NBC has ordered a full season of Grimm, the popular new fantasy police procedural.
The show had a bit of a slow start, but the ratings picked up quickly, despite the poor time-slot (Friday night is usually a deadly slot for genre television) and my expectations.
It may soon even earn itself a better spot on the schedule, as NBC is going to play the next two new episodes in the same week, one on Thursday 8 December, and the next on Friday 9 December, presumably to see if more people want to watch on Thursday.
If the ratings pick up even further, we’ll surely see the show switch permanently to the safer Thursday slot.
Here’s the official synopsis for the uninitiated:
“Detective Nick Burkhardt thought he was ready for the grim reality of working homicide in Portland, Oregon. That is, until he started to see things… things he couldn’t quite explain. Like a gorgeous woman suddenly transforming into a hideous hag, or an average Joe turning into a vicious troll. Then, after a panicked visit from his only living relative, Nick discovers the truth about his visions: he’s not like everyone else, he’s a descendant of an elite group of hunters known as ‘Grimms’ who are charged with stopping the proliferation of supernatural creatures in the world.
“And so begins his new life journey – albeit a reluctant one at first – as he solves crimes with his partner who knows something about Nick has radically changed but can’t quite put his finger on it. Along the way, Nick finds himself unexpectedly getting help on some of the more difficult cases from Monroe, a guy who seems normal at first but is soon revealed to be what you might call a ‘big bad wolf.’ Literally! While the Brothers Grimm wrote fairy tales that children have adored for generations, imagine if the villains were real, and Nick was the only one who could stop them.”
Yes, the characters are a bit shallow, and the interplay among the actors hasn’t quite struck with the tone of the show yet, but these are issues that may be fixed with time. Meanwhile, Grimm is benefiting from being one of the few genre shows on television right now, and the only one which seems to be hitting the good demographics in a hard way. It boasts the best 18-49 year old adult numbers of any other new primetime show after DVR numbers are factored in.
