Mid-season players get shot at lineup

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date:March 14, 2004
By Rob Owen


There's been a fair amount of outrage from fans of "The Guardian" over CBS's decision to bench the Pittsburgh-set series for six weeks in favor of "Century City," a midseason tryout.

In fairness to CBS, those six weeks would have been "Guardian" reruns anyway and ratings for reruns of a show as serialized as "The Guardian" always take it on the chin. Therefore, bringing in a new series for a short time makes sense.

(CBS chairman Leslie Moonves' use of the term "on the bubble" to describe "The Guardian's" chances of renewal for next season is highly questionable though considering that in at least two of the four sweeps weeks last month, "The Guardian" won its time period in overnight ratings.)

Contrary to appearances, this is not another column about "The Guardian" but a look at two new CBS series.


'Century City'


Set in the year 2030, this futuristic legal drama takes issues in the news today and gives them a "Jetsons" spin. Tuesday's premiere was not made available for review, but an episode airing Saturday at 10 p.m. comes across as overly preachy one minute, too cute the next.

Lawyer Hannah Crane (Viola Davis) defends a doctor (guest star Richard Thomas, "The Waltons") being sued for failing to tell expectant parents that their child has a 95 percent chance of being gay because the fetus tested positive for a "gay gene." Turns out it wasn't an oversight on the doctor's part but a deliberate attempt to prevent the decimation of the gay population, which technology and choosing a child's genetic traits in advance has made possible.

This story is an example of the interesting, forward-thinking spin "Century City" can give to current social issues. It's the episode's more dramatic story line, which is at times touching, at times didactic.

For comedy, Lukas Gold (Ioan Gruffudd, "Horatio Hornblower") and genetically re-engineered lawyer Lee May Bristol (Kristin Lehman) defend a man (Phillip Rhys) charged with stealing items from his ex-girlfriend. He says it was his right because she dumped him but programmed technologically advanced items in her home with his personality. For instance, she programmed the micro-fibers in her sweater to retain his scent. This leads to her, on the witness stand, demanding, "Give me back my nano-pants!" Whatever those are.

Character-wise, Gold and Bristol have the potential for a budding romance. Darwin McNeil (Eric Schaeffer) is this show's attempt at an Arnie Becker-type character ("L.A. Law"). Netsor Carbonell ("The Tick") plays a former congressman and new partner in the firm where Marty Constable (Hector Elizondo) is the voice of sage wisdom.

This episode of "Century City" makes some attempts at developing the show's regular characters, but since it's not the pilot, there's not a good sense of who most of them are. Presumably the pilot, airing Tuesday, will do a better job of that.

The concept for "Century City" is a solid one, but I worry about its execution and how long the writers can sustain stories that don't stretch credulity (like the "nano-pants"). As for the futuristic elements, they're mostly done on the cheap. No flying cars, just turned up collars on men's suits and meetings attended by holograms.