Reviews
by R. Thomas Umstead and George Vernadakis -- Multichannel News, 7/13/2009 2:00:00 AM
DARK BLUE
(TNT, Wednesday, July 15, 10 p.m.)
TNT’s latest drama Dark Blue takes viewers into the world of undercover police work where lines between right and wrong are often blurred.
The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series stars Carter Shaw (Dylan McDermott) as the head of an off-the-radar team of officers charged with infiltrating the worst crime gangs in Los Angeles.
In the pilot episode, team member Dean Bendis (Logan Marshall-Green) is caught on a surveillance camera dumping the body of a critically injured undercover FBI agent tortured by the gang’s leader. Shaw puts in play recently married team member Ty Curtis (Omari Hardwick), as well as new team recruit Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox) to get Dean out of his predicament.
Dark Blue is by far TNT’s grittiest, darkest show — more FX’s The Shield than Leverage. Nevertheless, it’s a well-written show with interesting characters that keep you guessing as to how far they’ll go to catch the bad guys. — R. Thomas Umstead
The Bill Engvall Show (Season 3)
(TBS, Saturday, July 18, 9 p.m.)
TBS’s The Bill Engvall Show may technically be a comedy, but the series — back for a third season — is also a mystery. The how-dunnit is how a formulaic, at-best-smile-inducing family comedy gave the “Very Funny” network cable’s top-rated original sitcom.
The secret to the show’s success — it averaged 2.3 million viewers during its sophomore season — may be in the fact that its characters and situations all seem so familiar. Engvall’s Bill Pearson trades innocent jabs with his pants-in-the-family wife (Nancy Travis), when he isn’t trying to understand his kids or getting into some kind of bind, which often involves his buddy Paul (Tim Meadows). In other words, it’s Everybody Loves Raymond meets The Cosby Show meets The Honeymooners — to name a few.
An occasional sexual innuendo aside, the show has “family friendly” written all over it, and that’s why it will probably continue to score with viewers. — George Vernadakis
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