'Scandal,' 'How to Get Away with Murder' Crossover is Bad Idea

by Julian Spivey
It was announced this week that two of Shonda Rhimes’ ABC dramas “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder” would be doing a crossover episode sometime after each show returns from its winter break.
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This is a bad idea.

If ever a crossover were to work it would likely be this crossover teaming two of the strongest women characters on television in Viola Davis’ Emmy-winning Annalise Keating on “How to Get Away with Murder” and Kerry Washington’s powerful Olivia Pope on “Scandal,” but crossovers are just too gimmicky and should’ve been retired long ago. It seemed like we were done with crossovers a few years ago, but then they came back roaring. Some make since like this one or any crossover among like-minded series like the “NCIS” trilogy on CBS or the ‘Chicago’ trilogy on NBC, but then you get some like the dumbfounding “Bones”/”Sleepy Hollow” crossover a few years ago that led me to having to watch an episode of “Bones,” which I’d never seen before, just to know what was happening on “Sleepy Hollow.”

And, that’s a big problem with crossovers. They are essentially marketing ploys. They can be fun for viewers that watch both shows, but a pain in the butt for those who don’t. They can also be a pain for viewers like me who watch both “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Scandal,” but don’t always watch them in the same week. For instance, I watch “Scandal” on a weekly basis, but don’t keep up with ‘HTGAWM’ weekly, because it’s just not as good. The first half of the ‘HTGAWM’ season ended almost two months ago, and I still have two episodes sitting on my DVR unwatched. Networks use these crossovers to help boost the ratings for each or one of the shows involved and there’s no doubt ABC is hoping the final season of “Scandal” will boost the ratings of the fourth season series ‘HTGAWM.’

The biggest reason I’m not a fan of this crossover is because it’ll come in the second half of the final season of “Scandal” and will likely waste an important episode that could’ve been used getting us to a conclusion of the series. I would like to see “Scandal” go out on top, not trying to figure up neat ways for Pope and Keating to interact, no matter how much fun it may end up being to see. 

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