Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy TV and Radio Column: MIKE DUFFY: Ho Hum: More Cops, Robbers
By Mike Duffy, Detroit Free Press
Mar. 22–The prime time police blotter is already jammed.
But that hasn’t stopped the networks from adding to the nightly population of cops, robbers, profilers, psycho killers and crime-solving CSIs.
Everybody’s looking for that hit show twist on familiar formulas.
The two newest additions to the game of mean streets sleuthing and crime drama entertainment arrive from opposite sides of the law at 10 tonight.
NBC’s “Heist” wants to entice with the serialized, darkly comic tale of a crew of jewel thieves. ABC’s “The Evidence” is more slickly conventional, playing to the audience that enjoys piecing together a weekly whodunit puzzle.
The results? Almost criminally underwhelming.
“Heist” attempts to channel the jaunty scofflaw spirit of “Ocean’s Eleven” as it follows professional thief Mickey O’Neill (Dougray Scott, “Mission Impossible II”) and an eclectic team of glib career miscreants as they try to rob a trio of famous Rodeo Drive jewelry stores during Academy Awards week.
“I’ll tell you … there’s no virtue if there’s no immorality,” observes Mickey, sharing his cynical rationale for living the criminal life.
“Heist” is part of a mini-boomlet of new series revolving around con men and thieves. The lighter, brighter and more sophisticated British import “Hustle” is already airing Saturday nights on AMC. And next week brings FX’s “Thief,” starring Andre Braugher (“Homicide: Life on the Street”) in a much darker, more intensely wrought drama.
Where does that leave “Heist”? Stuck in the middle and rather muddled.
The series is produced by film director Doug Liman (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith,”"The Bourne Identity”) and the sibling writer-producer team of Robb and Mark Cullen (FX’s “Lucky”), who have all done more distinctive work than they demonstrate in the premiere of “Heist.”
Scott’s team of thieves — Steve Harris of “The Practice” plays Mickey’s most trusted colleague — is not without its intermittently quirky charms. Seymour Cassell (“Rushmore”), playing an old thievery pro named Pops, is always fun. And team leader Mickey’s eventual romantic entanglement with LAPD Detective Amy Sykes (Michele Hicks) will produce its own set of complications.
“Heist” kicks off with a complicated bank robbery caper to obtain financing for the even more elaborate Oscar week jewelry grab. But in between the sardonic wisecracks and tangled storytelling, it’s easy to lose interest. Start to finish, “Heist” feels like a compromised entertainment. Cable — including “Hustle” and the upcoming “Thief” — just does this sort of thing better.
But at least “Heist” flashes a bit of dramatic zing.
By comparison, “The Evidence,” produced by John Wells (“ER”), is just slick, stale crime procedural schlock.
The gimmicky opening scene of each episode presents items of evidence, including a severed finger in the bloodily predictable premiere. And then we flash back to the day of the crime to follow homicide detectives Sean Cole (Rob Estes, “Melrose Place”) and Cayman Bishop (Orlando Jones, “The Replacements”) as they investigate the case, discovering those pieces of evidence we’ve seen at the show’s opening.
Detective Cole’s a hunky widower, still haunted by his beautiful wife’s unsolved murder. His partner, Detective Bishop, specializes in sarcastic banter. Back at the cop shop, veteran character actor Martin Landau plays avuncular medical examiner Dr. Sol Goldman.
Yes, it’s always nice to see Martin Landau.
But no series with Rob Estes as a grieving widower is ever going to surprise us with anything fresh or original. “The Evidence” is just another tediously cliched crime procedural. Whodunit? Who cares.’Heist’
**
out of four stars
10 p.m. Wed.
WDIV-TV, Channel 4, NBC
‘The Evidence’
*
out of four stars
10 p.m. Wed.
WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, ABC
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Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press
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