Here a Pilot, There a Pilot, Everywhere a Pilot Pilot (Part the First)
Source:Pajiba
Date:Jul,24,2006
Smith (CBS, Tuesdays, 10 p.m.). I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I love me the heists and capers, so I’m very willing to embrace this show if it’s embraceable. After watching the pilot, the verdict’s still out. There is certainly potential here — the show has a very cinematic HBO/Showtime feel to it, which is obviously a good thing. It’s kind of like a sort of “Thief”-lite, trying to have a dark side without being too bogged down by its own darkness (i.e., trying to make itself network and viewer friendly). There are two things a show like this will generally live and die by, of course — the cast and the capers.
They should be alright on the cast side of things, at least from a performance perspective, which is helmed by Ray Liotta (dubbed the titular “Smith” by a Fed trying to track him down). As we all know, Liotta is at his best when he’s playing likeable-crazy, with a little bit of pathos and scare-the-shit-outta-ya thrown into the mix (see, e.g., Goodfellas). It’s hard to tell what we’re ultimately going to get from him here based just on the pilot, but all those aspects showed up at some point — there was lots of friendly Liotta, some lovey-dovey Liotta, one nice outburst-of-anger Liotta, and a quick glimmer of I’m-bitch-crazy Liotta. I have to admit that, for as long as I keep up with this show, I’ll actually be sorta rooting against Liotta and his crew, just to see Liotta have outbursts and tear it up. From an acting perspective, I think the show lives or dies on Liotta’s shoulders, and it looks like he’s up to the task.
He wasn’t the only one who showed the potential to carry their acting burdens, however, and I think just about everyone else is up for the challenge. Jonny Lee Miller, as a just-paroled member of the gang, was great. Ditto for Simon Baker (one of those guys whom I’ve seen in things but I could never tell you what, exactly, he’s done), who plays a charmingly twisted guy who’ll sniper-kill some surfers for no reason other than they got in his face. And then there’s Shohreh Aghdashloo, who’s been knocking it out of the park now for a couple of years and really deserves some acclaim; anyway, she appears to be a recurring character as Liotta’s bankroller/fence, and looks fantastic.
The biggest question mark on the acting side of things is Amy Smart. Now, I’m a fan of hers, but playing the sexy-cool college girlfriend in Road Trip is one thing, and I’m just not convinced yet that she can pull off the cold-as-ice/tough-as-nails criminal that this role seems to call for. But I guess we’ll see. The other question mark is Virginia Madsen, as Liotta’s wife who knows more than he thinks she knows and who has a little bit of a double life of her own. She actually seems like she’ll be great, from an acting perspective. But I’m very worried about the material she’s going to be given to work with. At the end of the pilot, I felt like we’d been given yet another television wife who’s been burdened with television contrivances to make the character feel as important and weighty as the boys. To me, it felt sort of lazy and manufactured, and I hope the writers are up to the challenge of giving Madsen good quality material that rises above the crap so many of the women’s roles seems to get these days, giving us viewers a strong and believable female character. But again, I guess we’ll see.
Looking to the other key for this show’s success, the caper, I feel pretty good. The heist that went down in the pilot was solid yet basic, although there was one aspect of the getaway plan that just didn’t make any sense (this could easily be fixed with one edit, however, so here’s to hoping it gets cleaned up prior to airing). The whole thing was also a little anticlimactic, as the episode played as a flashback — although the second time through the heist at the end filled in some gaps from what we saw at the opening, you’ve known the major bits for an hour already. But again, I suspect this can be fixed with editing, which they’re going to have to do anyway, since the pilot runs too long for an hour premiere but too short for a two-hour premiere. Anyway, the point is this — nitpicks aside, the caper was good enough. Now, I don’t know if they’re going to try to pull a one-per-episode like this, or do some more extended-type heists, but if they can keep them smart and clever, it will obviously go a long way towards the show’s success.
So the long and the short of it is, in my mind, this show is worth a shot. It’s going up against the respectable “Law and Order: SVU” and “Boston Legal,” but with “The Unit” as its lead-in, I suspect that it’ll initially be the king of the hill. If it wants to keep that position, it’s going to have to show us some strong and clever writing. Time will tell.
From Pajiba .
Date:Jul,24,2006
Smith (CBS, Tuesdays, 10 p.m.). I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I love me the heists and capers, so I’m very willing to embrace this show if it’s embraceable. After watching the pilot, the verdict’s still out. There is certainly potential here — the show has a very cinematic HBO/Showtime feel to it, which is obviously a good thing. It’s kind of like a sort of “Thief”-lite, trying to have a dark side without being too bogged down by its own darkness (i.e., trying to make itself network and viewer friendly). There are two things a show like this will generally live and die by, of course — the cast and the capers.
They should be alright on the cast side of things, at least from a performance perspective, which is helmed by Ray Liotta (dubbed the titular “Smith” by a Fed trying to track him down). As we all know, Liotta is at his best when he’s playing likeable-crazy, with a little bit of pathos and scare-the-shit-outta-ya thrown into the mix (see, e.g., Goodfellas). It’s hard to tell what we’re ultimately going to get from him here based just on the pilot, but all those aspects showed up at some point — there was lots of friendly Liotta, some lovey-dovey Liotta, one nice outburst-of-anger Liotta, and a quick glimmer of I’m-bitch-crazy Liotta. I have to admit that, for as long as I keep up with this show, I’ll actually be sorta rooting against Liotta and his crew, just to see Liotta have outbursts and tear it up. From an acting perspective, I think the show lives or dies on Liotta’s shoulders, and it looks like he’s up to the task.
He wasn’t the only one who showed the potential to carry their acting burdens, however, and I think just about everyone else is up for the challenge. Jonny Lee Miller, as a just-paroled member of the gang, was great. Ditto for Simon Baker (one of those guys whom I’ve seen in things but I could never tell you what, exactly, he’s done), who plays a charmingly twisted guy who’ll sniper-kill some surfers for no reason other than they got in his face. And then there’s Shohreh Aghdashloo, who’s been knocking it out of the park now for a couple of years and really deserves some acclaim; anyway, she appears to be a recurring character as Liotta’s bankroller/fence, and looks fantastic.
The biggest question mark on the acting side of things is Amy Smart. Now, I’m a fan of hers, but playing the sexy-cool college girlfriend in Road Trip is one thing, and I’m just not convinced yet that she can pull off the cold-as-ice/tough-as-nails criminal that this role seems to call for. But I guess we’ll see. The other question mark is Virginia Madsen, as Liotta’s wife who knows more than he thinks she knows and who has a little bit of a double life of her own. She actually seems like she’ll be great, from an acting perspective. But I’m very worried about the material she’s going to be given to work with. At the end of the pilot, I felt like we’d been given yet another television wife who’s been burdened with television contrivances to make the character feel as important and weighty as the boys. To me, it felt sort of lazy and manufactured, and I hope the writers are up to the challenge of giving Madsen good quality material that rises above the crap so many of the women’s roles seems to get these days, giving us viewers a strong and believable female character. But again, I guess we’ll see.
Looking to the other key for this show’s success, the caper, I feel pretty good. The heist that went down in the pilot was solid yet basic, although there was one aspect of the getaway plan that just didn’t make any sense (this could easily be fixed with one edit, however, so here’s to hoping it gets cleaned up prior to airing). The whole thing was also a little anticlimactic, as the episode played as a flashback — although the second time through the heist at the end filled in some gaps from what we saw at the opening, you’ve known the major bits for an hour already. But again, I suspect this can be fixed with editing, which they’re going to have to do anyway, since the pilot runs too long for an hour premiere but too short for a two-hour premiere. Anyway, the point is this — nitpicks aside, the caper was good enough. Now, I don’t know if they’re going to try to pull a one-per-episode like this, or do some more extended-type heists, but if they can keep them smart and clever, it will obviously go a long way towards the show’s success.
So the long and the short of it is, in my mind, this show is worth a shot. It’s going up against the respectable “Law and Order: SVU” and “Boston Legal,” but with “The Unit” as its lead-in, I suspect that it’ll initially be the king of the hill. If it wants to keep that position, it’s going to have to show us some strong and clever writing. Time will tell.
From Pajiba .
posted by nikita | 7:13 PM
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