My wife likes it, so I watch it with her. I can see why many would hate it.

 

Gave up on it this year.. I watch Gotham and Lucifer..

 

Same here, I like the characters and there are some funny lines but ridiculous is the right word for the plots. Every week at some point I find myself thinking "you are all too smart to believe that is possible".

 

The ratings are still doing pretty well, so I would expect the show's got a few more years. It just exceeds my threshold for tolerance of stupidity. The fact that it's another by-the-numbers procedural (only with computer nerds) doesn't help. Seen it all before.

 

At times it gets too ridiculous for me as well, but I'm a sucker for fish out of water shows, even the shark jumpers.

 

Watched a few episodes early in the first season. Should've called it "Why Do Smart People Do Stupid things?". Lost interest quickly. Maybe I should get myself checked out because I don't find McPhee attractive and think she's a horrible actress.

 

there is an older film making the cable rounds called "shark tank"....want to see how bad mcphee can act, coupled with how good she can look? find this mess on cable.

 

McPhee isn't a good actress. She got her start from American Idol and transitioned that opportunity into an acting gig. She's a decent singer and only a so so actor. I do find her attractive though.

 

IMO, McPhee is well suited for the role, and you're right about her being attractive. From my perspective, her stable single mom character comes across as more believable (rooted in reality) than her cast mate's characters, but I don't find anyone's acting to be at issue.

I place the series flaws squarely on the writing. Implausible plots, predictable resolutions and precious coincidences cast a long shadow over every episode of Scorpion. Is it any wonder that a MacGyver reboot was green-lit given the cookie cutter success of Scorpion's leave-your-brain-at-the-door hokum?

Sadly, I find myself watching this series as a guilty pleasure just to satisfy my curiosity about the back story. I can't help myself, I enjoy watching underdogs win at love and war, especially when the characters are inherently flawed. The vulnerabilities make their efforts more compelling (and the inane plot devices more forgivable).

Scorpion has a feel-good predictability about it, and like junk food it's mostly empty calories. I keep thinking to myself that I should go on a diet, but like Al Pacino in Godfather III, every time I try to get out, they draw me back in. Maybe an intervention is needed.

For whatever reason, the weekly luck & pluck merry-go-round has managed to hold my attention even though I constantly feel like I'm being manipulated. Vidiot's point is right on the money.

Apologies for my long winded analysis of this series, ...my inherent vulnerability appears to be verbosity.


Cat

 

It's all good and taken in the spirit as it was intended. A fellow DFWer!

I just don't like the show at all. You do and that's cool.

 

i actually watched about 5 minutes of this weeks episode, it is getting worse (if that is possible). lea thompson is just horrible as mcphee's mother, just horrible.

 

not looking too good at getting another season with even MacGyver getting a renew before scorpion ! if it is the end then that was one of worst ending episodes ever !

 

My roomie has a theory that a lot of these shows start out great but then develop into relationship hell when the characters all start sleeping with each other and that's all the show ends up being about. Scorpion came pre-jumped, Shark-wise in this regard, but it has still managed to get worse, with supposedly heart-stopping moments of crisis put on hold so that characters could express their romantic angst to each other. I keep watching it, but I keep wondering why. Paige is still hot, Cabe is still occasionally hilarious, that's about it.

The goofy charm that attracted me to the show in the first place is now done better by McGyver, but that show will get bogged down in relationship hell soon enough.

if Scorpion does get cancelled, it would be kind of hilarious to go out on the current plot point. I'm still convinced that the pretty blonde chemist chick is a plant by Mark to surreptitiously break up Walter and Paige and the team. Maybe we'll never know!!!

 

if scorpion does get cancelled i doubt mcphee gets much work other than a role pretty much identical to this one.

 

I watched it weekly for a while. It became the same plotline with a different story eventually to me. I can't watch the same show over and over. I bailed a year or so ago.

 

It is..or was..a wonderfully imperfect getaway.

 

Best forum name & avatar ever.

Cheers