Nashville

Perhaps the most talked about series of the fall season has been this ABC Country Music Drama. Centering around the Nashville music and, apparently, political scene the two main characters are Tami Terrell, er....Rayna James, a 40 year old country music superstar played by Connie Britton.

Her adversary in the show is a young, poppy country star, you can fill in the blank as to who this character might be modeled after, named Juliet Barnes. Played by Hayden Panettierre, who rose to fame a few years ago in the show of the moment Heroes, as the show begins Juliet is easy to dislike.

Powers Boothe who I will always remember for his performance in the early eighties miniseries on the Guyana Massacre, his role as Jim James earned him far reaching acclaim. In this series he plays Lamar Wyatt, Rayna's father who is a major figure in Nashville politics and could be considered, at least initially, as the J R figure, the master manipulator.

With Connie Britton as the star this show might have one of the largest advantages of any show starting out this year. She is without a doubt the most likable actress in television today. She is wonderful. Still the setting from Friday Night Lights to Nashville is quite different and one can be sure that ABC will not be satisfied to have a critics darling in this series. They are looking for ratings.

As I watched this show my opinion changed a couple of times. In the first fifteen minutes I about wrote the show off. Watching Panettierre snarl her way, as her role needs, as a very unlikable character and my dislike of soap operas I was reading to walk, my wife said however I should give it a chance and she was correct.

I am still not convinced that the show will keep my interest. If I was to bet my guess would be that it will not. It will be more a matter of personal preference on my part and not a denigration of the show. Britton and Boothe are tremendous, of that there is no doubt, I just do not know what the market is for a soap opera set in the country music scene. If one can succeed there is every reason to bet on this one however.