Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Sex, violence, drugs, language in excellent b-ball drama.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 18+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Survivor's Remorse
What's the Story?
After he receives a lucrative job offer from an Atlanta baseball team and finally escapes his poverty-stricken origins, Cam Calloway (Jessie T. Usher) is feeling SURVIVOR'S REMORSE. He's managed to save his family from the old neighborhood, convincing his beloved sister M-Chuck (Erica Ash); his mom, Cassie (Tichina Arnold); his Uncle Julius (Mike Epps); his cousin-by-marriage Missy (Teyonah Parris); and his best friend and manager Reggie (RonReaco Lee) to move to Atlanta en masse to start enjoying the good life. But back home, relatives and childhood friends are working on Cam's conscience and his bank account, taking a toll on each. Meanwhile, there's drama galore surrounding his new team and its controversial management -- so it's out of the frying pan and into the fire for Cam.
Is It Any Good?
There's a beautiful moment in the pilot of Survivor's Remorse when the grimness of Cam's childhood home and the surreal nature of his sudden wealth is telegraphed in one second flat: The camera pulls up on a bird's-eye view of the parking lot outside an apartment building. Cam's car pulls in, a bright flash against the faded asphalt and marked-off spots with car-size oil spots. A few minutes later, a blackmail plot and violence is foiled by a sincere apology for childhood misdeeds. Show-don't-tell drama and trope-averting plot twists? Intelligent viewers, take notice: This is drama that won't pander to the worst instincts of its viewers and lowest-common-denominator humor.
Cam's challenges are realistic, and the people around him read as real people, too: his louche and laid-back sister, his grasping mom, his stoned philosopher of an uncle, and his sharp-eyed cousin, who warns the newly rich Cam against doling out checks because, "It's been your money, Hammer." With its superior writing and fine acting, this show can be placed in the pantheon of Golden Age television such as Orange Is the New Black, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why the Starz network is airing a drama with edgy content on sex, drugs, and race. Starz is a cable station; what types of things can it depict that network stations cannot? Why would such a station want to reach for controversial content?
Does Cam's life look enviable? Did your opinion change over the course of the series?
How does Survivor's Remorse telegraph the relative wealth of Cam and his cohorts in Atlanta versus their relative poverty in Boston? Consider plot, dialogue, setting, camera angles, and other aspects of filming.
TV Details
- Premiere date : October 4, 2014
- Cast : Jessie T. Usher , RonReaco Lee , Mike Epps
- Network : Starz
- Genre : Comedy
- TV rating :
- Award : NAACP Image Award - NAACP Image Award Nominee
- Last updated : October 4, 2024
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