Despite plans to the contrary, it appears the networks have once again duped me into trying a few new shows during this premiere season.  They’re tricky, I’m telling you.  They get you all psyched up for all your favorite shows to return, the air turns cooler, the kids are back in school, it’s time to sit down and pick up where we left off a few months ago.  Problem is, when we settled in to start watching, we found not our old favorites (of which many are apparently “delayed” for a week or two) but instead a barrage of familiar faces in new roles.  So since I had the time and couch space available, I figure I can spare a glance.  Just this once, of course!  Regardless of how many episodes have aired by the time I finish this column, these thoughts are after viewing the first episode only.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – The West Wing, it’s not.  I’m not complaining about that, since I quit watching The West Wing years ago.  This pilot was interesting, but for a Sorkin pilot I was a bit surprised by how uninvolved I felt.  It felt like a good viewing experience, but I didn’t feel pulled in like I might have expected.  The show holds you at arms length somehow.  Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry were excellent; friendship chemistry abounds.  Steven Weber threatens to steal the show.  Amanda Peet does steal her scenes, sometimes in a good way and sometimes I’m not so sure.  I’m really on the fence about this one, I love the “’behind the scenes” aspect of a Saturday Night Live type show, it’s a great premise.  The acting is solid, the dialogue is sharp and witty, and the sets provide maybe the most interesting places ever to watch two people converse.  I’m completely unclear about who Steven Weber’s character is, but I’m certainly glad that he’s there.  I guess the problem is that it all felt like an interesting peek into a world I’m usually not privy to, but there was little to relate to or root for as of yet.  I’m certain I can always enjoy watching the characters, but in order for me to remember to tune in every week (no kidding) I’ll need to *feel* something and so far, I don’t.  It’s definitely worth another look though, and I expect it will pick up in the coming weeks.

Smith – Fast moving, armed and dangerous kind of hour.  The first episode sported a museum heist, several casualties and the set up for more complications to come.  All that aside though, it had me at Ray Liotta and he did not disappoint.  The acting is by far the most solid leg this show has to stand on.  Virginia Madsen is excellent as Hope (Bobby’s wife), beginning as the seemingly complacent wife who manages to make us see with merely a look that she knows exactly what is going on around her.  Next thing we know, we stop wondering why she doesn’t ask more questions and start wondering why her husband doesn’t.  There was definitely an inference to a past affair with her boss, but when she walks in to report to her parole officer, we realize there is obviously a whole lot more going on than meets the eye.  Does Bobby (Ray Liotta) know she’s on parole?  Does he know she’s been sleeping around while he’s out putting in a hard days work stealing treasures for Charlie (Shoreh Aghdashloo, the wife in House of Sand and Fog – fabulous as well) who I’m thinking may be the mother of an ex-love of Bobby’s?  Clichés abound, first and foremost this is, of course, almost Bobby’s last job.  He’s getting out, as so many have successfully done before him, *snort*.  I’m unclear as to how an ongoing series can be made when the previews for episode two seem to have the FBI hot on the trail of the gang of thieves, helped immensely by Amy Smart’s Annie who was not only spotted during the heist, she was spotted by an old classmate.  She also didn’t volunteer that information when things went quite wrong with the job, so I’m going to have to be suspicious of her right from the start.  Smith brings the pretty with Simon Baker, who plays gunman Jeff.  Jeff can apparently turn on the charm one minute and shoot you in the back the next.  He entered the show with a scene involving his shooting of two annoying but otherwise seemingly innocent men on the beach.  They’re not tricking me any with that though, I’m sure he’s a hired hit man on the side and those two somehow deserved bullets to the head and back.  At least they died on a beach, doing what they loved – repeat after me, “Simon is just misunderstood, Simon is just misunderstood”.  Let’s hope anyway, because he’s too pretty to have to dislike!  Franky G is also no slouch in that department, and he’s a much more sympathetic character having lost his brother in the heist last week.  It would appear he’ll have to step in with his brother’s wife and baby, something she insinuated would be fine with her before her husband died – we’ll see if that has changed any.  This episode worked for me on several levels, but the cast and the fact that it managed to leave me with more questions than answers clinched the deal.  I’ll be watching again tonight (CBS), and I’ll expect a few answers and more questions.  Most intriguing is the marital relationship between Liotta and Madsen’s characters, and I expect it won’t be long before we learn that Annie slept with Jeff while Tom (Jonny Lee Miller) was in jail.  So far there is attention to detail, a few slick little tricks (the museum guard that lived “happened” to notice a tattoo just under the sleeve of one of the robbers, turns out it was fake – an easy way to throw the trail off), and it really felt as though I was watching a movie rather than serial television.  It’s the only new show I’ve watched this season that hooked me immediately.  I suggest you all start watching it because if it gets cancelled (and the smart ones always do – “Eyes” anyone?) I’ll probably get mighty cranky.  Yes, that is a threat!

Kidnapped – Timothy Hutton, Dana Delany, Delroy Lindo …sounds great, right?  Well, there’s this really rich family who has secrets.  One of which must have to do with why of their three children, only the son has a bodyguard.  The bodyguard is shot and the son is taken.  Enter Knapp, a specialized kidnap recovery guy who has great success at retrieving kidnap victims without police help.  It’s good they called him, because he was the only interesting part of the show.  Knapp, played by Jeremy Sisto of Six Feet Under fame, seems like a good choice and his chemistry with Delroy Lindo (FBI) is great.  I suppose I’m supposed to be intrigued by what secrets lie beneath the cool, calm exterior of Delany and Hutton’s characters.  Did one of them somehow cause the kidnapping?  Are there affairs?  Political subterfuge?  *Sigh* Probably.  Probably I don’t really care though.  Sisto and Lindo were by far the high points, and for a moment I seriously hoped that the Delany/Hutton characters were transitory, and that the show would solve this kidnapping and move on to the next, possibly also starring guest actors.  It appears though, that *this* is the story and sadly, I just didn’t feel one thing for the family throughout the whole episode.  I don’t really care if they get their kid back.  Plus, I cannot believe they let the bodyguard’s family wonder where the heck he was for so long!  They obviously didn’t have any grand plan to keep him quiet since he spilled the moment he awoke, so why didn’t they tell his family he’d been shot immediately?  Cold and selfish much are we?  With the variety of new offerings out there, I really can’t see this making it.  I’m personally not bothering – if it turns out to be the best thing ever I trust you all will let me know and I’ll promptly rent the DVD’s.  I hope Sisto finds a better vehicle though; he’s well worth watching.

Current Mood: hopeful