Good lord, if I never see another mediocre cop show or legal drama again, I just might die happy. But, until then, I’ll just have to slog through the ever-present deluge of standard clichés that seem to crop up in every single set of pilots for just about every network on the air. Sigh.
At some point, it gets difficult to even assess this kind of show because you’ve seen so many iterations. How can something be interesting if you’ve already seen it? How can a story suck you in if you already know the outcome? After watching enough of these shows, it ultimately boils down to the characters themselves. If you’ve seen one legal drama or cop show, you’ve seen ‘em all, but if there are truly interesting characters at the show’s core, it can make up for a lot of the drudgery of the stories-of-the-week. That’s how The Good Wife made it into my top tier. Sure, I’ve seen a million and a half legal shows in my day, but I haven’t seen characters quite like these and dynamics quite like theirs. In fact, when there are engaging, distinctive characters at the core, it manages to make the A-plots more interesting. I care about this random court battle because Alicia Florrick cares about it. Unfortunately, most shows aren’t The Good Wife, and don’t have such a solid foundation to build on. As such, I don’t really care about the characters and subsequently, couldn’t care less about the mundane details of their daily lives.
To varying degrees, new shows Detroit 1-8-7, The Whole Truth, and The Defenders all fall into this disappointing category.
We’ll start off with our latest cop show…
DETROIT 1-8-7
This is your typical cop show. For what it is, it’s fine. That’s really the primary impression this pilot made and that’s not a particularly a good sign. All the actors do a respectable job and the writers at least tried to make the characters original, but when it all boils down, these are the same standard characters tackling the same standard cases in about the same way. The show had its charms, and over time, I think I could probably grow to appreciate them all on a deeper level, but I was so bored by the A-plot case-of-the-week that it would take a much more intriguing set of character profiles to get me invest. If you’ve never seen a detective drama before, you would probably enjoy this show quite a lot, because honestly, in terms of genre, this pilot did a better job than a lot of them that have come down the pike lately, but given that I have seen cop shows before, and a whole lot of them, I was pretty bored. This show does very little to reinvent this particular wheel and I don’t think I’ll be sticking around for long. This show seems to be aiming for a grittier than the network would allow and they just didn’t know what to do with it after that. Decent effort, but there was really nothing new or innovative about this take on an overdone genre.
Pilot Grade: C+
And now for more legal dramas… you know, because we haven’t seen enough of those…
THE WHOLE TRUTH
To the show’s credit, they’ve taken a bit of a different spin on the old genre and that’s really the only reason the pilot held my interest. This legal drama shows audiences both sides of the case, the trial, and then the truth is revealed. In essence, the show gives compelling arguments for both scenarios and then allows the audience to decide what really happened. It’s not the most novel approach I’ve ever seen, but at this point, even a slight deviation from the norm makes a show seem fresher and better than its counterparts. It’s lovely to see Maura Tierney in good health again, but Her Royal Dourness did very little to bring life to this pilot as the tough and talented DA. Her sobering tone suits her character well enough, but the fact that her character is unlikable to the other characters spills over into the audience as well. There are a lot of characters out there that you love to hate or that you love because they’re neurotic control freaks (or whatever), but Maura’s character is not one of those. But, in all fairness, her glum exterior was nowhere near as irksome as Rob Morrow’s obnoxious over-acting, so she wins some points. Morrow plays the defense to Tierney’s prosecution and goes completely overboard in playing the foil. His brashness and casualness were unconvincing and just plain annoying. I actually said to the TV at one point, “Cool it, Rob. We get it!” Sheesh. The writers are obviously pointing to a future opposites-attract will-they-or-won’t-they (or have they already?) romance between the pair, but I sensed very little chemistry between the two. It's impossible to know if things would have been better with original DA Joley Richardson, but I have an inkling it would. It wasn’t a terrible pilot and it was honestly kind of fun to decide for myself whether or not the defendant was guilty, but I don’t know that I’d want to do that every week. The case itself was pretty thin and while the jury convicted the guy (rightly, as it turns out), there honestly wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. I was willing to give this pilot a “meh” until the final scene when the truth is revealed. Apparently, the murder victim’s bloody cross necklace was stashed at the defendant’s home, only to be found by the guy’s daughter, thereby proving his guilt to the audience. I’m sorry, the police didn’t search the house? It took the daughter all of five minutes to stumble onto this key piece of evidence, but the police didn’t even bother to look? Ugh. If this points to the kind of thought being put in week-to-week on the A-plots, I think I’ll pass, thanks. Based on the ratings, I’m not the only one.
Pilot Grade: C
THE DEFENDERS
This show about a pair of buddy lawyers working kooky cases in Las Vegas had the unfortunate distinction of being the last one I screened. I was already pretty bored with these standard genres, so I wasn’t really in the mood for more. From what I could discern through the law-show-addled fog was a pretty typical law show that was executed decently, if not all that compellingly. I’m not much of a Jim Belushi fan, so that didn’t help, but Jerry O’Connell did a nice job. He seemed to be enjoying the role and played off Belushi pretty well. Once again, the case of the week was pretty thin and I became annoyed at the ridiculous courtroom antics more than amused. I really have to question whether or not either of these legal shows has any lawyers acting as consultants because the legal wrangling is often unconvincing if not utterly absurd. I’m no lawyer, but I watch them on TV and I know when a show is just being lazy. Anyway, the actors were all likable enough and the Vegas bent does add a bit of a different flavor to the show, but honestly, for procedurals that are heavy on A-plot, there needs to be one hell of an A-plot, and that just wasn’t the case here. The best part of the pilot was Natalie Zea as feisty prosecutor/occasional lover to Jerry O’Connell’s character, but near as I can tell, she’s not a regular cast member. All the better for Justified, all the worse for this show. It was honestly no worse or better than most other cheesy law shows, but that’s just not enough for me these days.
In this here volume, I'll be polishing off the dramas and hopefully tackling the comedies as well. I don't review reality shows in this capacity (since they aren't really pilots, per se), but don't you worry, they have a new Undercover Bossish show where the filthy rich get a taste of what poverty is all about. I'm sure they're aiming for heart-warming and revelatory, but I'm guessing we'll end up with infuriating and schmaltzy.
And, after taking full account of ABC's new slate, it appears they feel rather stung by the past few seasons seeing as all efforts to do anything original have officially flown out the window. Literally, the basis for their new fall agenda includes a cop show, a legal show, a crime procedural, and a medical show. Way to... not step out of the box. At all. I think failed "out of the box" shows like Pushing Daisies, FlashForward, and to large extent, V, have left ABC a little gun-shy, spurring them to run for the safety of convention and cliche. It's a real shame that more unique, more serialized shows have had such a hard time, but to be honest, their past attempts at legal shows and crime procedurals were even less successful, so who knows what ABC is thinking. What I'm thinking so far is that they've done a pretty piss-poor job of selecting new pilots and that I have very little to be excited about... Sigh.
Anyway, preamble over. On with the show... er, shows...
OFF THE MAP
Description: Stars Martin Henderson as Ben Keeton, Caroline Dhavernas as Lily Brenner, Enrique Murciano as Manny Diaz, Mamie Gummer as Mina Minard, Jason George as Otis Cole, Valerie Cruz as Zita (Zee) and Jose Julian as Charlie. “Off the Map” is executive-produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, and created/executive-produced by Jenna Bans.
My Take: Well, what ABC fall schedule would be complete without a Shonda Rhimes enterprise on the list? A good one! Ba dum bum! Oy. You know, most showrunners at least pretend to try new things. Shonda? Not so much. Here we have Grey's Anatomy: Survivor. Ooh! Or Grey's Safari? Eh? Eh?! Okay, lame, but only 80% as lame as this show appears to be. If I had never seen a show like this, I'd probably think it looked like a fun little medical romantic dramedy, but having seen 622 shows just like this, 613 of which were from Shonda herself, it's hard to watch that preview with anything but a groan. Mamie Gummer is wonderful, but I don't think she can carry a show. I didn't recognize anyone else, but I'm better neither can they. Who knows. I really did enjoy the first few seasons of Grey's, so maybe Shonda will hit another one out of the park. It's slated for midseason though, so it sounds like ABC might not be all that confident in it... or, they're just hoping to hell the same thing that happened to midseason sensation Grey's will happen to this one. I'm not holding my breath. It genuinely doesn't look awful, it just looks awfully familiar. And when you watch as much TV as I do, a little originality goes a long, long way. Every character type, every medical situation, every tense moment, every untoward relationship, every hunky doctor... I've seen it all before. Here's hoping lightning strikes twice for Rhimes. God knows it has to be better than Private Practice. Brushing away all pre-conceived notions of Shonda's shows, it looks like it might be all right. At it's core, it'll be a character-driven show, so assuming some of these new faces really make a splash, it might be worth keeping around. I doubt it'll ever be a top tier contender, but I could see it falling into second tier guilty pleasure territory. If you are or were a fan of any of Shonda's other projects, you should definitely check this one out. If not, skip it. She appears to have done absolutely nothing to reinvent her wheel other than move it to a purdy location. For me? I don't think that's going to be enough.
THE WHOLE TRUTH
Description: Stars Rob Morrow (“Numb3rs”) as Jimmy Brogan, Someone Someoneson as Kathryn Peale, Eamonn Walker (“Oz”) as Sr. ADA Terrence “Edge” Edgecomb, Sean Wing as Chad Griffin, Anthony Ruivivar as Alejo Salazar and Christine Adams as Lena Boudreaux. The pilot was written and co-executive produced by Tom Donaghy, and the executive producers are Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman.
My Take: Why yes, yes that was Jerry Bruckheimer's ominous moniker you noticed! And we know that always means quality! If only... This one actually looks like it might be kind of interesting, even if still stuck in this omnipresent genre. I generally enjoy a good legal drama and they've at least tried to take a new spin on it. The problem? Well, Joley Richardson has already dropped out of the show, so it's impossible to know exactly what it will look like in the end. It's also unclear why she dropped out. The official reason is that she wanted to spend more time with her family... My guess would be that if it were a really good show, "family time" wouldn't be that high on her list. I assume her real reason is something along the lines of, "jumped ship before it sank," which I can respect. Her departure is the primary reason I'm apprehensive about this one (aside from Bruckheimer). I'm hearing that Maura Tierney might take over as the female lead... Yeah... no good. I like Maura well enough, but this is not a good role for her. She's just so dour and vulnerable. Anyway, in terms of construct, I actually quite like the idea of getting to see both sides of the case in a more straight-forward fashion (most shows kind of show each side, but the audience knows who the writers want you to pull for). But, knowing TV, it will probably turn out to be your standard legal show in the end and they've had a spotty success record lately at best. With Richardson dropping out, I suspect script changes will follow. All the behind-the-scenes changes leave me a bit wary of this one and the more changes and cast shake-ups there are, the worse a show generally is. Based on this already defunct trailer alone, it looked like it could be an interesting take on the genre (albeit not the most imaginative take), but it's looking like it'll be a very different show come this fall. As such, I'll be tuning into whatever incarnation appears, but I'm not carrying a torch for this one. Here's hoping they go with someone other than Tierney and that she can really hold her own. Here's also hoping she has chemistry with Rob Morrow because I give it exactly 3 episodes before the writers simply can't help but to hook the two leads up (or at least head in the will-they-or-won't-they direction). Actually, yeah, they probably plan on hinting at a hook-up for the next 5 years... ugh... Mercifully, I doubt they'll be around that long anyways.
Boy, with heaping dollops of awesomeness in the drama department (note sarcasm), I can't wait to see what comedies we have in store! Honestly though, comedy is the only arena in which ABC has had any real success in the past few years, so maybe this is their niche. Here goes!
BETTER TOGETHER
Description: Stars JoAnna Garcia as Mia, Jennifer Finnigan as Maddie, Josh Cooke as Ben, Jake Lacy as Casey, with Kurt Fuller as Joel and Debra Jo Rupp as Vicky. Shana Goldberg-Meehan is executive producer and writer. The pilot was directed by James Burrows.
My Take: Oh. Dear. God. This looks awful. I mean awful. To say it looks criminally unfunny would be generous. I never so much as a cracked a smile during this preview, and that comes from someone who’s a bit of a grammar snob herself! Good lord, this one looks positively painful. Oh, look how hilarious couples are! It’s funny because it’s true! Everyone can relate to this crap, right? Oh, he's funny because he's stupid! Get it?! Dear ABC, just stop. You knocked it out of the park with Modern Family. Let’s leave it at that, shall we? Please? Is there someway I can convince you that passing on crap this is somehow... uh, greener(?) than other options? Maybe? Wait, I know, speaking of “better,” how about you stop picking up shit like Better Together and instead, market pure genius like Better Off Ted in a way that will actually garner viewers. It makes it all the sadder than Better Off Ted was canceled when you see the drivel they’ve pinned their hopes on for this fall. This is the first comedy I’ve screened, so hopefully the others are (adjusting expectations according to ABC’s current worth)… watchable? Is that asking too much? Better Together is a generic mess that is pretending to have a new spin, but totally doesn’t. The stock characters are even more stock than usual and none of them appears to be even slightly likable. Worst of all, several respectable names are attached to this steaming pile. Even with as little faith as I have in the American viewing public, I don’t think this show will catch on. I suspect it will go the way of other multi-camera comedies of late and die a quick, yet eye-gougingly painful death, a la 100 Questions and Romantically Challenged. How bad was the trailer? I don’t think I’ll even be giving the pilot a shot. And I give just about everything a shot! The morbid curiosity has me tempted, but seriously, the three minutes the trailer offered led to some serious brow furrowing and eye rolling. The couples on this show may be better together, but I’m quite confident this show and I are better apart. Way apart.
HAPPY ENDINGS
Description: Stars Elisha Cuthbert (“24”) as Alex, Eliza Coupe as Jane, Zachary Knighton as Dave, Adam Pally as Max, Damon Wayans, Jr. as Brad and Casey Wilson as Penny. From executive producers Jamie Tarses, Jonathan Groff (and no, this is not the same guy who played Jesse on Glee--at least not that I know of), Anthony & Joe Russo, and co-executive producer David Caspe, “Happy Endings” examines the complex network of long-term friendships. The pilot was written by David Caspe and directed by Anthony & Joe Russo. The series is from Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios.
My Take: Okay, I don’t know if it’s the Better Together aftertaste talking or what, but this actually looks like it might have some potential. It’s pretty obviously the spawn of Friends, but now with 16.67% more diversity! Geez, it was ridiculous in 1994 that the entire regular cast of Friends was white, but now it’s 16 years later and we still have 5 out of 6? Seriously? Oy. I’m trying to give this show the benefit of the doubt and assume that it’s set in a largely Caucasian city (you know, unlike Friends, wherein New York City is akin to Mayberry), but even then, it’s still fairly irksome. Anyway, aside from that, this show looks like it might be kinda fun. Whereas My Generation (formerly called Generation Y) doesn’t seem to speak to me at all (in spite of the fact that I fall smack dab into the middle of that particular demographic), Happy Endings holds much more appeal and seems more relatable. I myself haven’t made any new friends in like a decade, so I guess it’s nice to see that I’m not the only one. The cast seems likable enough (I never watched 24, for Cuthbert doesn’t present as many obstacles for me) and there were moments of the trailer that genuinely made me smile, even if it didn't rise to the level of actual laughing. I think if I grew to know and adore these characters, I’d find it considerably funnier, but even as is, it seemed pleasantly amusing, if not uproarious. The fact that that guy really does look like “if Paul Rudd gave up” definitely won them some points. Long story short, it’s basically Friends, but you know, I quite liked Friends, so here’s hoping this show takes a modern angle on it… and by “modern” I mean “Ross-free” of course. I'll definitely be giving this one a shot. I was leary of Covert Affairs as an Alias reboot, but that is totally working for me, so maybe it's just time the mid-90s were rebooted. Good god, I feel old.
MR. SUNSHINE
Description: Stars Matthew Perry (“Friends”) as Ben, Allison Janney (“The West Wing”) as Crystal, Andrea Anders (“Better Off Ted”) as Alice, James Lesure as Alonzo, Nate Torrence as Roman and Portia Doubleday as Heather. The Pilot was written by Matthew Perry and Alex Barnow & Marc Firek and directed by Thomas Schlamme.
My Take: As one of the 9 people who enjoyed Studio 60, I couldn’t help but to smile at Matthew Perry anchoring another series along with Tommy Schlamme. Add to that Allison Janney and Andrea Anders, and I must admit, I went into watching the trailer with fairly high hopes. After watching it, I’m a little torn. It looks like the kind of set up that could really have some potential, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a stronger cast, but there was just something a little off about it. I think they’re relying a bit too much on wackiness for my tastes. As seen in Friends, Perry can definitely work with wacky if he has to, but it’s not the style of comedy he’s best at. He does appear to be playing the straight man in all this though, so hopefully he’ll be right at home. Even just from the preview, it looks like Janney is poised to be the scene stealer of the series. Fortunately, I love her, so that totally works for me. Andrea Anders wasn’t my favorite character on Better Off Ted, but she can certainly hold her own. I wasn’t wowed by the trailer, but I’m optimistic for the series. It has a hell of a lot going for it, so with any luck, that will translate to the screen. At the very least, it’s refreshing to have a new setting for a comedy to inhabit and new situations for them to face. Based on the trailer alone, it felt a bit like the writers were trying a bit too hard, but comedies usually settle in after a few episodes, so that doesn’t worry me too much. I’ll certainly be giving this one a chance, but it sounds like I’ll have to wait till midseason… which often speaks to a network’s overall confidence in a show… Here’s hoping Mr. Sunshine bucks the trend. It has to be better than Better Together, right? Good god, in the span of only one blog post, that show has become my new benchmark for awful. Ouch...
cases in about the same way. The show had its charms, and over time, I think I could probably grow to appreciate them all on a deeper level, but I was so bored by the A-plot case-of-the-week that it would take a much more intriguing set of character profiles to get me invest. If you’ve never seen a detective drama before, you would probably enjoy this show quite a lot, because honestly, in terms of genre, this pilot did a better job than a lot of them that have come down the pike lately, but given that I have seen cop shows before, and a whole lot of them, I was pretty bored. This show does very little to reinvent this particular wheel and I don’t think I’ll be sticking around for long. This show seems to be aiming for a grittier than the network would allow and they just didn’t know what to do with it after that. Decent effort, but there was really nothing new or innovative about this take on an overdone genre.
acter is unlikable to the other characters spills over into the audience as well. There are a lot of characters out there that you love to hate or that you love because they’re neurotic control freaks (or whatever), but Maura’s character is not one of those. But, in all fairness, her glum exterior was nowhere near as irksome as Rob Morrow’s obnoxious over-acting, so she wins some points. Morrow plays the defense to Tierney’s prosecution and goes completely overboard in playing the foil. His brashness and casualness were unconvincing and just plain annoying. I actually said to the TV at one point, “Cool it, Rob. We get it!” Sheesh. The writers are obviously pointing to a future opposites-attract will-they-or-won’t-they (or have they already?) romance between the pair, but I sensed very little chemistry between the two. It's impossible to know if things would have been better with original DA Joley Richardson, but I have an inkling it would. It wasn’t a terrible pilot and it was honestly kind of fun to decide for myself whether or not the defendant was guilty, but I don’t know that I’d want to do that every week. The case itself was pretty thin and while the jury convicted the guy (rightly, as it turns out), there honestly wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. I was willing to give this pilot a “meh” until the final scene when the truth is revealed. Apparently, the murder victim’s bloody cross necklace was stashed at the defendant’s home, only to be found by the guy’s daughter, thereby proving his guilt to the audience. I’m sorry, the police didn’t search the house? It took the daughter all of five minutes to stumble onto this key piece of evidence, but the police didn’t even bother to look? Ugh. If this points to the kind of thought being put in week-to-week on the A-plots, I think I’ll pass, thanks. Based on the ratings, I’m not the only one.
did a nice job. He seemed to be enjoying the role and played off Belushi pretty well. Once again, the case of the week was pretty thin and I became annoyed at the ridiculous courtroom antics more than amused. I really have to question whether or not either of these legal shows has any lawyers acting as consultants because the legal wrangling is often unconvincing if not utterly absurd. I’m no lawyer, but I watch them on TV and I know when a show is just being lazy. Anyway, the actors were all likable enough and the Vegas bent does add a bit of a different flavor to the show, but honestly, for procedurals that are heavy on A-plot, there needs to be one hell of an A-plot, and that just wasn’t the case here. The best part of the pilot was Natalie Zea as feisty prosecutor/occasional lover to Jerry O’Connell’s character, but near as I can tell, she’s not a regular cast member. All the better for Justified, all the worse for this show. It was honestly no worse or better than most other cheesy law shows, but that’s just not enough for me these days.
