By Meghan O’Connor
Contributing Writer
‘Constantine’ is in purgatory, well television purgatory. The NBC show has been getting a lot of buzz but not for the reasons that a television show would want to get it. It premiered in October and since it’s premier ratings have been sporadic. Some episodes have done better than others. The show did a good job promoting itself, making a strong solid move by advertising like crazy during Comic Con’s, but in the past month or so there has been talk that it might not get picked up for a second season. So the question on every viewers mind is, what will the fate of ‘Constantine’ be?
The show is based around the main character John Constantine, a man with a tortured past and haunted by his sins, who is rather quickly pushed into the role of saving humanity from the Rising Darkness. Matt Ryan does an excellent portrayal of John making it look effortless as he brings the comic book character to life on the small screen. He is hysterically funny with a dry sense of humor that comes when you least expect it but is always a breath of fresh air during those intense moments in the show. Add to that he is very witty and sarcastic but also threatening and scary when need be. He also plays John is a very charming way that can’t help but make the viewer smile, even when he is being charming just so he can get what he wants.
He is not alone though. Fighting the Rising Darkness with him are Zed and Chaz, who both make excellent partners. One being psychic (Zed) and the other not being able to die (Chaz) they almost make an unstoppable team. Another strength these two characters have is the ability to bring John down to earth, so to speak. When things get intense, as they often do on ‘Constantine,’ both Chaz and Zed remind John of his humanity and why he is doing the things that he is. The three main characters make a good team, something that you can easily see when watching the show, and their dynamic together is strong.
With all that being said, the truth is it might not get renewed for a season two. NBC originally had ‘Constantine’ airing on Fridays at 10 pm but after the mid- season finale when the show came back, they changed its time slot to Fridays at 8pm. This changed seemed to be for the worst, with the first episode after the mid- season finale doing rather poorly in the ratings. However, just like before, the ratings continued to be sporadic. Two weeks ago the ratings for the show when up drastically when they premiered episode ten, entitled ‘Quid Pro Quo’, the title being translated to ‘Something for Something’.
The episode reveled a lot and had tons of character development, not so much for John but for his sidekicks, Zed and Chaz. The audience learned more about Zed’s past while giving them a look into what Chaz’s life is like when he is not working alongside John. Though there was a lot of history and emotions in this episode, there was still plenty of action and suspense for those who don’t just watch the show for the character development. There was a 13% improvement in the viewer’s giving episode ten a total of 3.48 million viewers.
So what is the fate of ‘Constantine’ should it not be renewed for a second season by NBC? NBC has made the first season only consist of thirteen episodes, even though there were seventeen episode scripts written. This means that they’re leaving four of them unproduced. However, this does not mean that fans of ‘Constantine’ will never see those episodes. Should the show not be renewed several other networks have started buzz saying that they would pick it up, including to be rumored SyFy and The CW.
I have to admit that I love ‘Constantine.’ Every week I become more and more impressed not just with the show itself, but with the actors portraying the characters as well. They give it their all making it very easy to like all three of them and to fear for them when they’re in danger. I became instantly attached to the main characters. The show also does something a lot of shows haven’t been able to do, it actually legitimately scares me from time to time, but in a good way. The show doesn’t do the typical jump scares all the time, like most in its genre, but actually scares the viewers by the realistic ways it portrays the supernatural. It keeps me guessing week to week and the writing is always fresh and new. No episode ever feels stale to me and that’s why it’s such a great show to watch week to week.
With that being said, I don’t think it will be getting a season two on NBC. There are a lot of super hero shows out right now on network television and John Constantine is not your typical average super hero. While this makes me personally love him, this also makes him not as loved by other viewers who might prefer a show more like ‘The Flash.’ The show is very dark and the good guys don’t always win on ‘Constantine.’ It’s gritty and not in the way ‘The Dark Knight’ is gritty. The demons, possessions, and supernatural elements that go on week to week in ‘Constantine’ tend to push the envelope and only draw a specific kind of audience viewership.
What I would like to see is ‘Constantine’ move to a network that caters more to these kind of shows like, for example, SyFy. SyFy is a channel that has television shows on it that deal with more supernatural like concepts and would be a better home for ‘Constantine.’ At the same time, however, I don’t want them to change a thing. I personally would keep the same cast that the show already has, as I stated before they have a good dynamic on screen and it works very well. Plus, an added bonus of moving ‘Constantine’ to a cable network and not being on standard network television would be that they could definitely continue to push the envelope and continue the story the way that it should be continued. All in all, I love ‘Constantine’ and don’t’ want to see it come to an end. But if it came to an end on NBC and moved to another network, I definitely wouldn’t cry about it.
