Article originally published as MINORITY REPORT Review on Seat42F.
Let’s
play a game. I’m going to describe a television show and you guess
which one I’m talking about. An eccentric person with a skill who is not
at all in law enforcement teams up with a smart cop who bends the rules
and shows the person the ropes, even though that puts them in danger.
Every week, the two solve another crime together, probably a murder, and
do it better than anyone else can. No, I’m not talking about Castle.
Nope, not Bones, either. Nor is it The Mentalist, Sleepy Hollow, White Collar, Almost Human, Psych, Monk, or a wealth of other shows you could name that fit the description.
The show I’m talking about today is
MINORITY REPORT, based on the Steven Spielberg movie. Now, I use the
word ‘based’ loosely because the film features one character working
against a corrupt system to clear his name. Like it or not (personally, I
found it good, not great), it is an interesting concept taking place in
a world created specifically for that tale.
I get that making MINORITY REPORT into a
case-of-the-week, standard-fare, wholly-unoriginal crime procedural
makes sense. The PreCogs in the movie see a murder before it happens, so
it would seem a natural fit for the mold, with the twist being that the
cops stop the crimes before they happen, giving them a chance to
interact with the victim, though everything else remains basically
in-formula.
Imagine if you will, though, a better
concept. A show about rebellion or a changing world or the little guy
fighting against the bad guy in a sweeping war. That would be something
to get excited about. (It exists, in fact, and it’s called Mr. Robot.)
Sadly, FOX’s MINORITY REPORT television show is not it.
The pitch is simple. Dash (Stark Sands,
NYC 22), one of the PreCogs, ventures into Washington D.C. ten years
after the pre-crime program is scrapped. He begins having visions of
murder, but being the weakest of the three, doesn’t have enough info to
figure things out himself. Enter Detective Lara Vega (Meagan Good,
Deception), a capable cop who is having trouble getting ahead.
Obviously, Dash could help her build a reputation for herself, though
she’s wise to convince him he might need help from his brother, Arthur
(Nick Zano, 2 Broke Girls), to get clearer visions.
Now, admittedly, Arthur is the wild card
that makes MINORITY REPORT a little bit different. He joined society
some time ago and has built a business for himself. (The third sibling,
Agatha (Laura Regan, Mad Men) is still on ‘the island’ and thinks they
should keep to themselves.) But he agrees to assist, for a price to be
discussed later, so is the consultant Dash and Vega stop by for a brief
conversation with just before they run off to confront the bad guy.
MINORITY REPORT could be good. The pilot
introduces a storyline with a former pre-crime officer, Peter Van Eyck
(Andrew Stewart-Jones, Gotham), who has an idea for a new crime-stopping
technology. It may or may not be coincidence he shares a last name with
the eyeball-replacer’s assistant from the film. And the one actor who
bridges the two, Daniel London, reprises his role as Wally the
Caretaker. But seemingly more central is Vega’s cop rival, Will Blake
(Wilmer Valderrama, That 70s Show), so that seems to indicate to me that
the focus is on the repetitive stuff, not what makes MINORITY REPORT
special.
That being said, if you like a good
turn-your-brain-off, paint-by-numbers crime procedural, and lots of
people do, MINORITY REPORT does that with cool special effects and a
futuristic setting. That wasn’t enough for Almost Human (a superior
show), but perhaps it will be for this one.
MINORITY REPORT premieres September 21st on FOX.
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