I really want to like AMC’s
newest show Preacher. It’s from the
minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and executive produced by Breaking Bad’s Sam Catlin. Hearing Seth
Rogen discuss the comic book the show is based upon along with the litany of
smart people behind the scenes, Preacher
should be a masterpiece. Two episodes in, the show might be, but I just can’t
tell yet. I have no idea if I like this show or not. After an hour-and-a-half
premiere and an hour long second episode, I have a good idea of who these
characters are and what their intentions are. The problem I am having is that I
don’t have an emotional investment in any of them. Preacher so far has gone for style over substance, which it turns
has made for a frustrating television watching experience.
The show is extremely confident
and knows exactly the story it wants to tell and how to tell it. Rogen and
Goldberg have been around television and movie making long enough that it would
have been a disappointment if the show didn’t come out guns blazing. Set in
rural, Friday Night Lights – esque Texas, the show feels like a science fiction
Western. It has the looks and feel of a Western that just so happens to have
aliens and vampires. The cinematography is gorgeous and perfectly lit and feels
like a visual representation of a gritty and dark comic book.
Further, it’s characters are
fully formed. It helps that Rogen and crew have pages of source material to
determine what these characters should be and how they should act (and act with
each other). Preacher throws you
directly into its world like it’s the alien force jumping into Father Jesse Custer.
