Scott D. Pierce: Fox’s ‘Empire’ is just downright terrible TV

Fox's "Empire" is a terrible show.

There, I've said it. I've wanted to say it for a long time. Since the start of Season 2, and I had serious reservations about Season 1.

I've never understood the critical praise heaped on the show by some. It is — at best — a guilty pleasure. The kind of show you might be able to have a good time with because you're laughing at it.

Giving credit where credit is due, Season 1 of "Empire" was entertaining in a ludicrous, over-the-top kind of way.

But Season 2 is just plain bad. Bad writing. Bad acting. Bad directing. Bad, bad, bad.

OK, the music is good.

I'm not down on "Empire" because it's a prime-time soap. I like prime-time soaps. I'm a fan of "Devious Maids," and I miss shows like "Desperate Housewives," "Melrose Place," "Knots Landing," "Dallas" and "Dynasty."

Co-creator/executive producer Lee Daniels has compared "Empire" to campy, absurd "Dynasty" (1981-89). And "Empire" has enormous similarities to "Dallas" (1978-91) and its repeated battles over Ewing Oil, a plot device that eventually wore thin but kept the show going for 357 episodes.

"Empire" has pretty much appropriated the "Dallas" storyline, morphing it into a battle for Empire Entertainment. The upcoming episode of "Empire" (Wednesday, 8 p.m., Fox/Ch. 13) is that series' 23rd, and the device has already grown tiresome.

It's also just one of many soap plots "Empire" has, um, appropriated, from a badly done paternity mystery to a miscarriage to an ongoing battle between ex-spouses Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson).

The series began with a serious soap-opera cheat — Lucious was diagnosed with a fatal disease, which we later learned was a misdiagnosis. Lame.

The battle for Empire goes from derivative to stupid on Wednesday with Lucious threatening to murder his son and Cookie physically attacking the young man in a scene reminiscent of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch.

Clearly, Henson is having a great time playing Cookie. But it's insane that she was nominated for an Emmy and won a Golden Globe for her mugging and scenery-chewing.

(More evidence that the Globes are not legit. And not a proud moment for the Emmys.)

I admit that I've always been ill-at-ease watching "Empire" because of Terrence Howard's presence. There's something decidedly uncomfortable about watching a man with a history of domestic violence and homophobia playing a character who's abusive toward women and his gay son. A character who committed murder in the first episode.

On the one hand, I applaud the fact that, for the first time in TV history, there's a successful weekly drama with a predominantly African-American cast. On the other hand, it's unfortunate that several of the African Americans are drug-dealers and/or murderers.

And too bad 'Empire' is awful.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.