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Parents' Guide to

Graceland

By Kari Croop, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Twisty drama with guns, drugs rises above hokey premise.

TV USA Drama 2013
Graceland Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

age 17+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 18+

The show turns into trash

Captivating season 1. Seasons 2 and 3 are full of heavy violence, tons and tons of swearing, sex scenes, drug use and addiction, and not really anything worth watching. Wish we would’ve turned it off.
age 16+

updated info

Other reviews did not consider the final season. I would say season 1 and maybe 2 are ok for 14-15 year olds but season 3 kicks up the violence, sex and language. Tons of G-D as well as F bombs. Sex is still infrequent but a couple pretty racy scenes. Violence is much more graphic. Sadly a lot of shows seem to follow this trend. A great season or 2 and then season 3 they push the envelope and unfortunately end up getting cancelled because it was never necessary to push the envelope. Good writing speaks for itself.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (3 ):

It might sound like a description for the next season of The Real World, but Graceland's premise is, in fact, supposed to be taken seriously. Or at least that's what we gather from the gritty overtones of this borderline ridiculous crime drama that at least gets points for creativity. The fact that the beach house got its name thanks to its former owner, a drug lord who was obsessed with Elvis, is mere icing on the cake of crazy.

On the plus side, the largely unknown cast (including Brandon Jay McLaren, whom kids might recognize as the Red SPD Power Ranger) has good chemistry -- although the female characters feel comparatively flat. But the real draw is the plot twist that sets the stage for a gripping game of cat and mouse. That takes place, of course, at the beach.

TV Details

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