NBC Fall 2007

Filed under Reviews on September 28, 2007
Keywords: television

This is not a comprehensive critique of NBC’s fall lineup. There were specific shows I was interested in, and one that I decided to watch because I wasn’t ready for bed yet.

Chuck
I’ve read a lot of comparisons to Jake 2.0, but I haven’t see that show. There appear to be some basic similarities in the premise, but I can’t comment beyond that.

Chuck is an action comedy. The title character is the manager of the Nerd Herd, based on Best Buy’s Geek Squad. The warehouse-style store their based on even looks like a Best Buy, though they use green instead of blue. Chuck is cute and funny, but bad with the girls. He has little ambition, until an old college roommate who now works for the CIA (NSA?) sends him an email full of images embed with the collective data of all the U.S. intelligence agencies. Chuck then finds himself in the middle of a turf war between the CIA and the NSA, all the while receiving “visions” from the data now burned into his brain. The visions are triggered by visual queues that Chuck stumbles upon.

While I liked the acting and laughed, the violence of the turf war between the two agencies stretched my suspension of belief a bit too thin. I’ll tune in for at least a couple more episodes, mainly because the show precedes . . .

Heroes
Four months have passed since Hiro teleported himself back in time and Nathan flew Peter into the stratosphere where the young Petrelli went nuclear. The opening episode focused on Hiro, Claire, Suresh, Matt and Nathan, while introducing a brother and sister attempting to flee Mexico. The sister has the power to cause . . . brain aneurysms? I’m hooked all over again.

Bionic Woman
I’ve been anticipating this show since NBC announced it at the end of the season last year. Not impressed. This revisioning is darker and much more action-oriented than the original series. It would make a good popcorn action flick, but I don’t think it can sustain itself as a series. I would like to have seen more focus on Jaime’s life before the accident to give greater impact to how becoming bionic will affect her. Instead, we get one or two vignettes at the beginning where the characters tell us about the conflicts in their relationships with each other. Then the Accident. Then a lot of beautiful, bouncing, busty battles on rainy rooftops. It’s pretty obvious what the focus will be on. I guess this might be good filler until Lost premieres next year.

Life
Throughout the commercial breaks during Bionic Woman, NBC bombarded viewers with the critical ravings over their new police drama Life. Disappointed by Bionic Woman and not quite ready to call it a night, I decided to watch.

Charlie Crews was a cop convicted of a murder he didn’t commit and sent to a maximum security prison. After suffering twelve years of beatings, Crews is exonerated. He sues the city and wins millions, as well as reinstation to the force. This is all backstory told through documentary-style interviews with different characters throughout the episode.

Now a detective, Charlie and his new partner investigate the homicide of a boy. Charlie is a bit eccentric/unorthodox, spouting zen while revealing a quirky intuition and compassion for victims both primary and ancillary. For example, he and his partner get in a gunfight with a junkie they believe might be the murderer. The junkie denies this as he blows holes in the wall with his shotgun, but offers a name. Charlie fatally wounds the junkie, but cradles the pathetic wretch (well-played by Chad Lindberg) and tenderly whispers to him that it’s just a dream.

The supporting cast have quirks of their own. Crews’ new partner is a recovering drug addict who goes on alcoholic binges followed by one-night stands. The LT is putting pressure on her to report/create any dirt on Charlie in order to get him kicked from the force. She and Charlie have a tender/awkward moment when he helps her wash off some heroin/cocaine dust that gets on her during the junkie encounter, setting up some sexual tension between them.

Charlie’s financial manager is a white-collar criminal convicted of insider trading who met Charlie in the slammer. There’s also some sexual tension between Charlie and his lawyer. At first, during the scene where we see the tension, the dialog between the two lead me to believe they were brother and sister. I obviously misinterpreted that.

The twist at the end clinched the deal for me. Charlie is trying to solve who framed him for the murder. One wall of his house is dedicated to a clue/suspect association chart. One of the pictures on the chart was of the LT trying to get him off the force. Dun-dun-DUUUNNN!

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