How to Get Away with Murder is an American drama television series that aired on ABC. It premiered on September 25, 2014, and was renewed for six seasons total.
Unlike what many believed, it came to an end for the 2019-20 period, and today, many people are missing it for how simple yet captivating the plot and characters were built.
The show’s title gives away pretty much what you can expect from the series, but what you may not expect as a first-time viewer or before reading the synopsis is that you will be involved with those from the law than what we consider actual criminals.
With many surprises and what some would call actual “justice,” the TV series can catch anyone’s attention and bring you to your knees with how impressive it is. But is it actually your piece of cake?
We will be covering some of the basic aspects, but more than diving into something you can read only everywhere, we are going to focus on some insides of the series. So, expect some info that will make you watch it once more, or finally give it a try.
Is It Worth Watching? – Plot You Can’t-Miss
Although you must have an idea of what the series is about, there’s much more than the basic idea or concept.
Thus, just dive with us into the plot and what you can expect from the six seasons it has to offer.
First, each of the seasons has 15 episodes, which will give you a good look into how the story is built and a complete case compared to the so-called miniseries today.
With this in mind, the entire TV show follows an idea, but keep in mind that all seasons have a different main goal set. However, we won’t spoil the entire view, so expect a general yet complete overview since the first episode or when the series began airing.
We have Annalise Keating, a criminal defense attorney who is also a law professor at Middleton University in Philadelphia. Known for being a prominent attorney and solving any case, many of her students loved her case.
This top professor picks five of her first-year students to intern at her company while they also work with Frank Delfino, an associate lawyer, and Bonnie Winterbottom, who become their co-workers.
The first season introduces Keating to occasional clients. It also explores two related murders using both flashbacks as well as flashforward sequences, which can turn the first nine episodes a bit confusing for the viewer yet way too interesting to miss.
With flashbacks and sequences introducing us to the murder, we have Annalise’s attempts to cover the victim’s murder and implicate a particular individual.
Although this relation in the first season will be crucial, the following ones continue to follow the lives of our main characters and how their future change while they are trying to finish their college years.
With many murders to investigate (or cover) and each of the five students being more than interns, you have to watch to unfold all the mystery and how their lives end up during their beginnings and the final semester.
Cast & Production: Making the Perfect Murder Possible
Besides drama, you must know this series is considered to be sexy, and for good reasons. However, it is a bit impossible for us to tell you why without giving out some spoiler. Thus, we will leave it at this: the cast members play their roles more than perfectly.
How to Get Away with Murder ran for six seasons, as we have mentioned before, and each of them was a surprise for the audience as well as greatly received by critics. All this was possible thanks to the cast and team’s work.
To begin with, this legal thriller filled with mystery was created by Peter Nowalk. At the same time, the executive producers Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Bill D’Elia, and the creator himself made the entire process possible.
Other people like producers Scott Collins, Tracy Bellomo, and Viola Davis were also involved.
Finally, David Greenspan, Philip Carr Neel, Julia Grove, and Matthew Ramsey were the editors while Michael Price and Jeff Jur handled the cinematography.
When it comes to companies, Shondaland, NoWalk Entertainment, and ABC Studios (which is why the show took part in the original ABC timeslot) were part of the production, while Disney-ABC Domestic Television handled distribution.
But what about the cast?
It is indeed full of great actors and actresses you will love, and we bet you won’t want to miss them. So, just read the list below and see for yourself:
- Viola Davis as Annalise Keating.
- Billy Brown as Nate Lahey.
- Jack Falahee as Connor Walsh.
- Aja Naomi King as Michaela Pratt.
- Matt McGorry as Asher Millstone.
- Charlie Weber as Frank Delfino.
- Liza Weil as Bonnie Winterbottom.
- Conrad Ricamora as Oliver Hampton.
Other members like Karla Souza, Alfred Enoch, Amirah Vann, Rome Flynn, and Tom Verica also took part were great additions despite their appearances being more reduced. Still, Viola remained the outstanding lead actress that brought great ratings to the television show.
Ratings & Numbers: Was It a Big Hit?
If you have read our previous reviews, you must know a series is a bit different from movies. In which way? The latter is much more open about earnings, but series tend to be set by ratings or views.
Basically, you don’t usually get the numbers when it comes to earnings and how much a network is making thanks to each episode or season. Thus, it is only possible to know how big it is or was based on other numbers: ratings.
In the case of How to Get Away with Murder, overall viewership went down for the last few seasons, which is natural for every single series.
The first season saw an amazing premiere with 14.1 million viewers, and the regular ones were about 11 million.
However, season two saw a decrease to about 10 million, and this kept going for the third, fourth, fifth, and final seasons with 7.9, 6.4, 5.1. and 4.2 million, respectively.
The first season of the series was, without a doubt, the big moment, and it was awarded Television Program of the Year in 2014 in the American Film Institute Awards.
Many nominations followed, but most of the wins were received by Viola Davis and her great interpretation of Annalise.
Finally, views tell you a lot about the series, but you really need to wonder about the actual critics and how people received it.
Following Rotten Tomatoes, season one was given 85%. However, seasons two and three went up with 93% and 90%, while the fourth season got the perfect score (100%) on the platform.
For the final two seasons, 83% and 80% were the top marks with fewer reviews compared to the previous seasons.
Now, Metacritic is much more reserved with this TV series as it has 68 out of 100 for the first season, but there is no more punctuation or reviews for the following seasons.
Overall, critics and viewers were positive about the series despite some mixed comments and reviews. After all, it maintained its throne in the genres it focuses on and never went down to 80%- on most platforms.
In some like IMDb that follow a different rating method, it has 8.1/10, and its popularity has maintained despite not ranking in the first hundred.
But What About the Cast? – Making Money with a Murder
We know you must be curious about how much the actors made, considering the series was popular.
As you may know, most actors and actresses earn more based on how long the series runs, its popularity, and salaries are based on per episode and season.
Usually, the main cast members are the ones who disclose their salaries info. However, some of them also remain private about earnings.
In the case of How to Get Away with Murder, Viola Davis was the top earned without a doubt, but how much did she get for getting away with more than one murder (this is not a spoiler, though).
During the first season, Davis was making about $100,000 per episode or even a bit less considering during the first season, which is a lot even for someone of her caliber.
However, details about the specific sum were never disclosed, and we need to move to 2016 when she was earning about $250k per episode, which made her one of the best paid in ABC.
She maintained this salary for the third season, and during the fourth, she presumptively increased her demands to $300k+.
It is for sure that for the last two seasons, Davis was making over $400k per episode, and considering all of the had 15 episodes, she made quite the net worth thanks to the TV show.
But what about the other actors and actresses? Like the ones playing Viola’s students.
Well, we owe you this info. Most of the details for those cast members aren’t disclosed, but they didn’t make as much as Davis, that’s certain.
Some of them made about $200k per episode during the final season, but these are just assumptions, and there are no reliable sources that can support this.
5 Facts About How to Get Away with Murder You’d Kill to Know
- Shonda Rhimes is a great figure in the industry, which is why not many people know the show was actually created by Peter Nowalk, who worked as a writer for Shonda way before creating How to Get Away with Murder.
- Although she has a net worth close to $28 million, Viola Davis grew up in poverty and knew the hardships of not having anything to eat, which connected her with the audience even more.
- The show includes sex scenes, so you’ve been warned!
- Some of the actors and actresses have worked together in previous TV shows.
- Viola Davis played a defense lawyer in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
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