The first season of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

American

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

series ''

Revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

'' premiered on September 21, 2011 and concluded on May 23, 2012, with a total of 22 episodes. The series was created by Mike Kelley and is inspired by the

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

novel ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...

''. The series stars

Madeleine Stowe Madeleine Marie Stowe Mora (born August 18, 1958) is an American actress. She appeared mostly on television before her role in the 1987 crime-comedy film ''Stakeout''. She went on to star in the films ''Revenge'' (1990), ''Unlawful Entry'' (199 ...

and Emily VanCamp.

Plot

Emily Thorne Amanda Clarke, formerly known by the pseudonym Emily Thorne (also known as Emily Grayson), is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ABC television series ''Revenge'' (2011–2015), portrayed by Emily VanCamp. Description Emily Th ...

(Emily VanCamp) comes to the Hamptons, renting a home next to the Grayson family to enjoy a bright summer. However, it is revealed that Emily has been to the Hamptons before as a little girl. In reality, Emily is Amanda Clarke, whose father was framed for a crime he did not commit and sent to prison for life. She was permanently separated from him and never saw him again. Now, she has returned to the Hamptons, intent on getting revenge against those who wronged her and her father, the top of that list being

Victoria Grayson Victoria Eleanor Grayson (''née'' Victoria Eleanor Harper) is the main antagonist of the ABC television series ''Revenge'' (2011–2015). She is portrayed by Madeleine Stowe. Stowe's portrayal of the character has received critical praise. She ...

(Madeleine Stowe), matriarch of the Grayson family and the woman whom her father loved and who, in the end, betrayed him. As she sets her plan in motion, Emily tries to navigate the upper society to destroy those who betrayed her father. But the further she goes, the more her emotions get involved and the more she questions her motives and the moves she makes.

Cast

Main cast

* Emily VanCamp as Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke *

Gabriel Mann Gabriel Mann (born Gabriel Mick; May 14, 1972) is an American actor and model, known for his role as Nolan Ross on the ABC drama series ''Revenge''. He has co-starred in several films, including ''The Life of David Gale'', '' The Bourne Identit ...

as Nolan Ross * Henry Czerny as

Conrad Grayson Conrad Grayson is a fictional character and a major antagonist on the ABC television show ''Revenge'' (2011–2015). He is portrayed by actor Henry Czerny. Overview Czerny was cast in the role in March 2011. Conrad Grayson is the CEO of Grayso ...

* Ashley Madekwe as Ashley Davenport * Nick Wechsler as Jack Porter * Josh Bowman as Daniel Grayson * Connor Paolo as Declan Porter *

Christa B. Allen Christa B. Allen (born November 11, 1991) is an American actress. She is known for playing the younger version of Jennifer Garner's character in '' 13 Going on 30'' (2004) and ''Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'' (2009), as well as for her role as so ...

as Charlotte Grayson

Recurring cast

James Tupper James Tupper (born August 4, 1965) is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Jack Slattery on the ABC television series ''Men in Trees'', Dr. Chris Sands on the NBC medical drama series ''Mercy'', and David Clarke on ABC's ''Revenge''. He also st ...

as David Clarke *

Emily Alyn Lind Emily Alyn Lind (born 2001/2002) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress, when she was known for her recurring role as young Amanda Clarke on the ABC series ''Revenge'', and for her role as Ariel on the CBS medical drama ...

as young Amanda Clarke *

Ashton Holmes Ashton Holmes (born February 17, 1978) is an American actor, best known for the role of Jack Stall in ''A History of Violence'', Private Sidney Phillips in the HBO miniseries '' The Pacific'', Thom on the CW action-thriller series ''Nikita'', a ...

as Tyler Barrol *

Margarita Levieva Margarita Vladimirovna Levieva (russian: Маргари́та Влади́мировна Леви́ева; born 9 February 1980) is a Russian-American actress. Early life Levieva was born in then Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, ...

as Amanda Clarke/Emily Thorne * Amber Valletta as Lydia Davis *

Ed Corbin Ed Corbin is an American actor who is best known for his supporting roles in such films as ''To Protect and Serve'' (2001), '' Chrystal'' (2004), ''Trailer Park of Terror'' (2008) and ''True Grit'' (2010). Early life Corbin attended Armuchee Hig ...

as Bull * Max Martini as Frank Stevens *

Cassius Willis Cassius Willis is an American actor, who has guest starred in various TV shows and movies. He most recently was seen in the recurring roles of Det. Gil Wallace on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' and Det. Robert Gunther on the A ...

as Detective Robert Gunther *

Robbie Amell Robert Patrick Amell IV (born April 21, 1988) is a Canadian-American actor and producer. He is best-known for his roles as Stephen Jameson on The CW series ''The Tomorrow People'', Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm on The CW series ''The Flash'', Natha ...

as Adam Connor * James McCaffrey as Ryan Huntley * Hiroyuki Sanada as Satoshi Takeda *

Courtney B. Vance Courtney Bernard Vance (born March 12, 1960) is an American actor. Known for his commanding presence Vance started his career on stage before transitioning his career into film and television. He's received various accolades including a Tony Awa ...

as Benjamin Brooks *

Yancey Arias Yancey Arias (born June 27, 1971) is an American actor. He played Miguel Cadena in the NBC series '' Kingpin'' and Gabriel Williams in the FX series ''Thief''. Life and career Arias's mother, Miriam, is Puerto Rican and his father, Tony, is Col ...

as Senator Tom Kingsly * Roger Bart as Leo Mason Treadwell * Merrin Dungey as Barbara Snow * James Morrison as Gordon Murphy * Derek Ray as Lee Moran

Guest cast

Veronica Cartwright Veronica Cartwright (born April 20, 1949) is a British-American actress. She is known for appearing in science fiction and horror films, and has earned numerous accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. As a child actress, sh ...

as Judge Elizabeth Blackwell * William Devane as Edward Grayson *

Tess Harper Tessie Jean Harper (''née'' Washam; born August 15, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first film role in 1983's ''Tender Mercies'', and for the Academy Award for Be ...

as Carole Miller *

Amy Landecker Amy Lauren Landecker (born September 30, 1969) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Sarah Pfefferman on the Amazon comedy-drama series ''Transparent'' (2014–2019), as well as her supporting roles in films ''Dan in Real Life'' (2 ...

as Dr. Michelle Banks * CCH Pounder as Warden Sharon Stiles * James Purefoy as Dominik Wright * Alicia Coppola as Melissa Robbins *

Cynthia McFadden Cynthia McFadden (born May 27, 1956) is an American television journalist who is currently the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. She was an anchor and correspondent for ABC News who co-anchored ''Nightline'', and occasion ...

as herself

Development and production

In January 2011,

ordered the script to pilot. In March 2011, actress Emily VanCamp was cast as the lead character, and shortly afterwards it was released that Ashley Madekwe was cast in the series.

and Henry Czerny joined the cast as well. Max Martini and

joined the cast as Frank Stevens, a private investigator and Adam, a wealthy student who is hoping to attend Yale.

replaced

Marc Blucas Marcus Paul Blucas (born January 11, 1972) is an American actor. Prior to his acting career, he played college basketball with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He had his first starring role as soldier and love interest Riley Finn on the WB super ...

in the role of Emily's father, after Blucas was forced to drop out due to his commitment on '' Necessary Roughness''. Recurring '' Gossip Girl'' star Connor Paolo was cast as a series regular playing the character of Declan Porter. Former ''

Nikita Nikita may refer to: * Nikita (given name) * Nikita, Crimea, a town in Crimea * Nikita the Tanner, a character in East Slavic folklore Film and television *''Little Nikita'', a 1988 film * ''La Femme Nikita'' (film), also known as ''Nikita'', a 19 ...

'' star

landed a recurring role as Tyler Barrol, a Harvard classmate of Daniel Grayson. On May 13, 2011, ABC picked the project up to series. On May 17, 2011, ABC announced that the series would air on Wednesday nights at 10:00 pm Eastern/9:00 pm Central in the 2011 fall season.

Episodes

Reception

Critical reception

The first season has been met with generally favorable reviews, with a collective score of 8.3/10 from 37,268 users on

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and 65/100 from 20 media reviews on

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. Dorothy Rabinowitz of ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' praised the series, writing that "The arrival of one pure and unadulterated drama about a passion as old as man is something to celebrate. That's particularly true when that drama is as spellbinding in its satisfyingly gaudy way, as ''Revenge'' turns out to be", whilst awarding particular praise to Van Camp for a "beguiling and entirely chilling study in revenge lust." Writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Alessandra Stanley compared the series favorably with '' Gossip Girl'', concluding that it has "just enough campy suspense to be enjoyable."

Episode 5 Episode Five, Episode 5 or Episode V may refer to: *''The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by ...

of the series received particular acclaim, with C. Orlando of ''TV Fanatic'' writing that "''Revenge'' took things to a whole new level this week", and noting with reference to the set-up of David Clarke that "Victoria seems the only one with a conscience". BuddyTV ranked ''Revenge'' #3 on its list of 2011's best new TV shows.

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

TV also mentioned the series among the top television programs of 2011. The series made the covers of ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'', ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' and ''

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'', and was featured in ''

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'', Vanity Fair,

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People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

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, and

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magazine. The season finale "Reckoning" was met with critical acclaim by fans and critics as well, calling the episode "the best season finale of 2012".

Ratings

The pilot episode scored a 3.3 Nielsen rating in the 18–49 age demographic and 10.02 million viewers, winning the 10 pm hour time slot against ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

'' and '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''. It was reported that ''Revenge'' is the highest rated television series in the hour for ABC since ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

''. On October 22, 2011, it was reported that ''Revenge'' regularly won its hour in the 18–34 and 18–49 age demographics ahead of ''CSI'' and ''Law & Order: SVU''. After a nearly two-month hiatus since February 29, 2012, ''Revenge'' returned on April 18, 2012 at No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings and won its timeslot against every other television network with a first-place finish among Total Viewers, Adults 18–49 and Adults 25–54. ''Revenge'' won over an original episode of NBC's ''Law & Order: SVU'' in Total Viewers (+33%), Adults 18–49 (+53%) and Adults 25–54 (+45%) and generated big year-to-year time-period gains in Total Viewers (+81%), Adults 18–49 (+35%) and Adults 25–54 (+38%), rising over first-run programming on the same night last year. The April 18, 2012 episode attracted ABC's largest audience to the hour since the middle of February sweeps on February 15, 2012. On April 25, 2012, ''Revenge'' won its timeslot for the second consecutive week when the episode rated at No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings among Total Viewers, Adults 18–49, Adults 18–34, and Adults 25–54. ''Revenge'' is ABC’s highest-rated series overall in Wednesday’s 10 p.m. hour in more than 4 years since ''

'' during the 2006–07 television season.

Ratings

UK Ratings

The first season was broadcast on Monday nights at 9 pm on E4. ^aViewers in thousands.
All viewer figures and weekly ranks are from BARB.BARB
scroll to relevant week.

Awards

The first season of ''Revenge'' was nominated for Favorite New TV Drama at the 2012 People's Choice Awards. Madeleine Stowe received a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

nomination for Best Actress in a TV drama.

Home media releases

The first season of ''Revenge'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on August 21, 2012 in region 1. The set includes all 22 episodes and bonus material such as "Nolan's World: An Interview With The Infamous Nolan Ross"; "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Dangerous: The Making Of REVENGE"; "Hamptons Bound: Preparing For Life At The Shore"; deleted scenes and

blooper A blooper is a short clip from a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms o ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Revenge Season 1 2011 American television seasons 2012 American television seasons