- Question: In a near-accidental turn of events, I started watching FX's new series Terriers amid the glut of fall premieres, and much to my surprise, the show grabbed me almost instantly. The pilot was sharp and witty and smoothly plays against all the TV clichés I've grown to hate over the years. I watch a lot of TV, so when I come across a show that surprises me, I sit up and take notice. I expected a typical crime procedural, but instead was met with a solid, engaging and hilarious serialized character piece. Not since I just happened to catch Nurse Jackie and stumbled onto Justified have I been so delighted by an accidental find. The suspense and mystery are brilliantly underlined by a dark humor that really appeals to me.
That said, I'm concerned for the future of Terriers. I've recently seen Terriers listed alongside various shows with anemic ratings (mostly of the "Vote to Save a Show" variety) and have become concerned. How has Terriers been doing? Do you think it will survive? I'm also curious as to what you think of "Save a Show" style polls. Do they ever have any real effect? I seriously doubt it, but I find myself voting regardless. In a fall pilot season that left me largely unimpressed, I'd hate to see Terriers go the way of Lone Star (the best broadcast pilot of the year and sadly the first to get the axe). I'm sure that Terriers has a better chance given its network, but even FX must have a ratings threshold to maintain.
— Lacy
Matt Roush: I don't know the exact numbers, but I do know they're below what FX would like them to be, and it's disappointing to the network and the studio. The show is so offbeat in tone and texture, and is done no favor by its too-quirky title, that it probably would have been a slow build even if it hadn't been scheduled against the fall network onslaught. But the reviews have mostly been rapturous, and the show has just gotten better as it goes. I love the fact that no two episodes are quite alike, and the blend of mystery and comedy and palpable emotion is unlike anything else currently on TV. But as we've seen (and as you noted with the Lone Star debacle), being too different and resistant to pigeonholing can work against a show's commercial prospects. I hope FX sticks with this, but you're probably right to be concerned. As for save-the-show polls, it can't hurt to participate and make your voice heard. But such efforts rarely budge the numbers the programmers are looking at to determine a show's future.
Annnnd, I'm back. Sorry about that. As you can see from my query above, I basically stumbled onto this little gem by accident. That's why I never wrote a review of the pilot. I never had any intention of actually watching the show, so I figured it would be one of the calculated omissions from my fall reviews. Yeah, that was stupid. In a fall pilot slate that ultimately had very little to offer, Terriers stands out as one of the best new shows on TV. Aside from the already-canceled Lone Star, HBO's Boardwalk Empire, and awesomely ridiculous Nikita, I dare say it's the only other new show to warrant a spot in my top tier, nay, a spot on any tier at all. (Seriously people, this fall was sad.)
Well, it's high-time I atoned for past televisual sins and gave Terriers its due--even if it is likely to be canceled. I'm more than a little bewildered at FX's programming strategy with this one. To debut a new show on cable alongside the swell of network crap in September seems completely illogical to me. To boot, it isn't really paired with a more established show nor did it receive much fanfare. Sigh.
Terriers is the kind of show that doesn't sound very good on paper, but that comes together beautifully. At first glance, I suspected it would be your typical procedural, but with a dash of quirky thrown in for good measure. This show is so very much more than that. The pilot was everything you'd ever want in a show and somehow things just keep getting better episode to episode.
The show follows two best friends who, after a few errant left turns in life, ended up working as freelance detectives. It sounds completely hokey on paper, but believe me, it works. Donal Logue (ER, Life) stars as ex-cop/reformed alcoholic Hank Dolworth and his best friend Britt Pollack, a former thief, played by Michael Raymond-James (best known for playing psycho serial killer Rene on True Blood). After playing a
character so spectacularly creep-tastic as Rene, it's nice to see him in a role that's incredibly likable. Hank and Britt are the center of the show and play off each other in a very natural, believable way. They have great onscreen chemistry and make for a convincing pair of best friends/screw-ups/rough-and-tumble detectives.Based on the concept alone, I assumed this would be your standard genre show with a slight Psych bent to it, but that's really not how it operates. There are certain elements that smack of a procedural, but rather than this being a show about detectives who happen to be people, it's actually a show about people who happen to be detectives. In this sense, it reminds me of Nurse Jackie. Sure, she works in a hospital, but Nurse Jackie certainly isn't a medical show. It's a dark comedy about actual characters, not just the job they do. The same goes for Terriers, a similarly brilliant show that blends harsh reality with a hell of a lot of charm and humor. Donal Logue's comedic timing is perfect and he makes every scene something more interesting and surprising than you'd expect. The comedy in this show can be subtle at times, so you have to pay attention, but for those in the audience who are, this show has a number of hilarious moments. The show doesn't feel the need to force the laugh, so it all comes off as genuine and funny.
At its core, Terriers is really a character piece. Even when the show has case-of-the-week type elements, they always relate to the characters themselves in a meaningful way. This could be painfully ham-fisted in the wrong hands, but here it works naturally. It's impressive and strange how the writers pull it off every week, but some seriously crazy things happen in a very grounded manner. This show seems more authentic than most out there, but at the same time has A-plots that are outlandish and peculiar. The fact that the A-plots are unique and that they relate to the characters in substantive ways makes me actually invest in them, which for me in quite rare. I find myself genuinely interested in the happenings of their detective work and never casually fast-forward through the A-plot. Indeed, this is the kind of show where the ending sneaks up on you. Seriously, I get so immersed in what's going on that when the end credits start, I'm always like, "Wait, it's over already?"
I think my favorite part of the show is the interpersonal dynamics between characters. Hank and Britt are solid bases for the show, but the supporting cast is what brings it all together. Hank's ex-wife Gretchen and their lawyer Maggie are completely delightful, even if their roles thus far have been fairly limited on the show. The real shining star of the supporting cast is Laura Allen, who plays Britt's girlfriend Katie. The interplay between Britt and Katie is funny and charming and, unlike so many relationships on TV, it doesn't annoy the hell out of me. So often the girlfriend in this kind of relationship is a whiny, bitchy, nagging drain on a show, but here? It's completely the opposite. Not only does this relationship have a firm grasp on reality, but the interplay between the pair is smart and endearing. Upon finding out that Britt asked her out after he had seen a picture of her on her refrigerator (he had broken into her house during his thief days, you see), I fully expected Katie to explode and some major melodrama to unfold. Instead, in a wealth of twists and surprises offered by the show, Katie instead tells Britt to go outside, wait five minutes, and then break into the bedroom through the window. Where lesser shows would use this as a platform for a bunch of screaming, Terriers sees it as a total turn-on. Heh. Awesome. The refreshingly intelligent characterizations of women doesn't stop with Katie. As mentioned, Gretchen and Maggie have slightly smaller roles on the show, but they're equally engaging and multi-dimensional. Hank and Gretchen are ex-spouses, but there's still a lot of love and respect between them. The show takes the road less traveled and avoids the omnipresent "evil ex" cliches and even makes the possibility of the pair reuniting more complicated than expected. Gretchen's new beau is actually quite a good guy who tells a white lie to Gretchen in order to protect Hank. Most recent addition to the cast (as a recurring character rather than regular), is Karina Logue (Donal's real life sister) who plays, conveniently enough, his quirky, dark, slightly mentally ill sister on the show. She's brilliant and broken and in the world of Terriers, the fact that she secretly lives in her brother's attic just makes good sense. She isn't a series regular, but I do hope she'll stick around for a good long while.
All in all, I'm rooting for these characters in a way I simply don't for most other characters on air at the moment. The fact that this show is actually a serial masquerading as a pseudo-procedural is a big part of that. When I truly care about the people in a show, I care about what happens to them, even if it's a one-off A-plot. Even better, the A-plots are meaningful, but not in a heavy-handed after-school special kind of way that Grey's Anatomy does. We just see how these characters would react to the given situation in an authentic way. Nice. With this kind of set up, though, the writers have to try a lot harder to craft characters that really work. Fortunately, Terriers succeeds in spades. This show makes for an odd mix
of mystery, drama, comedy, and dollops of just about everything else. You'd think it would be all over the place, but it's surprisingly balanced and never feels sloppy or uneven. I didn't realize just how invested I was in these characters until a truly heartbreaking scene between Katie and Hank where she confesses to screwing up and being afraid to tell Britt. I truly felt for her and found myself hoping Hank would succeed in convincing her to never tell Britt what happened. Hank couldn't bear the thought of devastating Britt, and quite frankly, neither could I. That's when I consciously realized just how much I've been enjoying this show and began to fear for its future.As mentioned, the ratings are not good. Terrible, in fact. But the show has received nothing but praise from critics (as far as I know) and has been getting more and more buzz online lately. I'm cautiously optimistic that FX will see the potential here and give Terriers some time to build an audience. They really should have premiered this show in the summer or during one of the off-seasons when it would have had less competition and more of a chance to attract some viewers.
I don't know if Terriers will be around for more than a season, but it's definitely worth even a precarious investment.
Show Grade: A
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