I am – Hercules!!
It’s a drama, from “CSI: Miami” writers Laurie McCarthy (“Beverly Hills 90210”) and Gwendolyn Parker (“Without A Trace”), about 20 dull and mostly weak-minded people (played by Luke Perry, Sarah Wynter and Jason Gedrick, among others) who split $386 million in lottery ticket winnings and proceed to do implausible things.
It’s stellar idea that spawns easily one of the worst series of the year. Nothing about “Windfall” rings true, starting with the winners’ excruciatingly practiced whooping and hollering when they get the good news.
But what matters Herc’s opinion?
Variety says:
… Money changes everything -- except, perhaps, the familiar whiff of stale ensemble drama. … Unfortunately, the mostly uninvolving characters leave NBC holding an account that should yield only marginal interest. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… The characters have the depth of a dollar bill, and their predicaments produce few surprises. It's not that the stories lack potential -- well, some maybe. Mostly it's that the level of drama rarely goes beyond daytime fare. …
USA Today gives it two stars (out of four) and says:
…Clearly, NBC saw what it had and realized it didn't have much. …Alas, the question the show forgot to answer is why we should care. When they complain, we hate them for not appreciating their luck. When they celebrate, we hate them for being lucky. As with any ensemble drama, the lottery is merely a frame on which are hung the stories and the characters. It just happens to be a particularly rickety frame, which is only fitting, because the characters are correspondingly ill-built. …Seldom has a set of characters worn out their welcome more quickly. It's hard to say which plot strand is more familiar or more unappealing: the marriages threatened by old loves; the rebellious teen who uses his wealth against his father; or the brooding quiet guy with the dark past. It takes roughly 10 minutes to know who they are and what they'll do, and to decide you never want to see them again. …
TV Guide says:
… laughably heavy-handed, sketchily written soap about friends and strangers whose lives are upended after sharing a lottery win that averages $20 million per. Secret romances, criminal pasts and recklessly conspicuous consumption combine for an unsatisfying and predictable jumble. …
The New York Times says:
… It's an enjoyable, intriguing look at what can happen to a group of ordinary, cash-strapped people who wake up one day as multimillionaires. … "Windfall" indulges viewers' most extravagant aspirational fantasies about overnight wealth — Champagne, travel, parties, shopping and new cars — but still feeds the human impulse to begrudge and seek solace in others' misfortunes. It's a full-service wish fulfillment. …
The Boston Herald gives it a “C” and says:
… What would you do if you won the lottery? It’s a safe bet you would have more fun than the poor souls in this NBC melodrama held for months and being burned off opposite summer reruns. A close-knit group of middle-class yuppies - and one pizza delivery woman - win a $389 million jackpot. The payoff isn’t nearly as entertaining as you deserve. ...
10 p.m. Thursday. NBC.
