(September
20th, 2007. - Editor)
Damian Lewis (Band of
Brothers), Melissa Sagemiller (Sleeper
Cell), Sarah Shahi (Rush Hour 3), Robin Weigart (Deadwood), and Adam Arkin (Chicago
Hope) star in the quirky police drama Life, airing Wednesday on NBC.
Detective Charlie
Crews (Lewis) is returning to the Los Angeles police force after more
than a decade in prison, thanks to close friend and
attorney Constance Griffiths (Sagemiller), who freed him from a life in
a maximum security prison, where he was serving time for a crime he didn't commit.
When
DNA evidence cleared him, the rumor was that he was reinstated to the
force and given a $5 million settlement. Or was it $50 Million. The
details are subject to a non-disclosure deal that was part of the
settlement. As Crews faces harsh comments from his fellow officers and
members of the public, he struggles to maintain his sanity and his
reputation, while searching for the real perpetrators of the crime.
His good friend and former cellmate (Arkin) uses his background in
business to care for Charlie's money, and for Charlie as the cop,
turned inmate, turned cop again, struggles to reconnect with his world
and the people who were once an important part of it.
This series has a genuine shot at being the biggest hit of the season.
Damian Lewis has created a character that is very watch-able, very
likeable and very odd. That oddness is exactly what I think will
either catch on with viewers and send this quirky cop drama into the
to ten, or it will miss the mark completely and end up on the scrap
heap before November sweeps. The writing in episodes two and three
will be the key. If they can maintain the offbeat, sly, style of this
series, they will have a hit on their hands. There is a realness to
these characters that we do not often see on television. No one is a
clear and simple good guy, but there are some good guy qualities that
just might emerge if this guy can be given a welcoming hand back into
the force instead of being pushed out.
The heavy competition on Wednesday could be a help to this series, as
expectations from the network may be low enough to allow this effort
to develop the characters and find an audience. If they leave it alone
for a few weeks, the viewers will come to this one over the less heady
offerings on the other channels, as this is the show that offers a
challenge to the thinking viewer. Not everyone wants to work that
hard, but for those who, do series will reward them with some great
entertainment.
-- Editor --
