I had reasonable hopes for Blacklist, the new television series.

I couldn’t even make it through two episodes.

I love James Spader and he is good.

But the show is dreadful, with a very common flaw.

The writers insist on making the FBI and CIA and federal authorities the stupidest

people on the face of the earth.

Now even if you don’t have the highest respect for them as a writer, you still

need to move the action along without always making them the dumbest people in the room. It just gets tiresome.

A show that I like better, The Following, suffers from the same writing fallback

that moves the story along with the FBI almost always a step behind. They offer just

enough nuance from time to time to make the stronger elements of the show win out.

As for Blacklist, it’s on mine.