The Big Door Prize, the new dramedy series from AppleTV+ (adapted from M.O. Walsh’s book of the same name) looks at how group-think – and predictions of the future – can impact a town and force people to take a good hard look at their lives and who they want to become. The plot itself is rather simple: A mysterious machine appears in the town general store one night, offering out single-word destinies to those who “play” it. These destinies range from the good (Hero, Royalty), to the mundane (Teacher/Whistler, Father), to the troubling (Liar, Ghost). But for each person who opts into the machine’s predictive possibilities, the word sends them off on a journey (usually within the course of a single episode dedicated to their character, although all arcs intersect throughout the season as a whole) to figure out just who they are, how they are seen by the town, and who they want to become.
Our central character is Dusty (Chris O’Dowd, who is in fine form as the bumbling, but sweet, suburban dad), a high school teacher who loves his wife, Cass (even if he doesn’t really see her the way she wants to be seen, played with great depth by Gabrielle Dennis), loves his daughter, Trina (who is desperate to escape this town and the pressures that come within small town life, played pitch perfectly by Djouliet Amara), and who is, on the whole, pretty secure in who he is. His destiny is a disappointment because it doesn’t seem to really offer him any insight into himself that he hasn’t already worked out. Of course, when you have a character who appears to be staid within the chaos around him (appears being the operative word, because you know a show like this is going to ask things of all of its characters at some point), it means those that orbit him can have the chance to really cut loose and delve into their personal journeys (and Dusty, by proxy, will be pulled along with them). And that’s precisely what happens throughout the first season of the series, for good and for ill.
In an ensemble series, much of the show rests on the strength of that ensemble. When the writing it taut, the characters compelling, and the performances are clear and nuanced, things work well. But when the recipe is a bit off – as is the case with a couple of the show’s characters – then it doesn’t quite work and things start veering off the track. A lot of the up and down nature of the series has to do with its structure. As mentioned above, each episode is (at least until the two-part season finale that attempts to tie together the various arcs) named after a particular character and delves into their particular reaction to their destiny. When the focus is on a character who we know (or who is truly central to the fuller narrative arc), it works pretty well. For example, the episode looking at Josh Segarra’s bombastic Giorgio is a solid one. But there are a couple of characters who never really take off (including the very underwritten Izzy – Cass’s seemingly self-absorbed mother and town mayor – and the overwritten Father Reuben) and when we get to spend an entire episode following their tale it just doesn’t work.
The mystery of the machine itself also threads, loosely, throughout the season. Where did it come from? How is it determining the destinies of the townspeople? Is it dangerous? There are a myriad of questions asked, but the questions are quickly forgotten as destiny fever sweeps through the town. While there’s certainly evidence that the series wants to take a look at how people react to learning that their fate may be predetermined (we get a great speech from Dusty on the topic at one point), that goal also gets subsumed by too many characters taking center stage throughout the season. The big picture questions – arguably the most interesting part of a series like this one – never get any real payoff because we’ve got upwards of a dozen characters vying for story and screen time in a half-hour series. There’s just too much going on to get into what the show wants to address. The conflict between servicing individual characters and providing a macro look at how this new information is impacting the town leads to a dysfunctional narrative that can’t quite recover, despite some fun episodes, some strong performances, and a generally interesting central conflict.
But, even when it’s not hitting the mark, there’s enough here to entice you to come back for another episode – well, at least when the episode is highlighting one of the show’s stronger characters. And I was intrigued enough to wonder just what answers might come our way in a second season, especially with O’Dowd’s assured performance helping to hold down in the story in later episodes in the season. The Big Door Prize isn’t a winner, but there are enough parts left within the series to make it interesting enough to get me back for another go round.
The Big Door Prize premieres on AppleTV+ on March 29. All ten episodes of the season were provided for review.
Correction: A previous version of this review stated that AppleTV+ had renewed the show for a second season. The series has not year been renewed for a second season.
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