Tapeworthy: Fall TV Preview - K-Ville

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Fall TV Preview - K-Ville - Pilot Training

K-Ville - Pilot - directed by Deran Sarafian, written by Jonathan Lisco
Premiered Monday Sept. 17th 9pm, FOX/E!CH

So what did people think last night (ModFab has a good review that says it better than I do)? K-Ville is the odd couple cop show set in New Orleans today, still recovering from Katrina and is actually filmed in the city, which is a nice touch, and adding some production money into the city. Does it work though, good deed aside (which is a whole other debatable point)?

The pilot started off strong, with a gritty realism that alluded to great shows like The Corner, Homicide: Life on the Street or The Wire, and while I'm not sure I can stomach another gritty TV show right now, at least they were trying something "important", even though sometimes they seemed to try too hard, throwing in Fema check references to make sure we know, these peoples lives suck. We get it. Don't say it. Show it. Okay, well, you showed it too, but don't say it again.

So K-Ville starts out promisingly enough, and Anthony Anderson (The Shield) as Marlin Boulet and Cole Hauser (ER (although at this point, who hasn't?) Tigerland) as Trevor Cobb, are newly paired up cops, one who is still dealing with the aftermath of Katrina, and the other, a new mysterious man with a troubled past. Tawny Cypress (from timeslot competition Heroes) is a tough female cop (nothing like her character from Heroes), Blake Shields (Sleeper Cell) and John Carroll Lynch (Close to Home) round out the force.

Unfortunately, as the episode continued on, it seemed as if they were worried the show was too gritty and real, and kept throwing in police show cliches, simple plot twists seen from a mile away, and chase scenes of the Rush Hour variety (and no, I don't mean that as a compliment).

There's a good show in there somewhere and it's not terrible, and it's better than some other shows I gave a higher score to, but I don't feel very inclined to follow the show week after week. So 2 Stars (**) for K-Ville for now unless there's a vast improvement and Fox lays its hands off it.