CW's 'Beauty and the Beast' Is It Ramping Up To Jump The Shark?

I don't know about you, and maybe it is me, but Beauty and Beast, starring Kristen Kreuk and Jay Ryan is starting to seriously test my patience.

Beauty and Beast (2012), starring Kristen Kreuk and Jay Ryan

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first season, where Catherine (Kreuk) continually did what Vincent (Ryan) told her not to.  (OK, it was a developing pet peeve of mine.)  But it was season one and as the season wore on the story seemed to develop momentum.  The potential was there.  It was unfulfilled potential, but it was there.

Then this season they changed up the story, causing Vincent to lose his memory, putting him on some secretive mission that Catherine can never ask about, threw in her biological father (Good excuse for the bad guys to not put a bullet in her head) and it's a new beginning for our supposed love birds.

But Catherine continually does what he says not to  do (again/still). 

When Vincent lost it with her for continually asking what he's doing and knocked her across the roof out of frustration, to be honest I felt like it was about time.  It was like a message to her to back the *! off.  If this woman consistently blew me off with every single request I made of her, I'd be gone.  But Vincent is more patient.

I keep watching in the hopes that this story line settles down to these two actually having a relationship again.

Then again, it's possible that I'm hellbent to see this reboot start to even come close to the original series that this is based on.

Beauty and the Beast, (1987), Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton

Back in the day, the original series from 1987, the show starred Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim) as Vincent, a mutant of sorts, and Linda Hamilton (Terminator film franchise) as Catherine Chandler, a DA.

In that show, they had an irresistible (and psychic) love connection.  But considering how he looked and where he lived (underground in a secret society of mutants), they could do very little about it because he could not be seen above ground.  We followed Catherine doing her job and when she got in trouble, he sensed it and came to her rescue.

During the series that lasted three seasons, they produced some great stories, music and pieces.  The show won nine awards, including a Golden Globe and three Primetime Emmy awards, one for each season it was aired.  The soundtrack for the show has an incredible array of songs and poetry.  Poetry that Vincent reads to or for Catherine.


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The original series was truly a love story.  This modern day reboot decided to go down the avenue of the secret military program test subject (Vincent) with all kind of secrets and threats from the deeply secretive government program that was behind his transformation.

I was somewhat surprised by this because that man that was behind the '87 series, Ron Koslow, is the man ("creator"/showrunner) behind this new series.

And it looks like he took the (classic) easy way out and is piping out canned content.  Was Koslow desperate and bowed to outside whims?  Who knows, but comparing the 2012 to 1987 series, this new one is s**t.

So many shows these days depend on the mystique of the military to back their story lines and though it may border on "getting old," they basically have new source events from the real world to ping off of. 

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At first I liked what they did with the story for season two.  I felt like they mixed it up nicely.  But with our perky and inquisitive cop continually interfering with Vincent's life, is, well, getting very old.

If it keeps up on this route, I'm probably slating this show to the "watch later" category of shows.  If it doesn't get cancelled.
But is it just me?  I don't think so. 

Comparing TV ratings for this season to last, the numbers are down by 47%.  It seems many folk are tired of the show, for whatever their reasons.  Me, it's the whiny cop who keeps doing stupid things.

What's your beef with CW's version of Beauty and the Beast, if you have one?

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