The Guilt (1996– ) User Reviews

One of the most clever drama series ever....totally ahead of its time!

[miros412 · 10/10 · 8 February 2006]

I remember watching this show on Fox and getting totally addicted to it. There were twists and turns in every episode, and the storyline was so original...there was nothing like it on television at the time. In brief, Michael & Hope fell madly in love with each other. In an attempt made my Hope's father, Colin, to murder Alan (played by George Hamilton), the plans went awry when Colin's other daughter Kendall was killed instead. Colin framed Michael for Kendall's death, and the series based itself on the race against time and hidden evidence in order to prove Michael's innocence, so that he could regain his life and Hope's love. I remember the acting being so natural on this series, and one day when I was watching a cast/crew interview, the actors mentioned how the director, Dennis Donnelly, would allow the actors to play with the script. The series was definitely scripted, but the actors were given the creative freedom to modify their lines and even ad-lib, in order to make it more realistic. This is in the style of many of today's shows where the scenes are scripted, but the dialog is totally improvised. It appears that "The Guilt" was playing around with this concept before it became popular. As I said above, this series was totally original and ahead of its time...not to mention intriguing and well-acted. It was a drama, but there were also many moments of witty banter and comic relief.

Odd show but refreshing

[jonjay_55 · 6/10 · 1 June 2007]

This show was off the cuff. It looked like an improv half the time which was actually refreshing, because you had no idea what someone was going to say, especially when it came to the actor playing Sean (Peter Kenney). I was astounded by some of the things he got away with and it left me on the floor laughing... where is this dude? Has he done anything else? I want to see more of him! I see some of the other cast pop up here and there on TV- the guy who played Michael is now on Battle Star Galactica and is quite good. One of the three girls is a host on some network and the other two young ones I see a lot- Anyway if you get a chance check out this show, though it was not consistently good, it was ahead of its time as far as improving a dramatic/comedy.

Off the cuff and off the air.

[quark42 · 27 November 2003]

I noticed nobody'd reviewed this show, so this is about the best summary I can come up with:

This show ran from 1996 into some time in 1997 as I recall. George Hamilton (or maybe it was a reasonable facsimilie) was the boss of some corporation. The usual plotting, scheming, and whining that accompany soap operas went on in abundance.

One thing differentiated this show from everything else on TV: either the whole show was done improvisationally, or NONE of the actors ever studied their scripts. This led to rambling, stumbling, even swearing -- the kind not normally allowed on network TV.

This show did for soap operas what the Blair Witch Project did for the price of tea in China. It sucked, but at least nobody noticed.