Copycat films (or shows) can be fine. "Bait" was more or less a copy of "Enemy of the State," but was very well done with a sharp cast that made it almost as good. The same cannot be said, however, for "13 Reasons Why," which hearkens back to the "very special" episodes of the 1970s, and the movies-of-the-week which would preempt them. Making us feel GUILTY for not watching something, as if we somehow contributed to poor Hannah Baker's suicide, is a tried-and-true marketing tactic for "important" fiction. Unfortunately for the audience, but fortunately for shareholders of Netflix, the series proves more than distribution kills superior independent work as efficiently as bullying killed Hannah.

It's not clear how much "A Girl Like Her" was inspired by 13 Reasons, but the buzz created by that film (also on Netflix) certainly sparked interest in a big-budget version of this project, later abandoned and which would have had Selena Gomez in the lead. Gomez, a fine singing talent, and someone for whom the underlying issues have hit home, would have effectively been playing an exaggerated version of herself, without the intricate skillset required to pull off an emotionally-charged role in a manner which wins major awards.

A show like this is going to rise and fall with the performance of its lead, in this case the very inexperienced Katherine Langford, an actress who is pretty enough, but clearly lacking in the nuance and depth which makes Lexi Ainsworth such a thrill to watch on General Hospital. A longtime fan of Lexi's, I was glad to see her career take a big step forward with her acclaimed performance in A Girl Like Her, only to watch that film's thunder be stolen much like life itself was taken from Hannah. Put simply, knowing what Lexi could have done with his material makes Katherine extremely painful to watch, but casting Lexi (as should have been done here) would have drawn attention to the similarities, so that must have been out.

This show has the same annoying self-aware tone which torpedoed Riverdale, making the series almost a parody of itself. Even in the scenes which are supposed to drive Hannah to suicide, we see no genuine expressions of congruent emotions, but actors throwing tokens at these extremes as one might tokens at a turnstile. Crying on cue, relating to the audience, and actually FEELING the terror and horror experienced by someone like Hanna is a very specific acting skill Lexi possesses in boatloads, and Katherine Langhorn clearly does not. Because of this, 13 Reasons Why falls apart almost from the get-go, at let to the trained Hollywood eye, though the Netflix audience seems not to notice or care.

13 Reasons Why is a good watch solely because others are watching it, and it has sparked discussions about important issues, but none of this was driven by memorable acting. I look forward to the day when an actress like Lexi, or the indies who produced A Girl Like Her, can get the muscle of a Netflix behind one of their projects, because if they ever did, the result would blow away a show like this, and the distribution would ensure that everyone in the world would know it.