Nancy Miller doesn’t understand her own character in Saving Grace
Nancy Miller, creator of the new TNT show “Saving Grace” and its lead character Grace, an obviously alcoholic detective played by Holly Hunter. According to columnist John Jergensen of i<>The Wall Street Journal, Miller says the character “isn’t an alcoholic, though she concedes ‘there are times when she drinks too much.'” The pilot episode portrays Grace as an erratic, misbehaving, promiscuous tramp who pours whiskey in her morning soda. If Ms. Miller reverses cause and effect and fails to identify the driving force of her own character’s egomania, writers might deal only with symptoms rather than the underlying cause and help perpetuate the myth that “the pressures of the job made her turn to alcohol” and similar nonsense. At least some of the critics get it (how could a few not when the alcoholism is so blatant?) and refer to Grace’s alcoholism, while others use the terms “dysfunctional” and “grappling with inner demons,” code words for alcoholism. Too bad, though–it appears to be a waste of talent.