Another Kelley GOLIATH

Article first published as GOLIATH Review on Seat42F.

The prolific David E. Kelley, gone from the broadcast airwaves for a few years, returns to television on Amazon this week with GOLIATH. Like most of his former series, GOLIATH is a legal drama. But with the freedom of streaming services, unbound from the set running times, act breaks, and episode counts of the broadcast networks he called home for so long, it’s a new beast from the old hand. And, let’s be honest, what fan of legal drama doesn’t want another one from this guy?

GOLIATH stars Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo, Friday Night Lights) as Billy McBride, a washed-up alcoholic who is past the peak of his career. Spinning into a personal hole, Billy has a bad relationship with his ex-wife, Michelle (Maria Bello, Touch, Prisoners), and daughter, Denise (Diana Hopper, Hidden Truth). He doesn’t start in a very good place.

Billy’s break comes when a woman brings him a big case that would pit Billy against his former partner, Donald Cooper (William Hurt, Humans, Into the Wild), and the firm Billy was forced out of, which Michelle is still involved in. Now, personal and professional life is intermixed as Billy fights for justice, and possibly for a little revenge from those who wronged him.

It’s an enticing premise. Everyone wants to cheer for the guy who is down, and who we expect to turn it around, especially when his opponent (Donald) seems so clearly in the wrong. It’s a black-and-white dynamic, and while the odds are stacked against Billy, David-and-Goliath-style, we are sure that the misfit crew he puts together, which includes a real estate attorney and a call girl, will win the day.

If I were to compare this to any of Kelley’s other series, I would say, on paper, it is most like Harry’s Law, which featured a noble, flawed character staging a comeback. Except, GOLIATH is a much darker drama and the case will be ongoing over at least the course of the season, whereas Harry’s Law was funny and procedural. So GOLIATH still has some of the classic Kelley elements and similarities to his past work, but isn’t just a retread.

The writer takes to the looser format very well. Watching GOLIATH, I was struck by how much it resembles some of the higher-quality series on the premium cable and streaming networks. It doesn’t have the same memorable juice as Fargo, American Horror Story, Westworld, Breaking Bad, and the others at the top of the heap, but it is a very solid entry that can hang in the same general stratosphere.

Helping this along is the excellent cast assembled. Thornton proved himself to any doubters with his last television role, and he is more than capable of taking the lead here. Yet, so are most of the other actors around him, so he is in good company with Bello, Hurt, Olivia Thirlby (Good Vibes, Juno), Molly Parker (House of Cards), Nina Arianda (Hannibal), Tania Raymonde (Lost), Sarah Wynter (24), Damon Gupton (Bates Motel), and more. There should be no complaints about the company.

The pilot starts off intriguing, but like the excellent Damages, it just seems to be scratching the surface initially. It sets up the scenario and introduces us to most of the players, but there are sure to be a lot of twists and setbacks as things unfold. At approximately eight hours running time, it looks to be a manageable, quick series, with no time for fluff and treading water, so I expect it will move quickly, but going by the pilot, not too quickly. I’m intrigued and plan to watch the full season.

GOLIATH’s entire first season will be available on Amazon Prime beginning today.

Death Valley should die

     What can be said about the new MTV series Death Valley? Not a lot that's good, unfortunately. It is not set in Death Valley, if that's what you're wondering. Rather, it takes place near Hollywood, and follows cops on the UTF (Undead Task Force) who deal with zombies, werewolves, and vampires.

     Yep, that's right, the supernatural featured on many, many, many books, television shows, and movies right now. There is no attempt to explain why these creatures are in this area. Apparently, they've only been publically known for a year, and there is a high concentration of them near Hollywood. Perhaps they came to get revenge on the people who exploit them? That doesn't quite ring true, since they seem to have already become completely integrated into society within that first year, already taking jobs as prostitutes and the like.

     Basically, Death Valley is Reno 9-1-1, but with far more gross gore than necessary, and far fewer laughs. This is a bad combination. Too little gore on a series like this, no problem. But without enough funny to keep viewers tuning in, there doesn't seem to be much hope for a lengthy run. At least in "Pilot," the premise seems like a one note gag that will wear thin very quickly. Only time will tell if this assertion is true, or Death Valley will go somewhere.

     The cast isn't bad. Comic Bryan Callen (MADtv, Oz) leads the crew. John-John (Texas Battle, The Bold and the Beautiful) is appropriately doughnut-obsessed, much to the chagrin of his partner, Rinaldo (Tania Raymonde, Lost). Partners Stubeck (Charlie Sanders, Cedar Rapids) and Billy (Bryce Johnson, Pretty Little Liars) are inept, but come closest to echoing the more successful characters in Reno. Newcomer Kirsten (Caity Lotz, Mad Men) is much more prepared, though inexperienced and undervalued by her teammates.

     In "Pilot," Rinaldo and John-John go to a doughnut shop to confront a zombie. John-John is filling a box with pastries, and thus distracted, allows a sound guy to get bitten. Then they beat the poor man to death with a baseball bat so he doesn't turn. Stubeck and Billy arrest a frequent offender, and end up killing her pimp in the process. Billy is kidnapped in revenge, and Stubeck must trade the dead vampire's body to get his partner back. All fairly standard, but the execution and material is substandard, and thus, the plots fall flat.

     What Death Valley needs is better writing, plain and simple. These actors can handle the humor, but they must be given something to work with. Unless it's just a bad editing job, that falls to the guys who come up with the dialogue. In this, Death Valley is a failure. Or at least the first episode is.

     Death Valley airs Mondays at 10:30 p.m. ET on MTV.

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Lost: it's time to be found

    ABC took a chance five years ago on a series called Lost.  Steeped in mystery, it was the ultimate serial.  The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 find themselves on an island, where all sorts of unexplained things occur, from a paralyzed man who can walk, to a polar bear, to a smoke monster.  Not only that, each of these castaways had a story, and each week we got a piece of the puzzle.  It was extremely popular at first, then fans tapered.  Yet, except for arguably season two, the show has only continued to get better with age, as the flashbacks became flash forwards, the Oceanic Six got off the island and returned, many of the characters did a stint in the 70's, and time became completely unhinged.  Tonight, the final season of the show begins.


     When we last left Jack, (Matthew Fox, Party of Five) Kate, (Evangeline Lilly, The Hurt Locker) and Sawyer, (Josh Holloway) the love triangle had fought, but decided to detonate a nuclear device that could possibly stop the entire series from happening.  It appears that may have worked, as the show began on a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, the characters kept talking about how they would awake on their plane on course if it worked, and the two part premiere tonight is called "LA X".  This is great news for Sayid (Naveen Andrews), who was bleeding to death, and to Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim, 24, Angel), a couple trapped more than three decades apart in time.  But what about the woman who actually set off the bomb and laid next to it as it went off, Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell, V)?  Is she dead?  She is not among the principal cast for this final season.

     Of course with Lost, nothing is certain.  Many dead characters are signed on to appear this year.  This has happened plenty of time before on the show, most notably with Jack's father, Christian (John Terry, Trauma), who despite having been dead when the flight left, appeared several times on the island.  But was it him, or the mysterious Man In Black (Titus Welliver, Deadwood), who possibly can appear as dead people, such as John Locke (Terry O'Quinn, Alias), who remains a main character despite his demise?  Other deceased characters slated to appear at least once this year, although in what form is unknown, include Charlie (Dominic Monaghan, FlashForward, Lord of the Rings), Michael (Harold Perrineau, Oz), Boone (Ian Somerhalder, The Vampire Diaries), Shannon (Maggie Grace, The Fog), Libby (Cynthia Watros, The Drew Carey Show), Charlotte (Rebecca Mader, Justice), Daniel (Jeremy Davies), Alex (Tania Raymonde, Cold Case), and even Arzt (Daniel Roebuck).  Also, rejoining the cast full time is Emilie de Ravin (Roswell), whose character, Claire, disappeared without explanation at the end of season four.

     I can't end this article without mentioning the other huge plot point left hanging from last season.  Locke, or perhaps the ghost of Locke, persuaded Ben (Michael Emerson) to kill Jacob (Mark Pellegrino, Dexter).  We also found out that Jacob visited many of the main characters in the past, although as to what purpose is unknown.

    The series also stars the wonderfully talented Jorge Garcia (Becker) as Hurley, my personal favorite character.  My other favorite character, Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) no longer stars, but will play an important role in the final season.  The show stars Ken Leung as Miles.  Joining the principal cast this season are longtime guest star Nestor Carbonell (Suddenly Susan, The Dark Knight), Jeff Fahey, and Zuleikha Robinson (The Lone Gunman).  Lost's sixth season will begin with a two hour premiere tonight at 9pm, and will air Tuesday nights through the spring.