TV Review: ‘The L.A. Complex’ Gets Lost on Familiar Journey

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CHICAGO – The CW continues to waste the goodwill generated by pop culture hits like “Gossip Girl,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and “Supernatural” with yet another misfire in the worst year in the fledgling network’s history. “The L.A. Complex” makes the trip tonight via Canada and this generic, cliched snooze isn’t bad enough to be entertaining in a B-movie kind of way. It’s just the worst thing TV can be — boring.

TV Rating: 2.0/5.0

Like CBS’s “Flashpoint” and ABC’s “Rookie Blue,” “The L.A. Complex” is another Canadian import, a show that played to reasonable audiences (by Canadian standards) North of the border and now fills one of many holes in the schedule of The CW. To say that we’ve seen this overly familiar soap opera before would be an understatement. It’s yet another saga of beautiful young men and women trying to get their break in the city of angels. While some of the young cast is more charismatic than other entries in this over-crowded genre, teachers could use the pilot of “The L.A. Complex” to help their students understand the definition of the word generic. We’ve seen it before and TV as a medium is in too much of a forward-thinking place right now to make this backward show viable to a modern audience. Even the characters on other CW shows would look down their nose at this one. If Blair wouldn’t watch it, should you?

The L.A. Complex
Photo credit: The CW

Much like “Melrose Place” (which had a failed reboot recently and you would think that would be a cautionary tale to the people who paid to put “The L.A. Complex” on The CW), this sexy drama takes place at one apartment building filled with varying degrees of dreamers. There are the wide-eyed folks just off the bus mixing with those who seem close to seeing their names in lights mingling with those who are on the other way down the rocky hill of fame.

The L.A. Complex Photo credit: The CW

If there’s a lead, it’s probably Abby (Cassie Steele of “Degrassi: The Next Generation”), the girl fresh off the bus who chose to follow her dreams instead of sticking with an unsupportive boyfriend. Steele is definitely charismatic and interesting to watch. One hopes she finds a better show. In terms of other positive notes regarding cast, Jewel Staite of “Firefly” appears as an actress named Raquel who had a hit and so has name value and gets recognized but can’t make ends meet. Staite is always great.

Circling around Abby and Raquel are Connor (Jonathan Patrick Moore), a handsome actor about to get his big break, Nick (Joe Dincol), a stand-up comedian who gets more laughs when he serves coffee than on the stage, Alicia (Chelan Simmons), a sexy dancer willing to do whatever it takes to get the job, Kaldrick (Andra Fuller), an aspiring hip-hop star, and Tariq (Benjamin Charles Watson), the wannabe DJ working as an intern instead of behind the boards.

“The L.A. Complex” taps into that vein of potential stardom that has been a foundation of Hollywood for years. Every other waitress, every other barista, every other store clerk thinks that they could be the next star. And they think it could happen tomorrow. But it might not happen until next month, next year, or ever at all. There’s something about this dynamic — a dream that could be around the corner but always out of reach — that has made for high-quality drama, especially in the world of the soap opera.

The problem is that there are no more stories to tell here. At least not on network TV and in a style that feels this overly familiar. We’ve been to this complex. We’ve seen these characters. And so it becomes impossible to care about their dreams, passions, and ideals without feeling like we’ve cared already. What does “The L.A. Complex” bring to a network that is desperately in need of new ideas other than old, unfulfilled dreams?

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com