MovieNut
08-03-2009, 09:04 AM
Source: blog.zap2it.com (http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/04/the-unusuals-and-southland-reviews.html)
Text By: Rick Porter
Neither ABC's "The Unusuals" nor NBC's "Southland" is going to reinvent the cop-show genre, and neither one is likely to be a game-changer for their respective networks. But both shows are well-produced and -acted, and they're both decent enough ways to spend an hour.
If I had to choose one -- and I don't, since "The Unusuals" premieres at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday and "Southland" starts at 10 p.m. Thursday -- I'd probably go with the ABC show. Its collection of eccentrics and loose cannons feels like one I'd rather spend time with over the long term than the earnest law enforcers on the NBC series.
And that, in a nutshell, is a difference between the two shows. Both have large ensemble casts whose work and lives intertwine, and both are told through the eyes of a relatively green officer. But by injecting a healthy dose of humor -- and hints of a larger mystery -- "The Unusuals" offers the more compelling squad.
It stars Amber Tamblyn ("Joan of Arcadia," the "Traveling Pants" movies) as Casey Shraeger, an NYPD detective whom we meet working undercover as a prostitute. She's pulled off the street and into the department's homicide squad to help work the murder of a possibly dirty cop -- and is paired up with the dead detective's former partner (Jeremy Renner).
Her new squad also includes partners Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau, "Lost"), who never removes his bulletproof vest, and Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg, "Entourage"), who has both a brain tumor and a death wish; camera-seeking careerist Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox); and a sergeant (Terry Kinney, "Oz") who wants his precinct to be rid of corruption.
That's where Casey comes in. She's the daughter of wealthy parents who can't quite fathom why she became a cop, and there are a couple of amusing scenes in the pilot between Tamblyn and Joanna Gleason as Casey's mom that explore this dynamic (mom can't understand, for instance, why Casey can't use her badge to investigate the housekeeper). But her background also means she can't be bought off, and her sergeant explains that's why she was brought in -- to investigate and weed out the corruption in the precinct.
The pilot doesn't delve too deeply into this aspect, and by all indications the show will focus more on week-to-week cases. But having this bigger story as a backdrop is a good way to flesh out the show's characters -- who are pretty well-drawn for a pilot -- and keep the show moving along even when the crimes are inevitably ones we've seen versions of in other shows.
Click to read full review! (http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/04/the-unusuals-and-southland-reviews.html)
Text By: Rick Porter
Neither ABC's "The Unusuals" nor NBC's "Southland" is going to reinvent the cop-show genre, and neither one is likely to be a game-changer for their respective networks. But both shows are well-produced and -acted, and they're both decent enough ways to spend an hour.
If I had to choose one -- and I don't, since "The Unusuals" premieres at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday and "Southland" starts at 10 p.m. Thursday -- I'd probably go with the ABC show. Its collection of eccentrics and loose cannons feels like one I'd rather spend time with over the long term than the earnest law enforcers on the NBC series.
And that, in a nutshell, is a difference between the two shows. Both have large ensemble casts whose work and lives intertwine, and both are told through the eyes of a relatively green officer. But by injecting a healthy dose of humor -- and hints of a larger mystery -- "The Unusuals" offers the more compelling squad.
It stars Amber Tamblyn ("Joan of Arcadia," the "Traveling Pants" movies) as Casey Shraeger, an NYPD detective whom we meet working undercover as a prostitute. She's pulled off the street and into the department's homicide squad to help work the murder of a possibly dirty cop -- and is paired up with the dead detective's former partner (Jeremy Renner).
Her new squad also includes partners Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau, "Lost"), who never removes his bulletproof vest, and Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg, "Entourage"), who has both a brain tumor and a death wish; camera-seeking careerist Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox); and a sergeant (Terry Kinney, "Oz") who wants his precinct to be rid of corruption.
That's where Casey comes in. She's the daughter of wealthy parents who can't quite fathom why she became a cop, and there are a couple of amusing scenes in the pilot between Tamblyn and Joanna Gleason as Casey's mom that explore this dynamic (mom can't understand, for instance, why Casey can't use her badge to investigate the housekeeper). But her background also means she can't be bought off, and her sergeant explains that's why she was brought in -- to investigate and weed out the corruption in the precinct.
The pilot doesn't delve too deeply into this aspect, and by all indications the show will focus more on week-to-week cases. But having this bigger story as a backdrop is a good way to flesh out the show's characters -- who are pretty well-drawn for a pilot -- and keep the show moving along even when the crimes are inevitably ones we've seen versions of in other shows.
Click to read full review! (http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/04/the-unusuals-and-southland-reviews.html)