Six Degrees finally settles into its conceit, as each character's life begins to affect the others'.
On the brink of cancellation, ABC’s Six Degrees has returned for a second chance. The J.J Abrams-produced drama had a rocky start in the fall season when it bungled the enviable spot as Lost’s lead out, retaining only a fraction of the hit drama’s audience. Nevertheless, the serialized show is back for a deserved second chance.
The conceit of this series is in the title; the idea that we are all separated by six degrees. To that end, the first episodes positioned the New York denizens so that each was separated by a person or two. PR executive Whitney (Bridget Moynahan) became fast friends with Laura (Hope Davis) while sitting next to each her at a manicurist’s. Laura’s nanny, Mae (Erika Christensen), is a woman with a past seeking help and romance with Carlos (Jay Hernandez), who is roommates with Anya (Shiri Appleby), who is dating Steven (Campbell Scott) who is Whitney’s star photographer, and who also happened to take a soon-to-be-famous picture of Laura…and you get the idea.
One of the problems that this series originally had was that there were a lot of characters to introduce. Each had his or her own life and problems, and keeping them all straight became an unwieldy task. But the show is now finding its groove, and the six degrees conceit is becoming interesting, creating a small world of New Yorkers. Instead of jumping from storyline to storyline, we are beginning to see how each person fits with and affects the other.
The formula is by no means perfect, but it is a potentially interesting way to tell a story. Now that the characters have gotten past the introductory stage, there is more room to truly get to know them. Judging from the last two episodes, this appears to be the writers' intent, but at this stage it could go either way. Moynahan, Davis, and Scott breathe life into their characters, but the rest of the cast are still in cardboard cutout territory.
Nevertheless, this series has potential, and is worth checking out. It's not worth Tivo-ing, and it's unlikely to win any awards, but it definitely falls into the guilty pleasure territory. The writing is decent, the cast is good looking and worth hanging out with on a Friday night. ABC could have done themselves a favor and repeated the first batch of episodes to catch up viewers, but the last four episodes are available for free online at abc.com.
Note: The day after posting this, ABC cancelled Six Degrees after it averaged a paltry 1.1 A18-49 rating when it returned to the primetime schedule a couple of weeks ago. It will be replaced on Fridays at 9p with repeats of Wife Swap until NationalBingo Night launches on May 18.
