TV.com

show: Life

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

Charlie Crews is a Homicide Detective, reinstated after being set free from years of false imprisonment after being framed for multiple murders. But memories die hard and people around him can't get past what happened, some believing him to be out to undermine the department for revenge, while others holding to the belief that he is still guilty of his supposed crimes regardless of the evidence that got him out. This sets the the stage for the primary day to day drama surrounding Charlie, as his bosses look for a reason to get him back off the force just in case while others with more diabolical purposes begin to tie up loose ends his release has caused - centering around the events that sent him to prison. Meanwhile, Crews himself is conducting an off the book investigation, piecing together the puzzle in secret. (Perhaps the best part of every episode are the short ending scenes, showing him adding yet another name or connection to his ever growing conspiracy tree.)

The story so far has been pulled off excellently, with twists and revelations that keep you waiting on edge for the next piece to fall into place. Threaded through this are individual cases that Crews and his partner, a female detective who is recently recovering from severe drug abuse, solve in typical TV cop show fashion. Unfortunately these episodic cases are solid but often feel as if they take away from time that could be better spent on the primary story arc, though they do help to develop the relationships between Crews, his new and old partners, as well as some of the people who want him off the force.

Oh, and I shouldn't forget to mention that after so many years of imprisonment... Well, ol' Charlie has lost his mind a little. Embracing zen philosphy while in prison to cope with his situation, he is often prone to talking to himself or spouting nonsensical or mysterious statements in keeping with the teachings he's embraced. This leads to one of the highest points of entertainment in the series, as his take on situations leads to frustration for everyone around him but hilarious situations for the viewer. Add in his best friend and money handler Ted, a former white collar criminal Crews met in prison, and you have a serious drama with more mirth than most comedies.

Life is one of those series that just came out of nowhere - it received little hype and almost no marketing in comparison to many shows of the new season, yet it is easily in the top tier of scripted television on the air at the moment. Strongly recommended for fans of crime shows, conspiracy dramas, straight faced comedy, or just plain anyone who enjoys quality entertainment.

(Important to note, the pilot episode, as with many, was not quite up to the par the rest of the series after it so far has set. So don't watch the first episode and judge it by it, keep going!)

show: K-Ville

The Bottom Line: "Great"

The strength of K-Ville undoubtedly lies in its two lead actors, both of whom do an excellent job and fit their roles perfectly. Anthony Anderson is one of several Shield veterans who have taken a role reversal such as Danny Pino(who went from Latin Pedophile Rapist to a dedicated and slightly naive detective in Cold Case) going from hardcore drug kingpin villian to the perfect example of what every cop should strive to be, showing his range of acting like Pino before him to be quite a broad one.

The supporting cast is a bit of a mixed bag unfortunately, primarily the Captain whose name I am too lazy to look up at the moment. His accent is atrocious, and comes across in some middle ground that it is neither television cliche aethetic nor does it feel quite legitimate. Blake Shields(formerly of the late lamented Showtime series Sleeper Cell) is at the other end of the spectrum however, and plays the younger-but-not-quite-rookie cop role to a T, but is underused except for to summarize information for the leads(and the viewers.) Everyone else so far is rather unimpressionable, and some of the guest spots have been below par.

Production wise the approach is like previous series to attempt the grittier atmosphere such as the Shield, with shakey, and oft times grainy, camera work which works well for the series.

As mentioned in the summary, the storylines are ambitious to say the least. The very first episode starts off with a mercenary conspiracy, followed up by a massive prison break... conspiracy, and then again followed up by a (guess what) conspiracy between latin gang members and politicians. Obviously the intention to make New Orleans look vulnerable, yet the string of unprobable highly organized crimes takes away from the realistic feel that is otherwise present in the series. Again to use the Shield as a reference point, as it is a close comparison, you see none of the day to day crimes or normal gang warfare backing up larger storylines, simply a more aggressive storyline after another shoved into an hour of television.

Overall, the series is quite enjoyable and I'd be very surprised if it doesn't make it. It needs to fix up a few minor issues and tone down the storylines before it burns out too fast, but it is the makings of a quality cop drama in a unique setting.

show: Moonlight

The Bottom Line: "Good"

Moonlight is one of those shows where right from the start you can tell they cast people to look pretty rather than act well - particularly the main character. Even Veronica Mars' Jason Dohring fails in his role, as he is clearly miscast in an attempt to simply bring in a recognizable face to the targeted demographic. Kevin Weisman of Alias is about the only member of the cast who can more than hold their own, and he nets a whole two scenes in the first episode. This is all unfortunate, as I thought the basic story presented in the series was quite solid even if somewhat generic(but as it is the beginning, that is easily forgivable), and it is hard to take some of the potentially dramatic scenes seriously because of the mediocre acting.

Not to lay the fault for the show's present shortcomings at the feet of the actors alone, there are many questionable decisions made in production that irked me and kept me from liking the show as I wanted to. Foremost among them is the overly cliche Vampirisms, such as cheap contacts and growls that make you want to laugh at something that is meant to be intimidating. The lack of decent overall production values(and acting for that matter) is even more off putting considering that this is a CBS show and not on a low budget cable network like Lifetime's Blood Ties.

If they manage to clean up the show a bit and smooth out the rough(cheesey) edges over the course of the next few episodes we might have another good supernatural series on the air, given the admittedly solid foundation it has being a major network show with not a bad story. But for the moment, being better than Blood Ties doesn't amount to enough to keep this on the air or hold the interest of any but the most die hard vampire crowd(who, ironically, were the focus of and skewered a bit in the first episode).

show: Cold Case

The Bottom Line: "Great"

After CSI, Jerry Bruckheimer's name became a decent "watch me" flag on CBS, producing more a few decent television series but also a few disasters. Cold Case fits squarely in the middle, a solid and entertaining offering with some major stand out episodes but flawed enough to keep it from the level of CSI and CSI:NY.

I won't bother getting overly analytical since this is just a TV.com review, so here is a straight lineup of the good and the bad.

Good:
- Acting is subperb. While I'm not overly fond of the Rush character, every supporting actor is amazing in this series. Danny Pino in particular is the stand out. He has enough versatility and skill that it blew me away to find out he was Armadillo in the Shield(one of the most sadistic TV villians of recent memory), as I was mentally unable to reconcile Valens as Armadillo.
- The soundtrack is always top notch. And I'm not talking about the endless parade of #1 pop hits, though they often add a fun feel to getting into time of the crime, but the actual background soundtrack is superb.
- Many interesting looks at recent history, even if somewhat stilted towards the modern view of it.
- Stand out episodes. Now of course every series has them, but this deserves special mention. Some episodes, usually those dealing with primary character storylines or reoccuring events(The Woods in Season 2) are just exceptional to a degree it is hard to think of them as the same series as some of the rest of the batch.

Bad:
- Flat out unrealistic. You can't open case after case from up to 90 years ago and solve each and every last one.
- Extremely repetitive story flow with interviews. You can always tell the best episodes when they break the mold.
- Almost complete lack of forensics. Come on, if you are opening an older case the single best tool is modern science, but at the most you only hear side references to what off screen characters have done. Unless they feel like recreating bones you never even see the great but under used Frannie on screen.
- Overuse of racial or sexuality based crimes, particulary in the cases taking place int he 1920-1950s. I mean don't get me wrong, I am fully aware that a massive chunk of older unsolved homicide are very likely related to race or sexuality. But come on, you going to tell me not one of those cold jobs was a mafia hit? Not a single one was an old fashioned bank robbery gone wrong? I mean seriously, how the hell do you take a prohibition bootlegging story that was shaping up to be a great one and then 180 it into an interracial lesbian story out of nowhere? The communist episode is the only one I even remember that was pre 1950 that didn't fall back on racism, gay bashing, or racist gay bashing as the motive.