Sara Hanley (Hannah Ware) and Drew Stafford (Chris Johnson), whose marriage is going to be thoroughly tested on ABC's "Betrayal"
ABC loves splashy, oversized, unapologetic prime-time soap operas, and it has all of that in “Betrayal,” which the network hopes will make a cozy Sunday-night companion to “Revenge.”
It has a chance. But ABC soaps tend to rise or fall on whether viewers are drawn to the central female character(s), and in this case, that character may need to become more than just beautiful, tragic and sympathetic.
Although those qualities aren't a bad start.
Hannah Ware, last seen as Kelsey Grammer’s troubled daughter in the underappreciated Starz series “Boss,” plays Sara, a photographer who seems happily married to politically ambitious prosecutor Drew (Chris Johnson).
Then Sara meets roguish hunk Jack (Stuart Townsend), and suddenly she's not so happily married.
And the fun begins. Turns out Jack is a lawyer who represents a powerful corporate megasleaze, Thatcher (James Cromwell). Jack is also married to Thatcher's daughter Megan (Wendy Moniz).
Naturally Drew and Jack end up on opposite sides of a high-profile legal showdown that could decide both their futures.
There are a half-dozen subplots for seasoning, but “Betrayal” is likely to rise or fall on its central triangle, which is why it’s critical that Sara be more than a self-victimizing pawn in a macho tug-of-war.
Presumably the writers and producers know that, and the further good news is that Ware is an engaging actress who is quite capable of commanding a scene.
The rest of the cast also fits nicely, particularly Cromwell as the arrogant patrician with a finely honed sense of entitlement.
With law, politics, forbidden romance and the sordid doings of awful rich people all on the table, the raw material is certainly available for "Betrayal" to become a solid guilty pleasure
dhinckley@nydailynews.com
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