Constantine TV Series is in danger of being cancelled after pilot, due to low ratings.
Reviews of the Constantine TV Series were a bit dismal, considering the expectations from fans of the graphic novel. The Friday time slot also pitted the pilot against The World Series, resulting in low ratings for the first episode.
Friday nights are considered as TV's slack timeslots, and previously considered as predictive of a show's demise once it's moved to the weekend's kick-off. Even though an exceptional few shows thrived during Friday primetime (Grimm), the new Constantine TV Series immediately struggled and is in danger of being cancelled as result.
Comparisons of the show to the DC Hellblazer series, and even to the Keanu Reeves movie adaptation, revealed the TV show didn't live up to expectations, at least on the first episode. Constantine is off to a rocky start, according to a tv.com review:
"As you might've guessed based on all the shows that Constantine seems to recall, the pilot was jam-packed. In fact, it bulged so mightily with concepts, stories, and teases that it's a wonder the show managed to squeeze everything without seeming utterly ridiculous."
The show was also bashed for several irregularities, particularly in the character of Liv, played by Lucy Griffiths.
"Mostly, Constantine's pilot wasn't particularly kind to its characters. Take Liv (Lucy Griffiths), for instance. She sure reacted oddly for a woman who'd gone from a humdrum existence to having the universe revealed to her within a span of 24 hours!"
The Liv character is also cut after the episode, and will be replaced by John Constantine's (Matt Ryan) female companion in the graphic novel, Mary "Zed" Martin, played by Angélica Celaya.
The unsatisfactory reviews give the Constantine TV Series pilot the benefit of the doubt, though.
"Yet the people behind the Constantine TV show offer enough homage to the source material that we can surmise that they are not just here to capitalize on a name with a built-in fan base. This show's team might really understand why Constantine is such a powerful force in comics culture. The challenge for them will be translating that to the screen. In the meantime, Constantine is worth sticking around for. It may not have achieved greatness yet, but it's not half bad either." (denofgeek.com)
