This volume should round out NBC's new dramas. Below you'll find clips and snap judgments on The Event, which will premiere this fall, as well as Harry's Law and The Cape, which are slated for midseason. Whether or not that's how things will actually pan out, however, is up for grabs. As you may have noticed on NBC's fall schedule, Wednesday nights have Law & Order: Los Angeles penciled in for a fall pairing with SVU. I say "penciled in" because as near as I can tell, they have yet to do absolutely anything with this yet (you know, aside from killing off original flavor just one season shy of the record). Beyond the title, they don't seem to have a clue in hell what this is going to be (and I suspect, if this is going to be). At any rate, the total lack of anything about this one means I don't have much to review really, so at least I can knock one pilot off my list. (The fact that LOLA got picked up without so much as a pilot makes the unceremonious death of The Rockford Files reboot all the more embarrassing. Word is, even after re-cutting the pilot extensively, it was still too dull to make it on the air--ouch.)
Anyway, without further ado, here's three more of NBC's deluge of pilots (seriously, I don't know how they are affording all these new shows and can't imagine they'll have the budget to promote them properly)...
THE EVENT
Description: Stars Jason Ritter (The Class, and most recently as Lorelai's love interest on Parenthood), Sarah Roemer (Disturbia), Blair Underwood (Dirty Sexy Money), Laura Innes, (Dr. Weaver from ER), and Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls). Ian Anthony Dale (Daybreak) and Emmy winner Željko Ivanek (Damages) also star in the ensemble drama. Steve Stark (Medium, Facing Kate) serves as executive producer, Nick Wauters (The 4400, Eureka) is creator/co-executive producer and Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights, Trauma) is the director/executive producer; Evan Katz (24) also is an executive producer.
My Take: Well, they certainly told us a whole lot about what The Event is not, I'll give it that much. The very fact that they have titled the show with such a bald-faced plea for this show to become appointment TV is annoying enough, but then for the trailer to be all vague in a "you can't handle the truth" kind of way is bordering on obnoxious. It honestly looks like a slick, high-budget, high-concept show with some serious talent on and off the screen, so I guess I'm mainly just quibbling with how it was presented. They're quite obviously aiming for the kind of mystery and intrigue that gave Lost its luster, but the trailer for Lost had people salivating for more. When people first started watching Lost, no one really knew just how many twists and turns they were in for. With The Event's trailer, the producers are basically shouting at potential viewers, "Hey, look over here! There's going to be all sorts of mystery, and everyone loves a good mystery, right!? Okay, I'll give you a few hints... The assassination plot isn't the event. Are you glued to your TV yet?!" I, for one, am not. I'm not saying it won't be a good show, because it very well may be, but the way they're promoting it just isn't doing it for me. As with other recent high-concept serials like The Nine, Six Degrees, and FlashForward, I have a sinking feeling that unless they start presenting this to people in a more tantalizing, concrete way, the show is going to start off very strong, then falter. Off the bat, it strikes me as a good idea for a movie or miniseries than a TV show. But, once again, it's hard to really sum up the show given that the trailer basically told us a whole bunch of what the show isn't. I'm not even sure what the base conceit is, so really, we have a mystery at the core, surrounded by more mysterious mysteries. At the end of the day, really good thrillers are as solid in some areas as they are amorphous in others. They should give you an idea of what you're in for week-to-week, but hold back enough to keep you sucked in. So far? The Event gives me nothing tangible to latch onto. On the plus side, this series has some real power-players at the helm, so assuming the pilot tells viewers even 1% of what is going on, they might just be able to hit this one out of the park. The trailer was too unnecessarily disjointed to really get a feel for who's who (one minute the president knows Dr. Weaver, the next minute he doesn't? One minute Jason Ritter's fiancee is missing, the next she's running with him?), but assuming the show itself manages to define them, it could be pretty spectacular. I'm no fan of Blair Underwood, but the rest of the cast is very strong. I'm not too familiar with the behind-the-scenes production crew though, so it's a tough call. This one could really go either way. I was unimpressed and a little annoyed by the trailer, but I was able to parse out enough solid fundamentals that they might just pull it off. Again, I'm left with the feeling that I don't actually have any clue in hell what this show is going to be (seriously, who are these people?), so I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to tune it. My prediction? Well-made, engaging pilot with strong ratings, soon to be followed by people losing interest as the show meanders its way through 873 mysteries while it forsakes actual substance. For those of you hoping to break into the biz, that, my friends, is not the impression a trailer should be hoping to make. Inexplicably, I learned a hell of a lot more about the show based on this blurb about it on the web than I did from the trailer:
"The Event" is an emotional high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter), an Everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée, Leila (Sarah Roemer), and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history. Sean's quest will send ripples through the lives of an eclectic band of strangers, including: newly elected U.S. President Martinez (Blair Underwood); Sophia (Laura Innes), who is the leader of a mysterious group of detainees; and Sean’s shadowy father-in-law (Scott Patterson). Their futures are on a collision course in a global conspiracy that could ultimately change the fate of mankind.
Oh, so that's what this is?! Good to know! Why, that's the kind of information that should have been delivered via the trailer! Oy... Anyway, at least from the blurb it sounds like they have a plan. Probably an overly-ambitious plan, but a plan nonetheless. This show has gotten quite a lot of buzz on Twitter and elsewhere, so it looks like the trailer has sucked others in more so than myself. Here's hoping this is simply a classic case of bad trailer, awesome show, because by most accounts, this show looks to have some serious promise.
HARRY'S LAW
Description: From Emmy Award-winning creator David E. Kelley (The Practice, Boston Legal). Stars Kathy Bates (Misery, About Schmidt), Ben Chaplin, (Me and Orson Wells, The Truth About Cats and Dogs) and Aml Ameen (Kidulthood). Also stars Brittany Snow (Hairspray) and Beatrice Rosen (Dark Knight) David E. Kelley and Bill D’Elia (Boston Legal, The Practice) serve as executive producers.
My Take: Well, after several years of drought in the "legal drama" department, we seem to have an inundation on our hands. Last season, it was all about medical shows (what with ER coming to an end and all), and before that, it was nothing but crime procedurals. What sparked the resurgence of lawyer shows, you ask? It's a good question and a tough call. On NBC alone, three of their new dramas fall into this category. The legal drama has always been a mainstay of primetime television, and after a prosperous time in the 90's, hit a rough patch in the oo's. My theory? After the success of CBS's The Good Wife, and declining ratings in the "cop show" arena, networks decided it was time to resurrect the genre. Why the hell they can't design a show that doesn't revolve around one of those three professions (cops, docs, or lawyers), I'll never understand. Anyway, preamble aside, Harry's Law has its fair share of standard legal cliches (rogue voice fighting for the little guy in blustering, heart-wrenching speeches about justice, etc.), but this show is at least aiming for some originality as well. I'm honestly not too sure how the two fellas will play into the show (the English bloke appears to be some sort of teacher who decides to work for her after she saves him... I assume the other guy will do the same?), but at least it's an interpersonal dynamic that has a unique spin and seems worthy of exploring. I'm not sure what this says about the series as a whole, but the most exciting part of the trailer? Paul McCrane! (aka Dr. Romano from ER--hey, hey, they've combined two of the three to professions now). He isn't listed as a series regular, that I've found, so that's a bummer, but even as a recurring guest star, I'd be delighted. This show is slated for midseason, and while it has some original-ish elements, I'm afraid the trappings of the genre might just be its undoing. All legal shows are a lot alike, especially all legal shows by David E. Kelley, and from what I've seen, I'm not convinced Harry's Law is going to have enough going for it to really make a splash. It seems like the kind of show that will appeal to my sensibilities, but doesn't strike me as a top tier contender right off the bat. Kathy Bates is a true power player and the supporting cast is strong, so that's something. I think the show is going to have hard time finding a sizable audience with an older actress anchoring the show, however. Geez, even The Good Wife skews to an older demographic and it has about a million times the sex appeal of this show. Unfortunately, advertisers, and by extension networks, don't exactly melt into puddles of joy for shows that skew older. Hopefully the supporting cast attracts some younger viewers, but I honestly don't think your average college student is going to be twittering over this one. All in all, it seems fairly generic, but at least they're trying for a new take on things. I'll certainly be giving it a shot, but I'm not chomping at the bit for this one--except for maybe some cartoon nostalgia from my childhood... good god, I loved that woodpecker.
THE CAPE
Description: Stars David Lyons (ER), Jennifer Ferrin (Life on Mars) Ryan Wynott (Flash Forward), James Frain (The Tudors), Keith David (Death at a Funeral), Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarach Connor Chronicles, Firefly), and Dorian Missick (Six Degrees)Universal Media Studios and BermanBraun production from executive producer/creator Thomas Wheeler (Empire), executive producer/director Simon West (Con Air), the executive producing team of Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun (NBC’s Mercy), and executive producer Gene Stein (Accidentally on Purpose).
My Take: This one proving to be incredibly difficult to snap judge. On paper, it sounds horrendously god-awful (seriously, when I stumbled across an internet blurb about it, it reads like a cheesy short-story written by a middle school student). But, in its finished state, it looks like it could have some serious potential. I think it's all going to boil down to execution with this one. This is the kind of concept that needs to be handled in just the right way or it'll be laughable. It'll be a fine line to walk. From the trailer, it hard to tell if the show is taking itself too seriously, or just seriously enough. As with so many shows that sound positively ridiculous on paper (teenage girl slays vampires with her friends, high school student moonlights as a private eye, computer geek has government database downloaded into his head), this will take a skilled hand... and looking at the production team behind this one, I'm pretty skeptical about their ability to pull it off. Most of the executive producers most recently helmed terrible beyond terrible shows, so here's hoping that was more the writers' faults than their own. At least the on-air talent seems solid. It's a tough call. I'm definitely intrigued, but still cautious. I keep expecting pure horribleness (in which some aspects of this show appear to be striving for a PhD), but am usually met with better. The thought of a bad guy using his cape as his weapon still smacks of lame on more than a few levels, but the special effects are slick enough for me to suspend my mocking. The go-go gadget goblet retrieval aspect of the cape didn't really dazzle me, but the poofy disappearing act was admittedly snazzy. I'm still not sold on him learning to fight bad guys from some ragtag group of circus performers, but whatever. I guess it might be okay...? The bare bones seem workable, and the concept could turn out to be pretty stellar, but so far, the dialogue had me cringing. Good lord, there weren't even that many lines said in the trailer and I was absolutely rolling my eyes. It all sounded a little Michael Bayish in that we're-trying-a-little-too-hard-to-be-badasses kind of way. "Say hello to Dorothy, bitch!" Ugh. That's a writer who's trying too hard and succeeding too little. If a show has a solid concept and superior execution, it shouldn't have to rely on cheesy one-liners. I'm really hoping that whoever put the pilot together just happened to think those lines were hilarious and picked out the few eye-rollers of an otherwise brilliant script, but I'm not holding my breath. Bad dialogue will ruin just about any show for me and this one appears to have it in spades. When it's not trying desperately to be badass, it's striving unsuccessfully for profundity and heart. Again, I've only seen the trailer and read a few things, but so far? It's too close to call. The good and the bad seem about equally weighted at this point. Hopefully this is a case where the creative team comes up with something fairly ridiculous that turns out to be insane genius, but looking at said creative team? I'm not so hopeful...
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