This has been a real week for unintentionally (?) odd turns of phrase in television announcements. As Kathy observed on her blog, Ken Burns’ The War is introduced each night with the phrase: Corporate funding for The War is provided by...
And last night brought the philosophical amusement of hearing, in the middle of trying a new show, the announcement, "Stay tuned for more...Life." All right.
Life, you see, is a new show on NBC, the premise of which is that Charlie Crews, a police detective, has recently been released from prison after serving 12 years for a crime it's now been established (by DNA evidence) he didn't commit.
As part of his settlement, he has his old job back, as well as a cash settlement in the millions. Now he takes his "Zen" approach (developed while he was serving time) to solving crimes week-to-week, while also trying to solve the big one: Who framed him and why?
I liked the off-kilter feel of the drama (created by Rand Ravich); it seems to spin out organically from its lead actor, Damian Lewis, as Charlie.
Lewis is good at suggesting someone whose beat is just a little bit off from everyone else’s. The pilot necessarily focused more on him, but Sarah Shahi, formerly The L Word's Carmen, easily embodies her character's own dark side: Charlie's newly assigned partner, she's 20 months drug-free.
There are definite possibilities for untapped depth in both-if the characters are given a chance to develop (more on that later). However, they also have two counts against them, neither of which is really their fault, but I'm gonna call the show on it anyway.
Lewis looks enough like Hugh Laurie to be his brother, and so far at least, this is a distraction.
One hopes that with a few more hours to impress his performance upon my brain it will become less so. Neither the performance nor the character is an imitation of House, I should say, but probably not coincidentally, Lewis is also a Brit affecting an American accent. Which is extraordinary, by the way-I didn't know it was fake until I Googled him.
As for Shahi, I freely cop to this being a sexist observation, it's just that I happen to know she's much hotter (see above) than she was presented as being in last night's episode. Which was only appropriate for the character and logical for the show.
A professional woman on the job isn't likely to style her hair or wear her clothes as if she was going to a singles bar (unless of course, she's Dr. Cuddy on House. Not that I'm complaining).
I guess I'm just saying, I hope as the show goes on, we see some more of that side of Shahi's character's..."life."
That is, if the show goes on...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
More than a few of the other actors are also talented but we saw less of what they will bring to the series, again, this is necessary in a pilot.
Robin Weigert, who I remember vaguely from Mike Nichols' mini-series version of Angels in America, is the police captain who seems willing to get rid of either of the cops if they screw up.
Adam Arkin is Charlie's friend, proving once again that any series I like will, sooner or later, feature someone who also appeared in The West Wing.
Melissa Sagemiller is the lawyer who got Crews out of prison, and who may be just slightly warm for his form.
Although the show has received generally favorable reviews, and NBC is claiming victory in the demographics...well, that's what networks claim when their shows lose in the ratings.
So. A show airing at 10:00 pm, that I like, with connections to The West Wing, that most of the critics like. But with ratings that almost immediately caused concern.
It's The Nine (and S60) all over again.
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