Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
Short answer: no
This week, the much-hyped, soapy new drama Notoriousdebuts on ABC smack dab in between Thursday-night powerhouses Grey's Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder. (Scandalwas pushed to midseason to accommodate Kerry Washington's pregnancy.)
Loosely based on the peculiar real-life relationship between criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos and Larry King Live producer Wendy Walker, Notorious stars Daniel Sunjata and Piper Perabo as friends who have no problem exploiting the media, the justice system and each other if it helps them get ahead. But while Notorious has all the obvious trappings of a Shondaland series (snappy banter, dramatic monologues, torrid affairs and sensational crimes), Notorious has no business disrupting the TGIT block.
Julia (Perabo) is a producer on a popular cable news show, but as one character explains, Julia's job is so much more than that: "She decides what the country cares about. She creates heroes and monsters, victims and villains. Julia George tells the world what to pay attention to and what really matters."
But for someone who supposedly decides who the media vilifies and who they embrace, Julia's personality remains frustratingly ambiguous. Would she cross any line to produce high ratings? Maybe. Would she put her journalistic integrity at risk to help those closest to her? Perhaps. Does she live for this job, or does she want to do more with her life? Who the heck knows?! It's impossible to say much definitively about Julia, because her priorities are never firmly established throughout the pilot, despite her being the show's female lead.
In one telling scene, Julia has agreed to sell out her ex on national television because the original guest was a no-show and they needed a big story. When she expresses doubts to the show's host about going through with it, Julia is told she can handle the interview because she's "a tough-a-- bitch." Hearing this, Julia smiles and all of her doubts are seemingly quelled.
It's a bizarre moment, and one that best encapsulates how far from Shondaland Notorious truly is. The women in Shonda Rhimes' shows always know who they are, what they want and how far they're willing to go. They make their own decisions, and even when these choices might seem wrong (like, say, rigging an election or covering up a murder), it's easy to understand why these women chose that path. Julia George is such a distorted echo of the empowered Meredith Grey, Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating, it does Rhimes a disservice to even mention them together in the same sentence.
Grey's Anatomy: Battle lines are drawn at Grey Sloan in Season 13