TNT's "Dark Blue"

[poak]

My girlfriend and I recently attended a test screening for TNT's new crime drama series "Dark Blue" at the Mercy Lounge this past Thursday. I though I'd give you guys a heads up and some of my thoughts on it.

Instead of writing a plot synopsis, I'll just steal one form somewhere else:

Dark Blue focuses on a team of undercover police officers — so undercover, in fact, that many officers in their own department don't even know their operation exists. McDermott plays Carter Shaw, the deeply flawed officer at the head of the team, whose life outside the unit is in shambles; his underlings include a newly married cop who doesn't know how to handle the relationships he forms undercover and a young patrol officer with a shady past and a penchant for lying.

What I liked: It's produced by Bruckheimer, so yeah, guns go off and stuff blows up! The show has a somewhat "gritty" feel, and I like that. One of the TNT guys mentioned each episode revolves around a new crime every week, therefore if you miss an episode, you won't be completely clueless. I like this. Shows like "Lost" that leave you just that, LOST if you miss 5 minutes of an episode can get kind of annoying.

What I didn't like: There was a few tired crime drama cliches I could have done without. First, the lead character (Dylan Mcdermott) is seen popping pills while conversing w/ another officer in the crime lab. the officer asks him "That was asprin, right?" to which he gruffly responds "Yeah... something like that...". Is it just me, or is anyone else worn out on the whole tortured soul detective w/ an addiction to pain pills thing? I know I am. The second cliche came in the form of the bulletproof car. I'm so sick of seeing car doors being used as cover in shootouts... JUST STOP IT ALREADY!

Verdict: Well, I was kind of hoping it would be a little more... shall I say, "The Shield-ish". I think the series has some promise, but I'm not sold on it just yet. I need a few more episodes to decide. So far, I've preffered NBC's "Southland", but we'll see where this series goes.

[Magiccarpetrides]

awesome thanks for the heads up...when does this show air?

[poak]

awesome thanks for the heads up...when does this show air?

It'll premiere this coming Wednesday

[Punisher84]

I'm interested mainly because I've always liked Dylan McDermott and I dig the "less than polished" cop shows. Though I doubt anything will ever touch The Shield for me personally.