Punching Up Lights Out

I've wanted to post my thoughts on FX's new boxing drama "Lights Out," but decided to wait until at least halfway through the season. Too often networks make programming decisions based on early ratings and keep new shows on a very short leash. This is where FX deserves a lot of credit. They believe in letting their programs find an audience and letting the writers actually develop characters without forcing them to fall into the quick gimmick. A game too many broadcast network goons play. While FX has certainly had their one and dones (Terriers, Testees), they far and away have one of the best success rates for continually delivering critically acclaimed shows.

HitFix' Sepinwall and Feinberg once described the premise as "Rocky V, if Rocky V didn't suck." Which is funny because the more I watch, the more I see the parallels to each of the characters between the Sly Stallone stinker and this show. Even the personalities are practically identical between the two sets of characters:

Lights = Rocky (former heavyweight champ from humble beginnings who doesn't know how to do anything else. Always wondering what he might have missed, punch drunk)

Theresa = Adrian (wet blanket wife, forces fighter to retire only to pull 180 and back him at fight time)

Pop = Mickey (old timer, mentor and fighting junkie. Prefers blood, sweat and tears to this modern "crap")

Johnny = Paulie (well-meaning brother whose selfishness puts protagonist in financial jeopardy)

Death Row Reynolds = Apollo (former opponent who won controversial decision over champ, comes to aid of champ in comeback)

Barry Word = George Washington Duke (evil fight promoter/bad don king rip-off)

Hal Brennan = Gazzo (local don, employer/financial backer of champ)

Omar = Tommy Gunn (cocky protege gone off the reservation, terrible haircut)

Characters aside, the show started off a bit sluggish. While the promos looked promising, the first few episodes had me wondering if FX had just recycled another obvious boxing story. The storyline had potential, but I was constantly distracted by the combination of ham-handed and cliched writing along with Razzy-worthy performances. By episode 3, it was hard to not look at this as just another cookie-cutter boxing story: Champ wins, champ loses, champ makes come back. However, I'm glad I stuck it out.

While many of the anecdotes and storylines were painful (I'm talking to you underground MMA fight), they were not in vein. Most helped move everything along for better. By the middle of the season, the stories and the characters were starting to go a bit deeper. Lights was more than just the heavyweight with a big heart. He was a wounded animal that still had a taste for blood. His desperation took a backseat to his love for fighting. It began to click. The episodes became much more watchable and the show began to break away from that Rocky V feeling. The execution could be painful at times (Seriously Mrs. Lights, Adrian was never this awful), but the good began to outweigh the bad. It was no surprise that things would work themselves out and Lights would win the big fight, but you didn't resent them for it as a viewer.

Early reviews have been positive, but the ratings have not been. The reality is boxing has a dwindling audience in reality, let alone fiction. Fans don't really care about a serial drama about a sport that has all but vanished from the sports landscape. So Lights Out will certainly have an uphill battle over the next few weeks. They'll likely find a similar fate to Terriers, a brilliant but canceled show that never found an audience.

Either way, I hope that Lights holds his own against Death Row Reynolds so that the show can get another shot. If that were the case, I'd love for them to dive into the darker corners of boxing and build around the shady the promoters, kickbacks and oppressive alphabet organizations. Part of me thinks that would have made a much more interesting, albeit likely less appealing show. Then again, part of me wants to see a former champ kick some ass every now and again.