“Stalker” stars Maggie Q (right) as Lt. Beth Davis and Dylan McDermott (left) as Det. Jack Larsen in a psychological thriller about detectives who investigate stalking incidents. (Provided by CBS Broadcasting)
This week’s premieres include possibly the worst drama of the season: “Stalker,” Wednesday at 9 p.m. on CBS4.
It’s not that CBS doesn’t know how to deliver mass-appeal procedurals; that’s the network’s speciality. But the idea of a series built on titillating audiences with violence against women, a voyeuristic show focused on the creepy stalking of vulnerable people (mostly women), is distasteful apart from any questions of casting or character development.
From the opening moments, when a woman is chased, then set ablaze and burned to death in her car, “Stalker” is less a drama than an unnerving and gimmicky set of violent visuals.
Beautiful specimens Maggie Q and Dylan McDermott play cops investigating cases of voyeurism, cyber harrassment and romantic fixation — you know, the stuff so many creepy thrillers allude to without being entirely fixated on. From “Criminal Minds” to “SVU,” “CSI” and “Hannibal” and more, violence against women is a running theme of too many TV dramas yet “Stalker” seems to want to up the ante.
Creator Kevin Williamson (“Dawson’s Creek,” the “Scream” movie franchise) gave sound advice to critics. If you’d rather not “get in the head of a stalker” as this show purports to do, “turn the channel,” Williamson said.
Done.
