'Red Widow:' Another lofty ABC drama that might not make it

ABC's newest drama, Red Widow, premiered the first Sunday of March 2013. Can it survive, given that the network has a tendency to yank new shows faster than viewers can even latch on to them? That's debatable, but having just watched the two-hour premiere, I'd say it's unlikely. Maybe I'm wrong, but my first impression wasn't entirely favorable.

The pressure to produce a great pilot TV episode has never been greater than it is in this day and age, and as far as pilots go, Red Widow starts out really slow. I get that it's important to set things up for us, but the first hour really dragged for me. Once things got going, it improved somewhat, but I was still glad when the show was over. Then I got irritated, because well, Red Widow's premiere meant no Revenge this week.

If you have any plans to watch the Red Widow premiere, be warned that I might reveal a spoiler or two. However, the biggest spoiler is in the title of the show, so I really don't feel like I'm giving anything major away.

In Red Widow, Rahda Mitchell is Marta Walraven, a wife and mother of three who lives in a stunning home in affluent Marin County, California. Everything seems hunky dory until we realize that Marta's husband, Evan, is in the import/export business (wink wink). Marta's father is a boss in the Russian mob (yes, in Marin County, California, and honestly that's just one of the many silly facts I found hard to buy). She knows that her husband is involved in dangerous dealings, and she wants him to get out.

Oh, he gets out alright. Evan is murdered outside their home, in front of their youngest child, Boris. And yep, I said Boris: The grand kid of the Russian mob boss' kid is Boris. Marta is left to clean up Evan's messes, including a debt he owes to a particularly dangerous mobster, Nicholae Schiller (the ever-so-handsome Goran Visnjic). She's drawn into this nasty business, whether she likes it or not. She's got to save her family, after all! Never mind that she's got a kind, concerned FBI agent who wants to help her out. No, Marta's going to become a mobster -- or mobstress? Or something like that...

My first reaction to Red Widow is that it's kind of like Weeds. An argument can certainly be made that Marta Walraven's character is quite similar to that of Nancy Botwin, the suburban mom-turned-pot-dealer played (brilliantly, I might add) by Mary-Louise Parker on the now-defunct Showtime drama. Both women take extreme measures to support their families, after all. Note that I said that Red Widow is kind of like Weeds. It's just not nearly as good as Weeds.

You get the idea, right? Red Widow's plot is all very formulaic, really. I mean you can kind of see what's coming a mile away, as Marta begins taking over her hubby's dirty dealings. I really like Radha Mitchell, and I think she's a great actress, but I'm not sold on Red Widow becoming a huge hit for ABC. And right now, the network really needs one. At the moment, only Scandal is really doing well. ABC's other high-profile dramas, Revenge and Nashville, are struggling.

I've got a real love-hate relationship with ABC, and I have for years. Some of my favorite dramas ever are ABC shows (Alias and Lost), but every time I get hooked on a new drama, it gets pulled right out from under me. ABC was right, in my opinion, to cancel the way-too-busy Zero Hour early on. It was just super confusing, though I enjoyed seeing Anthony Edwards back on TV. Edwards just needs a better show, and I'm sure he'll find one eventually. But I actually liked Last Resort and I sort of dug 666 Park Avenue -- and by now we all know what happened to them. They were canceled before I even had a chance to catch up with them on my DVR.

Because so many new shows get zapped so quickly, I'm hesitant to get addicted too early in the game. I'm already in deep with both The Americans and The Following, but I'd really like to add another drama to the mix. I don't expect either of the aforementioned shows to get canceled (The Americans already has a second season order), but Red Widow might not make it. I'm not sure viewers will go for a mob drama that's also super soapy.

At least, hopefully, the incessant Red Widow promos will finally be over. That's something, right? I'll be waiting to see how the ratings are for the show. If they're low, à la Zero Hour, I probably will give up on this one.

Did anyone else watch Red Widow's premiere? Did you like it? Am I crazy to think it's kind of a hot, soapy mess?

Photos courtesy of ShareTV and the Houston Chronicle