The Cutprice Guignol

I’m handing over to my lovely No But Listen co-author Kevin for today’s post! Check out some more of his work here.

After three years of accidentally ignoring it, I finally started Reacher. I am a moderate fan of the series in its various iterations thus far – I have read a few of the books, one being The Killing Floor which provides the story for season one, and I enjoyed the first Tom Cruise movie. Less because of Cruise and more because his future Mission Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie, got everything right but the casting of the hero, but you can’t win ’em all, right?

So, let’s cut to the chase about the recent TV series starring Alan Ritchson as the titular accountant – I am nearly finished season three, and I have loved every second of it. It’s a hugely enjoyable show; even its flaws I find more funny than annoying, and a big part of that is because it reminds me of the types of action movies from the eighties and nineties that I grew up watching. Many of the tropes of which have been relegated to the banner of “Dad TV”, which is reflective of my age in ways I’m not quite ready to admit to yet. But it did get me thinking about the Dad TV genre as a whole, and where Reacher fits in to that category. Dad TV, as summed up by NPR’s Eric Deggans, is made up of shows whose “target audience is men who are the age where they would have kids, so the fantasy is to have an action-oriented life where you don’t necessarily have the responsibilities that most dads have.”

Okay, fine, that makes sense in terms of who a network or streaming service is aiming their shows at but that does not account for the fact that, according to Parrot Analytics, most of these dads are watching Reacher right beside the mums – the gender disparity is about 57% men to 43% women, hardly the gulf that the show’s Dad TV status might indicate. That also does not account for just how popular Reacher is; from high critic and audience scores to one of the least (not a high bar) toxic Reddit fan communities, the audience for Reacher seems to encompass a lot more than just dads, yet it is the poster boy for Dad TV. I believe I know why.

I am, in marketing terms, a millennial a couple of years removed from the 19-34 range of nearly all popular media being aimed at myself and my experience. The shows that would be considered Dad TV when media wanted my money and attention was the stuff that my gran would watch: Criminal Minds, Bones, Castle, 24, CSI, Law and Order. Admittedly, most of these were procedurals that were in the midway run of the standard hundred-season life-span. Dexter would be another as he bridged the gap between this kind of show and the anti-hero boom that spanned everything from The Sopranos to Breaking Bad. What all of these shows had in common, and I watched a lot of this stuff because there was not labels like Dad TV to put my teenage self off, was proficient, competent characters, single-lead, or partners with chemistry dynamics, and in most of them, absolutely fucking vile things happening to the human body (case in point: I showed my lovely wee gran Hannibal and all she said at the notoriously gory climax of season two was “Jings”. She was made of stronger stuff than me).

So, why did this type of evergreen show get thrust into this new label along with procedurals (nearly every show I just mentioned has been revived on streaming) ,spy shows (The Night Agent), and westerns (the whole Yellowstone hydra)? It is superheroes. That is right, I am picking on the dying genre (don’t throw Spider-Man’s billions at me, him and Batman are bigger than most genres). In terms of action shows, most of which had male leads, highly competent characters, a found family, and a rich mythos to dig into, romantic tension, and a villain of the week instead of a case of the week, it has got to be superhero shows. I should know, I watched them all. From the Arrowverse, the Defenders shows, Agents of Shield, Legion, the Disney + shows and The Boys, the superhero has dominated action television leaving outliers like Banshee (which is better than nearly all of these shows put together) to become a cult classic instead of a huge hit. As the superhero genre is losing its cultural cache, the elements that define it are spreading out to different stories and landing squarely under the Dad TV banner.

Now, despite streamers and networks flogging the dead super horse (looking at you, Lanterns), the shows that are supposedly Dad TV are being watched by everyone who wants a different option. Shows like Reacher, where its titular character is both a cop, a gunslinging modern cowboy going from town righting wrongs, and a superhero all rolled into one giant package. Labels like Dad TV are reductive – these kinds of shows have a universal appeal, and, as the superhero genre goes stale, I think we’re going to be seeing many more try to step up to the plate and deliver these very specific stories. Or maybe I’m Reach(er)ing. Let me know in the comments below!

By Kevin Boyle

(header image via Amazon)