TV Betrayal

If you’re a Sunday night drama on ABC or CBS, you’re probably having the best day ever. Because the numbers are in and dramas are all on the upswing, gobbling viewers away (even when the footballers are at play). Sorry, comedy — looks like Sunday just ain’t your day. The last night of the weekend has become a hotbed for dramatic activities and with the revelations from this weekend’s ratings it’s safe to assume that comedy should just look to broadcast itself elsewhere.

Watching last night's premiere of Betrayal on ABC, it was hard to tell what the focus of the series would be, as the premiere episode spent most of its time introducing us to the budding clandestine love affair between Sara and Jack, and then threw in a murder trial which will affect both of their families. Is the murder the main focus of this series or the affair?

ABC may have its next guilty-pleasure drama experience lined up in Betrayal, a series that combines infidelity, romance and mystery into one as two married people consider having an affair just as their lives are about to get even more complicated. While Jack and Sara fall for one another, a murder ties their lives together in a different way, setting up what could be a suspenseful and dramatic story as we see how this all plays out.

In a series centered around marital infidelity, it's hard to know what kind of tone the story will aim for. Will Betrayal approach the drama as a romance that justifies two people's decisions to cheat on their spouses? Or will it go the Unfaithful/Fatal Attraction route in taking a dark turn? Soaps tend to find the gray area between these two approaches, mixing romance with conflict and so-wrong-it's-right clandestine love affairs, and based on what we know about Betrayal, I'm thinking that's where this series is headed.

Given the growing popularity of steamy soaps like Scandal and Revenge, it's no surprise that ABC might aim to add to that buzz worthy list with another soapy drama. Enter Betrayal, a story about a man and a woman, both married to other people, who find themselves drawn to one another. That in itself is hardly an original story, but factor in a murder trial, which involves both of them on separate sides and things get even more complicated.

ABC has posted their 2013-2014 line-up of new and returning series, which gives us a look at the plan for the network's schedule for the fall. The network has moved The Neighbors over to Friday nights, to join Last Man Standing, and fill the gap left by Malibu Country. Meanwhile, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will air on Tuesday nights, ahead of new comedies The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife, which are sandwiched between another new drama, Lucky 7.

While we won't know if ABC's new drama Red Widow is a success until the series premieres next year, the network may be taking another chance on an adaptation of a Dutch TV series. Put into development for ABC is a U.S. pilot adaptation of Overspel, which will be written by David Zabel (ER).