“Deception” is deceptively good

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:29:00 +0000

If you are looking for some upscale junk food — beautifully packaged, nicely performed, delectably plotted, but shot through with hot air and likely to make you queasy by the time you reach the end of the bag — look no further than NBC’s soap-mystery “Deception,” which starts tonight, and is, at least for now, scrumptious. ("Deception" was previously named “Notorious” and "Infamous" and I'd be interested to see the market testing numbers on the disparate appeal of these nouns. Was “Notorious” too Paris Hilton, or too Alfred Hitchcock? Or was it just that no one in the demo knew about Alfred Hitchcock?) “Deception” joins “Revenge” in the burgeoning “Melodramatic Crimes of the Rich and Famous” subgenre, but judging from a sample size of three episodes, it is far less ridiculous than ABC’s almost militantly campy soap, while still being a healthy amount of ridiculous. One does not watch Melodramatic Crimes of the Rich and Famous shows for them to be understated, after all. (Upon completion, one's fingers should be orange, but not permanently stained.)

Salon.com > tate donovan

“Deception” is deceptively good