ONE SEASON WONDERS: Covington Cross

For my One Season Wonder this week, I'm taking a look at Covington Cross!

COVINGTON CROSS

August 25, 1992 - October 31, 1992
7 episodes
ABC

Starring: Nigel Terry, Cherie Lunghi, James Faulkner, Jonathan Firth, Ben Porter, Glenn Quinn and Ione Skye

Created by: Gil Grant

Plot: In 14th Century England, Sir Thomas Grey (Terry) is widowed and raising his sons, William, Richard and Cedric (Porter, Firth & Quinn) and daughter, Eleanor (Skye). William was only in the pilot and a new son, Armus (Tim Killick), was in the rest of the series. Rounding out the main cast is Thomas' love interest, Lady Elizabeth (Lunghi) and Baron John Mullens (Faulkner).

Brief Pilot Review:

What was most noticeable about this pilot was how beautiful it was from a cinematic standpoint. For 1992 standards that is. No show from that era can compete with the technical elements of shows today but compared to its peers in 1992, this was a very impressive looking drama. The sets and costumes were lavish and effectively set the show in its time period. It was also shot very cinematically with the choices for camera angles and shooting styles. I'm not sure if future episodes were quite as cinematic, sometimes the pilot is the high water mark for shows like this. But it looked like ABC spared no expense to make this show something different than standard network drama fare of the day.

I had to temper this show with the knowledge that this is not my type of show. As much as I love historical dramas, I like more recent historical dramas and not ones set in a medieval time period. So I went in with a little bit of a bias but I just found it boring once I got past the impressive look to it (again, for 1992...). It felt like a bunch of typical family drama in an atypical place. The performances were solid, especially Nigel Terry and Ione Skye but the plot just did not interest me in the least. After starting with some excitement (fighting in armor that turned out to be playing around), it just sort of plodded along for the rest of the episode.

What Went Wrong:

As mentioned, Covington Cross was a pretty unique show for a broadcast network in 1992. It was filmed in the United Kingdom at Allington Castle in Kent and was actually produced by a British production company for American television. This was an early example of the many co-productions that populate TV today. It was noted at its premiere for its movie-looking quality. The Baltimore Sun noted how ambitious and expensive it was and showrunner Gil Grant said he got the idea from western dramas while moving the action 500 years earlier. This was the first US TV show to be filmed entirely in the United Kingdom in over 30 years.

Despite the expense of the show, ABC placed it in a very unwinnable timeslot: Saturdays at 8pm. The only network really making headway on Saturdays at that time was NBC with CBS eventually finding its way later in the 1992-93 season with Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. But ABC threw everything at Saturday nights in the late 80s and early 90s and nothing stuck. Reviews were mixed. Variety said it could be a hit and the technical elements were "first rate" while Entertainment Weekly called it "ludicrous." After a preview in August, it lasted just over a month on Saturday nights before being pulled. Seven episodes were left unaired and eventually saw the light of day in other countries.

Tomorrow: A look at Season 5 (Part 2) of Perfect Strangers!

Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at A League of Their Own!