Bitchy Review: Scorned: Love Kills

The series premiere of Scorned: Love Kills debuted on the ID (Investigation Discovery) channel tonight, right after Who The Bleep? Did I Marry and a few minutes into the show, I remember thinking that it it looked a bit like Oxygen's Snapped. I never did finish watching the debut episode because the story looked a little too familiar to me, and then it hit me--because I'd seen it already.....on Snapped. lol I'm going to try to pull up a link from the Shannons' episode, but yeah...this couple was profiled by the show years ago. So with that said, a debut featuring a story that was already profiled by another channel with a show based on a similar concept probably isn't the best way to go.

Since I didn't watch anymore of the premiere because I had already seen the episode, it made me wonder how many others were watching the show as well and had to do the same thing. I mean seriously--if you plan to do a show along the lines of scorned lovers, do your research first is all I'm saying. Snapped is by far the most popular of the 'scorned documentaries.' If some lover, more particularly a woman, has 'snapped' on a lover or a husband and it made the news for the salacious activities that took place or the level of the crime, its likely that Snapped has already gotten to it. So if you intend to create a show that will enter the arena of documentary or investigative report, make sure your episode isn't going to be a repeat to viewers and furthermore, don't make said repeat the debut episode of your show. If that's not the quickest way to kill viewership, I don't know what is other than simply being boring. I mean, its okay to get different perspectives on the matter since the Snapped episode, but at the end of the day the facts were out and televised for years before the debut of the show. The previews of this show made it seem like it was going to be something new, and then it premiered and I was very disappointed to find out the debut was a repeat. It makes no sense to me. Are you telling me, honestly and truly, that market research on similar programs or rival networks was not done? Nobody thought to make sure this profiled story had not already been covered? Hell, even if the story had been covered already and you choose to show it again in a new light, perhaps more insight on the woman's, in this case Joan Shannon's, perspective and mindset while these events were transpiring in her life then that's okay with me. However, it should not have been the debut episode. Definitely not a season opener but the fact that this was a SERIES opener was ridiculous. You can't pull in viewers with something they could probably catch on Oxygen during a Snapped marathon. Even with that being how it is, on the flip side, yes Snapped showed this episode years ago, but that's just it--it was years ago. Like I said, Scorned could have breathed new life into the story by providing deeper insight or any updates since it was first profiled and from what I saw, they hadn't. I believe if they had done that, something to show that this isn't another rewashed story, this wouldn't have been so bad. I don't mean to bitch and complain, but let's be real here---if you owned this network or were in charge of series or season premieres, wouldn't you make sure that they opened with something new and exciting, with some story that even if viewers have read about they haven't actually seen before? This was such a poor thought-out debut that I doubt I'll even be tuning in next week.

Now don't get me wrong, maybe some viewers tonight had not heard about the Shannons' or seen their episode on Snapped. For those viewers, the debut tonight was a good one. I thought about my review and it was rather scathing and only focused on the fact that it was  a rerun. Let me think impartially here--in theory, the story was quite a crazy and twisted one--one that would definitely make for a smash opening. You wouldn't be expecting to hear half the things you did during the episode, and the conclusion is an even bigger surprise than that, at least to me. So excluding the rerun portion of the review, I can say that they actually chose a decent story. The only thing that continues to eat at me is that many of us have seen it already and wanted to see something different and exciting. If ID and this new show would like to avoid being compared to Snapped, they probably shouldn't start their show off with a regularly featured episode from the latter's archives. Just a suggestion. There I go, judging again. lol I'm sorry you all, I just can't seem to get past this at all. I was really excited for this debut especially since I was going to be covering it in a review later, and I feel incredibly let down by what I thought was going to be an interesting documentary on scorned lovers, a new twist on what Snapped usually brings to the table. 

Bitchy Review: Scorned: Love Kills had much potential to bring some excitement to the ID channel. However, their debut episode was lazy, rehashed and from what I saw, included nothing that I did not see years ago. My thinking is that if they are this ill-prepared for their new show and could not muster up the energy to do more digging and give us at least more details on an old story; they instead stole this old news out of Oxygen's backyard for the debut, how much lazier will they be next week? Meh. I don't care to find out.

Bitchy Rating: 1 (out of 5)--was that too harsh?

But just in case if you'd like to tune back in next week, Scorned: Love Kills is on every Saturday night at 10est/9 on 192 for Dish viewers; 285 for DirecTV viewers. Comcast & Time Warner subscribers, contact your local listings to find the channel.