| Genre | Drama |
|---|---|
| Creator | Melissa Rosenberg |
| Starring | |
| Composer | Dave Porter |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Num seasons | 1 |
| Num episodes | 8 |
| Executive producer |
|
| Producer | Tim Iacofano |
| Location | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Company | |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Network | ABC |
| First aired | March 3, 2013 |
| Last aired | May 5, 2013 |
Red Widow is an American drama television series created by Melissa Rosenberg, starring Radha Mitchell and Goran Visnjic. On May 11, 2012, ABC picked up Red Widow as a series.[1] The series ran from March 3 to May 5, 2013 and aired on Sundays.[2] The series is based on a 2010 Dutch drama series titled Penoza created by Pieter Bart Korthuis and Diederik van Rooijen.[3]
On May 10, 2013, ABC canceled the series after one season.[4]
Overview
The series stars Radha Mitchell as Marta Walraven, a housewife from Northern California whose husband, a marijuana smuggler, was killed. She has to continue his work to protect her family.
Cast and characters
- Radha Mitchell as Marta Walraven (née Petrova),[5] housewife and widow of Evan Walraven, a marijuana smuggler
- Goran Visnjic as Nicholae Schiller,[6][7] San Francisco's premier crime boss and the man to whom Marta owes money
- Clifton Collins Jr. as James Ramos,[5] the FBI agent assigned to Marta's case
- Rade Šerbedžija as Andrei Petrov,[5] Marta's father, an organized crime boss in the Richmond and a rival of Schiller
- Luke Goss as Luther,[5] one of Andrei's trusted men
- Jaime Ray Newman as Katrina "Kat" Petrova,[5] Marta's and Irwin's sister
- Wil Traval as Irwin Petrov,[5] Marta and Kat's brother, and business partner to Mike and Evan, and now Marta
- Lee Tergesen as Mike Tomlin,[5] business partner to Irwin and Evan, and now Marta
- Sterling Beaumon as Gabriel Walraven,[5] Marta's older son
- Jakob Salvati as Boris "Bobo" Walraven,[5] Marta's younger son
- Erin Moriarty as Natalie Walraven,[5] Marta's daughter and middle child
- Suleka Mathew as Dina Tomlin,[5] Mike's wife and Marta's long-time best friend
- Pedro Pascal as Jay Castillo, Katrina's husband, a tattoo artist
Reception
The show received mixed to negative reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 24% approval rating, based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The website's consensus reads, "Red Widow boasts a strong cast, but its outlandish premise and lackluster execution keep it from being anything but middle-of-the-road."[8] Metacritic assigned the show a score of 48 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]
Mary McNamara, the Los Angeles Times television critic, called the show's two-hour pilot "high-aspiring but poorly executed"; according to McNamara:[10]
Working from the original Dutch series Penoza, Red Widow is plagued by sanctimony. It wants to have it all: a sympathetic soccer mom heroine suddenly willing and able to do business with murderous thugs....It's easy to see the sort of show [creator Melissa] Rosenberg envisioned, one in which a "normal" woman finds herself juggling the mundane tasks of motherhood with the high-octane exploits required to keep one step in front of a drug lord. But the show is too busy hedging its bets—hey, he was just running pot, not the hard stuff, and she feels sort of guilty about dragging him into it—that it undercuts its own potential power.
DVD releases
Red Widow - The Complete 1st Season was released onto DVD on May 28, 2013 in Region 1.[11]
References
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 11, 2012). "ABC Picks Up To Series '666', 'Last Resort', 'How To Live', 'Nashville', 'Penoza', 'Neighbors', 'Zero Hour', 'Red Van'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ Kondology, Amanda (December 4, 2012). "ABC Announces Midseason Premiere Dates for 'Body of Proof', 'Dancing With the Stars' + New Series 'Red Widow', 'Family Tools', 'The Taste' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 17, 2012). "Upfront 2012: More Returning Than New Series With Shorter Orders This Year". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
- ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (May 10, 2013). "'Body of Proof' & 'Red Widow' Canceled by ABC". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
- ^ "RED WIDOW (ABC)". The Futon Critic. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
- ^ Kasperowicz, Leslie (August 20, 2012). "ER's Goran Visnjic Joins ABC's New Drama Red Widow". Television Blend. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
- ^ "Red Widow: GORAN VISNJIC". ABC. Archived from the original on March 5, 2013. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
- ^ "Red Widow". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
- ^ "Red Widow". Metacritic. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
- ^ McNamara, Mary (March 2, 2013). "TV review: Drug-smuggling 'Red Widow' is hard to get behind". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
- ^ Lambert, David (March 29, 2013). "Red Widow - Official ABC/Disney Announcement for USA Release on DVD: Box, Cost, Date". TV Shows On DVD. Archived from the original on April 1, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
External links
- Red Widow at IMDb