We watched it. I'm a pretty big fan of Dennis Leary.
I think the show has a lot of potential, but the whole thing, the screenplay, the camera angles, the plot line, everything was far too predictable. He's haunted by images of dead people (I couldn't help but whisper "I see dead people!" when he opened his locker and saw the severed head of his buddy), who all have some sort of life lesson to teach him. He rescues an eight year old girl with a *kitten* for Chrissake, and the kitten lives but the girl doesn't. The hand-held camera angles gave me motion sickness after a while. I realize this angle is to give the impression of a raw, more realistic feeling, but it was overused. The scene where he's drinking liquor from a bottle on a beach at sunrise and he walks away followed by all of these dead people that still haunt him (not literally, I know they're symbols) was really pretty trite.
There were too many hard-hitting issues crammed into one show and really into one series. The chief has a gambling problem, Dennis Leary's character is an off-the-wagon alcoholic living across the street from his ex wife (who he is still in love with) and their kids, etc. I think the show is trying too hard and failing by overkill.
I will say, however, that I am *extremely* picky about movies, television and music. The more realistic, the better. I like television shows that are raw, have few happy endings, and even fewer dramatic plotlines. If a show is marketing itself as an edgy drama, dealing with heavy issues, it should present itself not like a Lifetime Television for Women series, but more like a documentary. I felt like they overused the cursing, just because they could. And you KNOW I am the LAST person to be offended by cursing! I wasn't offended by the cursing, per se. I was just annoyed at the use of "shit" and "goddamn" every five minutes, just because they could. It was an effort to make the show more raw and edgy and that effort was just too blatant.
But I do think it has potential! Dennis Leary is a talented actor and he has some great ideas. He is not, however, a talented screenplay writer. If he got the right people to help him out with that, I think the show could be phenomenal.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-07-22 12:09 pm (UTC)I think the show has a lot of potential, but the whole thing, the screenplay, the camera angles, the plot line, everything was far too predictable. He's haunted by images of dead people (I couldn't help but whisper "I see dead people!" when he opened his locker and saw the severed head of his buddy), who all have some sort of life lesson to teach him. He rescues an eight year old girl with a *kitten* for Chrissake, and the kitten lives but the girl doesn't. The hand-held camera angles gave me motion sickness after a while. I realize this angle is to give the impression of a raw, more realistic feeling, but it was overused. The scene where he's drinking liquor from a bottle on a beach at sunrise and he walks away followed by all of these dead people that still haunt him (not literally, I know they're symbols) was really pretty trite.
There were too many hard-hitting issues crammed into one show and really into one series. The chief has a gambling problem, Dennis Leary's character is an off-the-wagon alcoholic living across the street from his ex wife (who he is still in love with) and their kids, etc. I think the show is trying too hard and failing by overkill.
I will say, however, that I am *extremely* picky about movies, television and music. The more realistic, the better. I like television shows that are raw, have few happy endings, and even fewer dramatic plotlines. If a show is marketing itself as an edgy drama, dealing with heavy issues, it should present itself not like a Lifetime Television for Women series, but more like a documentary. I felt like they overused the cursing, just because they could. And you KNOW I am the LAST person to be offended by cursing! I wasn't offended by the cursing, per se. I was just annoyed at the use of "shit" and "goddamn" every five minutes, just because they could. It was an effort to make the show more raw and edgy and that effort was just too blatant.
But I do think it has potential! Dennis Leary is a talented actor and he has some great ideas. He is not, however, a talented screenplay writer. If he got the right people to help him out with that, I think the show could be phenomenal.