For starters, Robert Di Nero is an executive producer. Then there is Adam Goldberg who plays Ray. Ray was once a veteran news reporter, but decides to become a cop after he is laid off from his job.
If you're like me, you recognized Goldberg's face, but couldn't place where you know him from. Come to find out - you know him from a lot of different places, as he has been on every television show from " Medium" and "DeJa Vu", to "My Name is Earl."
Unfortunately, the debut episode fell rather flat for me. As usual, when you have a large ensemble cast, there is the adjustment period of figuring out who is who and what is what and how each character fits into the order of things. I thought this was the problem, but it wasn't the case. Instead, I decided that there is no point of view (POV) here. And that's where NYC22 fails.
Unlike "Rookie Blues" which centers around Andy, this episode tossed together our 6 rookie cadets and then sent them off in pairings of two to allow them to misbehave. Where "Rookie Blues" started with the other characters pivoting off of Andy and then expanding into their own storylines, "NYC 22" just gives us a chapter of each.
So--- we see Ahmad (Tom Reed) get profiled by other officers because he is from Afghanastan, Tonya (Judy Marte) with a chip on her shoulder, and Jayson (Harold House Moore) the once-professional-basketball-player, who has to convince his friend to turn himself for extorting money from shop owners.
We also see Ray lament his life and give himself the nickname "Lazarus" and Jennifer (Leelee Sobieski), who is a wisp of a thing, but was an MP in the military. Oh, and finally Kenny (Stark Sands), the token "all of my family have been police officers and I have a thing to prove" rookie. (I swear Jamie from "Blue Bloods" once listed almost the same pedigree - perhaps he and Kenny are related?)
Anyway, as you expect each pair gets into trouble. Two try to break up a gang fight in Harlem, two end up in a domestic situation with a gun to their heads, and two get assigned to help an old lady unstop a toilet. Or... maybe those two broke up the gang fight?
In the end, it was really hard to care. The characters were cardboard. It made me miss Andy and Sam and I wondered why the "22" would pair up two rookies and make them walk a beat instead of having them trained and mentored by more experienced officers who could tell them whats what.
I may give this one another try, but only when the DVR isn't busy recording "Desperate Housewives" and "Mad Men," which are on at the same time. I also may be wrong, but I don't think that even Robert Di Nero's name is going to keep this one around too long. It will be interesting to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment