No DOUBT

Article first published as DOUBT Review on Seat42F.

CBS’s latest drama is DOUBT. It’s a legal procedural that follows a group of lawyers in a firm as they defend clients and undergo personal drama. That synopsis is not particularly memorable or distinctive, but neither is the show, which offers little to set it apart from a hundred other television series. Even when only taking into account this single network’s offerings, it’s one of the weaker ones.

Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy), polarizing as she can be, actually does a pretty decent job as Sadie Ellis, the main protagonist of DOUBT. I found her believable and capable, much as I have in previous work. While her inclusion had me unenthusiastic about this project, I can’t fairly or honestly blame her for my distaste of it.

However, Sadie herself is a large part of the problem with DOUBT. She is not only defending Billy Brennan (Steven Pasquale, Rescue Me), a charitable doctor, for a murder from two and a half decades ago, but she’s also sleeping with him. This is ridiculous in its blatant play for soapy melodrama, with little regard for realism. I’m not saying a lawyer never sleeps with a client, but she is risking being disbarred by doing so, and such a story would seldom end well in real life. This overshadows the more interesting parts of Sadie, her relationship with her parents in particular, and ruins things before they even get started.

That isn’t the only thing wrong with DOUBT, though I feel that alone sinks it. The dialogue is hokey and trite, and that’s even when it’s not super predictable. None of the characters feel like actual people, and much of what they say is inconsistent with even the little character development we get. Either the roles are miscast or the writers don’t understand the roles they’ve created. Too many times, it yanks the viewer right out of the moment.

That’s a shame because the show has a pretty strong ensemble. Then again, I could say the same for lots of bad shows these days, it being easier to find good talent than to utilize it.. This particular line up includes Elliott Gould (MASH, Ray Donovan), Dule Hill (Psych), Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black), Dreama Walker (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23), and Kobi Libii (Alpha House). Each of them are great performers in other works, but if this was the only thing I had to judge them on, I wouldn’t know it. This is by far the worst series any of them have done, at least that I’m aware of, which leads me to believe it isn’t entirely, or at all, their fault.

The guest star line up is similarly over qualified and poorly utilized. Judith Light and Donna Murphy are among those in the pilot that I wish better for.

Now, while I often berate cop procedurals, I tend to find the ones focusing on lawyers much more interesting. There’s something about the court room drama that I find compelling, and it makes me more forgiving of the flaws. This, however, defies that trend by spending way more time on unimportant stories and failing to make any of the cases interesting. Instead, the series continuously focuses on the wrong things.

Unfortunately for DOUBT, the glow of The Good Wife, a far superior show of this genre, has not been away from CBS long enough to fade. With The Good Fight spin-off premiering later this week, even if it will be online-only after episode one, there’s an immediate replacement that is sure to be much better than this. As such, I don’t see any reason why anyone would want to tune into this program when the immediate comparisons will make it seem so poor by comparison.

DOUBT premieres this Wednesday at 10/9c on CBS.

STATE OF AFFAIRS Is Solid

Article first published as STATE OF AFFAIRS Review on Seat42F.

Anyone who remembers the Grey’s Anatomy behind-the-scenes drama of a few years ago won’t exactly be excited for Katherine Heigl’s return to television. NBC decided to take a chance on her anyway with STATE OF AFFAIRS, premiering this week, which has Heigl in the leading role. With some good actors around her, though, and an interesting premise, this series is not half bad, though far from great.

Heigl plays Charleston “Charlie” Tucker, a CIA Analyst responsible for assembling and delivering the president’s daily briefing. Charlie is haunted by her past, though, suffering PTSD from witnessing her fiance’s death in the Middle East, leading to copious drinking and erratic sexual decisions in her off-hours, before somehow still managing to be a put-together woman at work, doing her job well, even at 2AM. Will this catch up with her? Or might her therapist, whom she resents having to see, eventually be able to help her work through her issues?

STATE OF AFFAIRS does suffer from an abundance of coincidence and believability-stretching elements. The president whom Charlie serves is Constance Payton (Alfre Woodard, Desperate Housewives, Star Trek: First Contact), who just happens to be Charlie’s dead fiance’s mother. Constance is bent on revenge for her son, which makes one wonder how she manages to stay in office and be a good leader as the first black female POTUS. There’s also a mystery surrounding the day of the death about which Charlie is repressing memories. This all feels a little too contrived to me.

Charlie’s team is equally preposterous, eagerly standing by her at the risk of their own jobs, without pausing to consider what might happen to them. Even if they like her, they shouldn’t be so willing to jump off a cliff for her, at least not without agonizing over the decision.

Charlie has a scene in the pilot in which she defies her boss in order to do a noble thing, putting the life of a doctor captured by terrorists ahead of petty vengeance. This is supposed to establish Charlie has a genuine hero, but instead, drags STATE OF AFFAIRS down. For one, why do TV shows always have to have one person who ignores authority because they inherently know the right thing, proving themselves better than everyone else? For another, why would a briefer have the power Charlie has to affect events?

Yet, I still want to watch this show. One big reason for that is because it is a political drama. I love the machinations of politics, various factions battling one another for power on the national stage. There are many shows that have done it a lot better and more authentic than STATE OF AFFAIRS; The West Wing and House of Cards spring to mind, or even Scandal. But there is still some draw that this show has in that arena.

For another, besides Woodard, whom I enjoy, the show has David Harbour (The Newsroom, Manhattan) as Chief of Staff David Patrick and several familiar guest actors sure to be recurring. These performers are entertaining to watch and raise the show a bit above Heigl’s expected quality.

STATE OF AFFAIRS does have the afore-mentioned personal component in Heigl’s character, but unlike new CBS stinker Madam Secretary, doesn’t allow it to make the show melodramatic or whiny. The scenes outside of the work place are well used to add depth to the character, but not the meat of each episode. Hopefully, it stays that way.

STATE OF AFFAIRS is popcorn in the way 24 was. It gets the adrenaline pumping and it’s fun to watch, but it’s never going to win any awards for being the best acting or writing on television. For my money, that’s good enough for now, and compared to a very weak crop of fellow freshman dramas this fall, this one is certainly one of the better recent entries on the broadcast networks.

STATE OF AFFAIRS premieres Monday, November 17^th at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

The Anatomy of Grey's casting drama

     Casting drama is all the rage over at Grey's Anatomy.  While characters have rotated in and out almost since the show's inception, there has been a lot of news as of late.  Most notably, Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver, 24, Lipstick Jungle), after only a handful of episodes, has been picked up as a full time cast member.

     Of the original characters from the pilot, three have long been involved in controversy and infighting.  The first, Isaiah Washington, was let go way back in the spring of 2007.  While that should have ended it, T.R. Knight seemed to stay unhappy until he was let go last spring.  Now the final member of the trio, who has also had her share of saying the wrong thing in interviews and when accepting awards, is trying to be released, and rumor is, she's going to get her wish.  Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up) still has a year left on her contract, but she has been largely absent from this season, and it would not be a surprise if they just let her get out of their hair.

     In happier news, Grey's has recently recast two of its older characters to do a flashback to 1982 in the February 18th episode, entitled "Time Warp".  J. August Richards (Angel, Raising the Bar) will take over for James Pickens Jr. when he plays young Richard, and Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip) will play the younger version of Ellis Grey.  Sarah, in particular, resembles Kate Burton, the actress who played Ellis in fifteen episodes of the series.  We will also see flashbacks for Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Callie (Sara Ramirez), but the actresses currently playing those roles will stay the same, as it won't be as far in the past.

     Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9pm on ABC.

Grey's gets Private

    Last week, in both of their first episodes of 2010, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice did a "Crossover Event".  What that means for these two ABC shows, who do this about once a year or so, is that Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh, The Drew Carey Show) returns back to Seattle Grace, the hospital she worked at before getting her own spin off, and then someone goes back to Los Angeles with her for the second hour.  It's not really a true crossover, in my opinion.  I would rather they do a two hour, interconnected story instead of keeping their characters so segregated.  Once, Addison brought some friends with her on her visit, and a couple of patients have made the trip, but it's still always a little bit of a let down, more so now that Addison has almost been in L.A. longer than she was as Seattle.

     That aside, both shows have really stepped up their game this season.  As I mentioned before the holidays,  Private Practice has been improving, and now with the growing relationship between Addison and Sam, (Taye Diggs, Rent) things seem to be finally growing and changing.  Dell (Chris Lowell, Veronica Mars) is getting over his dead wife, Pete (Tim Daly, Wings) is becoming a great father, and Violet (Amy Brenneman, Judging Amy) is starting to get over last season's tragedy.  The only story not doing it for me is the messy melt down between Cooper (Paul Adelstein, Prison Break) and Charlotte (KaDee Strickland, The Wedding Bells).  They have always been rocky, the basis of their relationship from an internet sex chat room, but it appears to be finally over, and that is very sad.  Perhaps the writers decided they couldn't keep it fresh, but the two of them had always been so good together, it's a real shame.

     On the Grey's front, another wonderful relationship has ended, with Mark (Eric Dane, Marley & Me) and Lexie (Chyler Leigh, The Practice) calling it quits over his pregnant teenage daughter, Sloan (Levin Rambin, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles).  It's terrible news, as she had really humanized and grew his character in ways he needed.  I was kind of rooting for Mark to stay with Addison in L.A., but since she's getting closer to Sam, I guess the timing just wasn't right for them.  Instead, he needs to try to win Lexie back, especially if his daughter gives the kid up for adoption.  Or better yet, perhaps Mark will adopt his own grandchild.  Either way, any path to get the two back together will be difficult because of Mark's recent tryst with Addison, and while he was away, Lexie also feel into the bed with Alex (Justin Chambers).  Oh, and Cristina (Sandra Oh, Sideways) was willing to give up Owen (Kevin McKidd, Rome) just to keep her heart goddess, Teddy (Kim Raver, 24, Lipstick Jungle)?  WTF?  (Side note, Kim Raver was recently picked up as a full time cast member.)

     Tonight's Grey's will feature the return of former doctor Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up).  We'll see how she reacts when she found out that Alex cheated on her, though she has abandoned him pretty much since the wedding, so he's not entirely to blame.  Down the coast, Sam and Naomi (Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun) will find out that their own teenage daughter is pregnant!  Oh, the drama!


     The two shows, both created by Shonda Rhimes, air Thursdays, including tonight, on ABC at 9 and 10pm.

Grey's supersizes McDreamy

    With Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) only available on a limited basis, and Izzie (Katherine Heigl) taking a break, who does Grey’s Anatomy bring to the forefront? Well, this week it was Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), the neurosurgeon nicknamed after a fast food franchise.

      Shepherd has, of course, had plot before, but most of the major points revolved around Meredith. This time, it was all about him, the surgeon god. And he pulled it off wonderfully. I was worried about it being too predictable, or too slow moving, or just plain dumb, but it was none of those things. He was appropriate parts cocky jerk and caring physician, and the rest of the hospital staff really rallied around him. For the first time, someone other than Bailey actually demonstrated the personality and skills needed to succeed Richard as chief of medicine, when and if he ever retires.

      Which is a question that has been nagging. For awhile, it seemed foregone that Richard was done with the hospital. Thankfully, that did not come to pass, and he stayed on. Bailey was the obvious choice to the viewer, if not to the characters, but Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) is an interesting character played by a wonderful actor, and it would not help the show to jettison him. However, should a series finale be looming (Grey’s is, after all, in its sixth season), Derek would make a worthy successor.

      Alex, too, has had meaty moments, dealing with Izzie going AWOL. Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) was not initially in the original pilot, though reshoots allowed him to be edited in after the fact. He has turned into one of the most intriguing characters in the series, though, and maybe Shonda (Rhimes, the show’s creator) should go ahead and let Katherine Heigl out of her contract. Then in an ideal world, Alex would travel to Private Practice and finally finish out his romance with the lovely Dr. Addison Montgomery.

Coming Up This Week:  Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, The League Series Premiere, and V (the new one)