I HAVE often commented on good and bad crime dramas. CSI: Miami and The Closer are among many offerings that have been canned.
Although this means that writers can apply their ideas to new TV shows, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into successful endeavours – M-Net’s Blue Bloods (season two is being screened) being an exception.
So where does this leave NYC 22 and The Finder? Hmm, that is a bit of a tough call.
What I can tell viewers, though, is that they shouldn’t bond too much with the characters in NYC22, which has a Rookie Blue-meets-Southland feel. The series was axed after one season.
Featuring Adam Goldberg and Leelee Sobieski among its principal cast, the CBS show follows a group of rookies from the New York City Police Department as they patrol Upper Manhattan. It’s a rather formulaic offering as it exploits the contrasting personalities and personal setbacks for part of the drama while perching it on rookies’ work dilemmas.
On the other hand, The Finder will probably pique more interest, more so as it has Geoff Stults (7th Heaven) and Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile) spearheading the cast.
Loosely based on The Locator by Richard Greener, and a spin-off series of Bones, The Finder sees retired Major Walter Sherman (Stults) partnered with Leo Knox (Duncan), a former lawyer and widower. Although Walter lives as a recluse, his gift for finding things – gained after suffering brain damage when involved in a roadside bomb explosion – sees him in high demand. Knox is both his confidante and muscle.
Chatting to CraveOnline about some of the favourite things he gets to find on the show, Stults says: “That’s the great thing about the show – we can find anything and go anywhere. We’ve found a sweaty pair of socks, a serial killer, Cinderella, lost record tracks and a voodoo doll.”
As for shooting the episode of Bones that helped to introduce The Finder, Duncan says: “I I hung out in David Boreanaz’s trailer, which is humongous. Ours are like VWs.”
Stults continues: “We joke around, but all kidding aside, we refer to Bones as varsity and we are JV (junior varsity). We are born from Bones. But we’re not Bones.”
Although Duncan made no bones about the fact that he wanted to work on 24, he never got the chance.
Reflecting on his meeting with 24 producer, Howard Gordon, he says: “I blew that.”
As for pairing up with Stults now, Duncan shares: “I didn’t want to do it. It was all for him (points to Stults). He called me and begged me. He was unemployed and camping out in front of my house.”
While viewers will probably enjoy the camaraderie between Stults and Duncan, which is reminiscent to that of James Roday and Dulè Hill in Psych, the script, which is lamentably pedestrian, prevents the series from rising above average.
TV critic aside, you can make that judgement call between these two shows.
• NYC22 airs on Wednesday at 7.30pm and The Finder airs on Thursday at 8.30pm. Both shows are screened on M-Net Series (DStv channel 110).