Article first published as BACKSTROM Review on Seat42F.
FOX’s new series BACKSTROM is from the
mind of Hart Hanson, creator of Bones and The Finder. Even if you did
not know this going into the pilot, “Dragon Slayer,” it would be easy to
see the similarities to those other shows because of a near-copy of
tone and format. As a fan of Hanson, I’m interested to watch BACKSTROM.
But as someone completely burned out with the formulaic police
procedural, I’m sad he didn’t expand his premise a bit more from the
beaten path.
Rainn Wilson (The Office) stars as Everett Backstrom, a colorful man in the vein of The Finder’s Walter Sherman. Rather than withdraw from society, though, Backstrom
lives right in the middle of things, unfeeling towards those he
offends. His attitude gets him demoted to traffic duty for five years,
but as BACKSTROM begins, he is back in a position he likes, serving in
Portland’s newly created Special Crimes Unit.
Backstrom is surrounded by a team of
very capable professionals. There’s veteran detective John Almond
(Dennis Haysbert, 24, The United), fresh-faced and eager Nicole Gravely
(Genevieve Angelson, House of Lies), button-pushing consultant Peter
Niedermayer (Kristoffer Polaha, Life Unexpected, Ringer), and muscle
Frank Moto (Page Kennedy, Blue Mountain State, Weeds). Along with the
attractive French civilian support officer, Nadia Paquet (Beatrice
Rosen, Cuts, The Dark Knight), whom Backstrom “befriends” under his
doctor’s (Rizwan Manji, Outsourced, The Wolf of Wall Street) orders,
they make up his Bones-esque ensemble of colorful supporting players.
The reason I still watch Bones (though
I’m quite behind on it) is because, despite how predictable and
repetitive it is, there’s a very entertaining group who get excellent
lines and entertaining subplots on a regular basis. BACKSTROM has a
similar cast, many familiar faces oozing with talent and humor. The
question is, how much of each hour will be spent on the boring old
plot-of-the-week and how much will be fun? The balance is incredibly
important to make the series worth watching, though it would certainly
behoove Hanson to ditch the weekly-solve format as soon as possible,
unlikely as it may seem that he would do so.
Because every modern cop drama must
include the lead’s family, and Backstrom is not the type to have family
and friends around (though we do get a forced-in story about his abusive
father in “Dragon Slayer” to further shape the character), Backstrom
regularly interacts with Valentine (Thomas Dekker, Terminator: The Sarah
Connor Chronicles). Valentine operates in the illegal underworld, son
of a stripper, a transvestite in his own right. It takes a very strong
personality to compete with Backstrom, and Valentine fits the bill.
Plus, going by looks alone, I suspect he may secretly be Backstrom’s
son, though one or both might not know it yet.
I probably don’t need to tell you about
the main plot of “Dragon Slayer,” though doing so won’t spoil it for
you. A body is discovered in an apparent suicide case, which is quickly
ruled a homicide. The person you first suspect isn’t guilty, and through
a serious of brilliant leaps by our above-average investigators,
Backstrom is able to personally collar the culprit. This will likely be
repeated in most episodes.
Overall, I like BACKSTROM; I really do.
It has a terrific cast and is written by the man I believe is the
current master of the genre. No one makes this type of show better than
Hanson. But after a decade of watching his material, and seeing much of
the same on the broadcast networks (most of which I don’t watch), I may
finally be reaching my fill of it, as I noticed my attention drifting
several times in the first episode alone. I’m hopeful the era of this
type of show is near the end, ratings to the contrary, and the program
can spin itself off into something better. Otherwise, BACKSTROM is yet
another entry in an over- crowded field that feels wholly unoriginal.
BACKSTROM premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.
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