Summer 2010 shows pt. I

There's a major change around for my TV-blog. Unlike movies, rating TV-shows fairly on a 1-10 scale is almost impossible. Doing it on a scale including half-scores even more so, so as a result I'm taking the TV-ratings back to the stone-age and the good old dice rating.

So. Getting the most important announcement out of the way, it's time to talk about TV-shows again. In between everything else going on, I've had the time to revisit some dear old on-screen friends. All of them top-rated shows, all of them well worth spending time with more than once and only one of them still running. I'll get back to that in a while (another post or two), as I'd like to start my rating with some early impressions of the first bunch of this summer's new scheduled shows. Here's my take on four of the new shows I've checked out thus far from the rainy summer of 2010:

The Good Guys Action-comedy
Seen all 9 episodes

From Matt Nix, the creator of Burn Notice, comes this new comedy-action cop show. Much like his first creation, also The Good Guys aims for an audience looking to enjoy some easy entertainment without too many twists and turns making it impossible to catch an episode whenever you feel like it.

We follow the washed-out, drinking, womanizing and one-case-hero cop Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford(Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing)), who's only reason not being off the force is the fact his one heroic story involved saving the Governor's son from kidnapping thirty years ago. While still on the force, he's on the other hand as low on the totem-pole as a detective can get. He and his rookie partner Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks(Roswell)), are assigned routine small crime cases like bicycle theft and the likes. Bailey follows the rules and knows the book, but doesn't really come across as a promising cop to those higher ranked.

Together this duo usually takes their pity-cases to another level through luck, hard work or coincidences. All according to whom you ask maybe. Along with Whitford and Hanks, Jenny Wade plays an important support role as Bailey's ex-girlfriend as well as being the Assistant District Attorney and the second important supporting role is Diana Maria-Riva as the duo's Lieutenant.

Anyway. The Good Guys pays homage to old cop-shows from way back, when big cars, attitude and kick-ass detectives was the norm on TV. I really enjoy the balance between old-school cops and the humor worked in mostly through the Dan Stark character of the extremely talented Bradley Whitford (no secret my appreciation is much thanks to his major roles on the two before mentioned Aaron Sorkin quality shows). Stark telling Bailey stories of how he and his old partner Frank used to do things back in the days, is usually worth the episodes alone. You got to enjoy the humor to really appreciate this show, and it might sometimes take a while to really get into the mood. I enjoyed it from the beginning, but not until the 6th or 7th episode did it really explode into a top notch show for me as my viewing experience was lifted by the knowledge from past episodes.

The Good Guys got early renewals for a second season, and then they decided to stop airing it on the summer schedule after nine episodes; rather accelerate it into their fall schedule. As a result their summer is now over, but more from The Good Guys in late September.

Rookie Blue Cop-drama
Seen 2 episodes

Rookie Blue is another cop show, molded in the same way as parts of good old Third Watch and much like last years new show Southland. Like Flashpoint and The Bridge in later years, also Rookie Blue comes out of Canada, so there should be no doubt Canadian TV is taking steps in reaching markets these days. Third Watch and Southland had a rookie cop. Rookie Blue is centered around a group of rookies, and how they stack up against their challenges arriving from the academy.

The cast includes Missy Peregrym(Reaper), Gregory Smith(Everwood), Charlotte Sullivan, Enuka Okuma and Travis Milne as the rookies, and then their partners, some detectives and family and so on.

I'm definitely going to check out a couple of more episodes, being a huge fan of Third Watch. I enjoy the focus on street cops who has to deal with a variety of challenges, rather than most cop shows who only focuses on detectives and murders. Still. I wasn't that interested in the principal characters from the start. The drama parts also seemed a bit amateurish compared to other shows who's done this or similar before. There's plenty potential, but so far I fear they are heading towards mediocrity.

Scoundrels Drama-comedy-family
Seen 2 episodes

Scoundrels is an American remake of the New Zealand show Outrageous Fortune. I really don't like remakes in general, but on the other hand I've never seen the NZ-show.

Scoundrels tells about the West's, a small-crime family used to warrants, theft and handling stolen merchandise, just to mention a few of their activities. The show kicks off with Dad going to jail for five years, and the Mom (Virginia Madsen) deciding to take the family onto the law abiding ways of living rather than getting more members of the family sent away.

I guess the premise is decent enough, and if the humor had been my kind I might have enjoyed it. Maybe I'll have to check out the NZ-original. When it comes to humor the US remakes often takes another direction. I digress. The family in question isn't really very interesting. I didn't care much for any of them after two full hour episodes, and then there's most definitely something wrong with the idea. Also the actors and actresses seems rather mediocre. The law abiding ways of the Wests might find their audience, but I'll not be one of them.

Haven Sci-Fi-drama-mystery
Seen 3 episodes

Haven is based on Stephen King's novel The Colorado Kid, and takes our heroine FBI-agent Audrey Parker to the small town Haven in Maine. A town where cursed people lives in exile, trying to live their everyday lives in peace. As forces awakens the curses, Audrey is sent to Haven after an escaped prisoner in the pilot. She finds the prisoner dead under strange circumstances, and her curiosity brings her into investigate closer what happened. She finds unrelated clues pointing towards her mother once being in Haven, a mother Audrey never knew as she grew up an orphan. As the arch-theme goes Audrey is offered a position at the local police if she likes to stay figuring out about her past and the forces at play.

Besides the arch-theme, every episodes takes on a new cursed person and the influences and danger it has on the town. Audrey, played by Emily Rose (ER, Jericho, Brothers & Sisters), is partnered up with the local sheriff's son, Nathan, on cases. Nathan is played by Lucas Bryant, his father the sheriff is played by Nicholas Campbell and also Eric Belfour holds a supporting role.

While Haven could have been interesting from the premise, their focus seem to be a little to much Eureka-ish for me to enjoy. Not to crap on Eureka, but the premise of a special town and the awful happy ending focus (maybe not morally awful like most would have a problem with, but looking at the storytelling and the flow, arch and creative freedom... such a obvious morale point of view crushes the quality) is more than I can bare in the long run. The pilot managed to hold some kind of interest, much because of the feel of potential, but in the two following episodes everything went fast downhill. Not only was the cases less interesting, but also the acting, the storyline, the chemistry and the lead characters personality went from maybe potential to abused potential. Audrey Parker live in the shadow of heroines like Fringe's Olivia, and then I really don't blame Emily Rose that much for failing to seize her audience.