As soon as the drama series Ringer cast Sarah Michelle Gellar, it quickly became one of the most highly-anticipated new series of the Fall. Initially pitched to CBS, the show instead ended up on The CW, the spiritual successor to the network that became famous thanks to Gellar and her show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
It’s been over 14 years since Buffy first hit the air and eight years since the show had its conclusion. The character became one of the most influential heroines of her generation, and a lot of that can be attributed to the talent of Sarah Michelle Gellar.
I can safely say that Sarah is just as engaging in this new series as she was before. Here, Gellar plays two very different twins, Bridget and Siobhan, and is capable of creating both of the characters uniquely and successfully. Minor annoyance, but it bugs me that in this and the similarly-themed Lying Game, the twins have the exact same freckles… do real identical twins even have that? At least in this case, people seem to notice that Siobhan looks a little different this time around.
And why does Siobhan look different? Through a series of events, Bridget, who is trying to escape a dangerous situation at home, ends up taking her twin sister’s identity. How and why? Watch the show, or check out one of the many trailers.
Bridget and Siobhan are surrounded by a great cast, including Life Unexpected’s Kristoffer Polaha and Fantastic Four’s Ioan Gruffudd. Nestor Carbonell and his guyliner also appear as a man from Bridget’s life. Seeing Bridget interact with Siobhan’s world is really interesting, and Gellar truly plays it like she’s new to it all. The locations used for the pilot are fantastic, and the effect of seeing Sarah Michelle Gellar times two in several scenes is almost creepy, but in a very good way. The show also leaves a good selection of mysteries which is more than enough incentive to tune in to see more.
Although Ringer is getting a lot of press, I cannot honestly say if it will do well or not. It is a definite risk for The CW as it is definitely a more adult, more serious show than their usual fare (although some of that “usual fare” like The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural is quite good, I think it’s clear what I mean). This new direction for programming could prove to be very successful for The CW or it could completely turn off the usual audience. The inclusion of a familiar face in Gellar could help, but could the show be too “grown up” leading out of 90210? I guess we will see. Me, I usually go more for the shows with supernatural elements, but this pilot was strong enough that I’ll definitely continue to tune in, because I want to know what happens next. And about that little demographic problem – it does sound like some younger characters might be coming in and populating the show a bit more as the series goes on. While I hope the show keeps its adult flair, I do think this is a great idea.
Ringer premieres on September 13. You can see all kinds of images, trailers, and more here at KSiteTV, and I hope you’ll all come by the Ringer sub-forum. I’m curious to see what everyone else thinks of it.
