WikiVidi Documentaries
Lucifer (TV series)
Lucifer is an American fantasy police procedural comedy-drama television series developed
by Tom Kapinos that premiered on Fox on January 25, 2016. It features a character created
by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg taken from the comic book series The Sandman,
who later became the protagonist of the spin-off comic book series Lucifer written by Mike Carey,
both published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. In April 2016, Fox renewed the series
for a second season, which premiered on September 19, 2016. On October 31, 2016,
the series received a 22-episode full second season pickup by Fox. On February 13, 2017,
Fox renewed the series for a third season initially of 22 episodes. However, in March 2017,
it was revealed that the final 4 episodes of the second season would be removed
and put in the third season to air,
meaning that the second season would consist of only 18 episodes.
Premise
The series focuses on Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil, who is bored
and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, and resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for Los Angeles.
Lucifer runs a nightclub in Los Angeles called "Lux",
with the assistance of his demonic ally Mazikeen. Lucifer becomes involved with the LAPD
when he begins to assist Detective Chloe Decker in crime cases. He becomes fascinated with Decker
when she appears to be immune to his powers. Lucifer's mother later escapes Hell,
and Lucifer's punishment for her is to stay on Earth, and the celestial family are forced to deal
with the ramifications of this.
Production
In September 2014, it was reported that DC
and Fox were developing a television series based on the Sandman character Lucifer,
as originally written by Neil Gaiman. In February 2015,
it was announced that Tom Ellis had been cast as Lucifer Morningstar,
and that Tom Kapinos would write the pilot, to be directed by Len Wiseman.
Lina Esco was originally cast as Maze, however, the role was later recast with Lesley-Ann Brandt.
Nicholas Gonzalez portrayed Dan in the pilot episode. In May 2015,
the series was officially picked up for 13 episodes for the 2015–16 season.
Fox then hired Almost Human alum Joe Henderson as showrunner,
with Kapinos remaining on the series in a lesser capacity. In June 2016,
it was announced that Tricia Helfer had been cast as Lucifer and Amenadiel's mother, Charlotte,
and that she was to appear in multiple episodes in season 2. The character was promoted
to series regular in July 2016. Aimee Garcia had also been cast as a regular in season 2,
playing L.A.P.D.'s forensic scientist Ella Lopez. In August 2016,
executive producer Ildy Modrovich announced the casting of Michael Imperioli as the angel Uriel,
Amenadiel and Lucifer's middle brother with "a chip on his shoulder".
Music
The opening theme is a six-second clip from "Being Evil Has a Price", performed
by the band Heavy Young Heathens. In a lawsuit filed against Warner Bros., the song's composers,
Robert and Aron Marderosian, claim the song has been used without giving them proper credit
or a licensing agreement. Several episodes include musical performances by Tom Ellis,
although he has stated in interviews that while it is his vocals,
the piano accompaniment seen on screen is not actually him.
 Home media 
The series can be streamed on Amazon Prime in the United Kingdom,
and the first season on CraveTV in Canada.
Critical reception
The pilot episode was screened in July at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con.
The pilot was met positively by the viewers,
with Bleeding Cool's Dan Wickline praising the episode, saying "the show itself is enjoyable,
because of the great dialogue and flawless delivery from its lead" and
"This version of Lucifer refuses to take almost anything seriously and the show is better
for it." Max Nicholson of IGN rated the pilot episode a 6.9/10,
praising Tom Ellis's performance as Lucifer and the lighthearted tone of the show,
but criticizing the show for essentially being another crime procedural show.
The first season received mixed reviews.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 50% approval rating based on 36 reviews,
with an average rating of 5.24/10. The site's critical consensus reads,
"Lucifers got sex appeal,
but the show's hackneyed cop procedural format undermines a potentially entertaining premise."
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 49 out of 100, based 22 critics,
indicating "mixed or average reviews". Critics were more generous of the second season.
It holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on five reviews,
with an average score of 7.75 out of 10. Several critics praised the second season
for its atmosphere and Tom Ellis' performance as Lucifer Morningstar.
Ed Power of the Telegraph gave the season 2 premiere a 4/5 stating that "It is entirely beguiled
by its own preposterousness".
Bernard Boo of We Got This Covered gave the premiere 3.5/5 stars saying
"Lucifer's second season gets off to a nice start,
building on the show's strengths while retaining some of the weaknesses.
It remains an unapologetically sordid, demonically fun hour of TV".
LaToya Ferguson of the AV Club gave it a B, calling the episode funny with
"genuinely funny moments to come from" and saying that the premiere
"starts the season off on a good note". She praised Tom Ellis' performance calling it
"pitch perfect".
Censorship campaign
On May 28, 2015, the American Family Association website One Million Moms launched a petition
to prevent the show's airing. The petition says the new series "will glorify Satan as a caring,
likable person in human flesh." It posted the petition on that date
and 31,312 had signed the petition by the series' premiere date.
The petition on the main AFA website, posted the same date, garnered 134,331 signatures
by the premiere date. In response to the petition,
character creator Neil Gaiman commented on his Tumblr page: "Ah.
It seems like only yesterday that the "Concerned Mothers of America"
announced that they were boycotting The Sandman, because it contained lesbian, gay, bi-sexual
and trans characters.
It was Wanda that upset them most: the idea of a trans-woman in a comic book.
They told us they were organizing a boycott of The Sandman, which they would only stop if we wrote
to the American Family Association and promised to reform.
I wonder if they noticed it didn't work last time, either." Fox renewed the series in April 2016
for a second season.
Thank you for watching.
WikiVidi Documentaries
Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE below.
Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE below.
