Pilot Reviews Life and Dirty, Sexy, Money

The premiere reviews continue (for others, see below)...

LIFE

So, the first of these that I did was for the Fox show K-Ville, which I felt was just a stereotypical cop show.  Truth be told, before watching this one, I figured that it would be too.  I was wrong.  Sure, it is a cop show, and there are plenty of cop show things that happen in the episode, but at the same time it's original.  First of all, I really like the premise, it's about a cop who was wrongly imprisoned.  He spent 12 years in jail for something that he didn't do.  When he got out (and was given a fat settlement by the city) he rejoined the police force that had turned its back on him.  It gives an interesting set up for a serialized show.  The running plot line will of course be the main character working on figuring who set him up, but at the same time, he's a cop and he's going to do his job.  When his partner asks him why he came back, he tells her (again NBC with the interesting female character) that while he was locked away, he thought "I'm a cop" and that's what kept him going, that knowledge of himself.  I talked about in my K-Ville review that there wasn't anything that special to put it above any of the other cop shows on tv, with Life, however, it's different.  The main character is very intriguing.  He's got an attitude that's original.  The show intersperses the action with documentary style talking heads about the main character, giving it an interesting take on getting to know the character by seeing what others think about him, as well as seeing how he acts by himself as well as around others.  His partner is interesting too, very multi-dimensional, and I'm looking forward to the development of her almost as much as the main character.  There is a central mythos to the show which is intriguing, but the show seems content to work like the procedurals (CSI, Law & Order) and give the main importance to the case of the week.  It's an interesting combination that I have been thinking would be a good idea for a television show and I'm interested to see how they make it work.

Interesting Fact: Damian Lewis who plays the main character was Major Dick Winters in HBO's Band of Brothers.  Sarah Shahi, his partner, was the best part of NBC's short lived sitcom Teachers, and before that was Will Tippen's assistant and some time love interest on the great Alias.

Pilot Grade: 98%

DIRTY SEXY MONEY

Peter Krause is, as always, awesome, as is Donald Sutherland as the head of the rich and spoiled Darling family.  At first, I thought this show might be a bit of a one trick pony, how will Peter Krause get the wacky rich family members out of trouble this week?  While that will certainly play a part in the show, I think that the writers will do a decent job of developing the characters enough that you might care what trouble they're getting into.  I certainly started to care for the characters just based on the pilot, and that's somewhat of an accomplishment seeing as they are all rich, spoiled brats and generally unlikeable in all respects.  But what really sold me on this pilot (besides the brilliant acting of Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland) is the mystery plot line reveal towards the end of the episode.  I totally didn't see it coming, and am drawn in by it completely.

Interesting Fact: The senator hopeful Darling's (played by Stephen Baldwin, unlike Adam from Chuck, actually of the Baldwin clan) transgendered girlfriend is actually played by a transgendered woman, born Brenden McDaniel, and now known as Candis Cayne.

Pilot Grade: 96%

Until Next Time, I'm not doing one for Private Practice if you're wondering, because the pilot for this show was actually last season as an episode of Grey's Anatomy.  Truth be told, I'm glad that that's the case as I'm not a fan of Grey's Anatomy I wouldn't like Private Practice anyway.