Review: CBS' 'NYC 22' a disappointingly generic cop drama
Adam Goldberg and Leelee Sobieski play rookie cops in series created by Richard Price
Terry Kinney and Adam Goldberg in "NYC 22."
Credit: CBS
CBS' "NYC 22" (Sunday at 10 p.m.) is one of the last new series to debut on the broadcast networks this season. Looking back on some of the swill we were served earlier in the season — "Work It," "The Playboy Club," "I Hate My Teenage Daughter," etc. — it's far, far from the worst member of the freshman class. But it's among the most disappointing.
Here's a cop drama created by Richard Price, who between books ("Clockers") and TV series ("The Wire") has been involved in some of the most vividly-told police stories of the last 20 years. Robert DeNiro is attached as a producer. The pilot was directed by James Mangold, whose "Cop Land" didn't entirely work but had a terrific sense of atmosphere and attention to detail. The cast includes interesting actors like Adam Goldberg and Terry Kinney.
And yet all of these people have come together for an incredibly generic, cliché-ridden series about rookie beat cops in the NYPD that too often feels like its main inspiration was other cop shows. Aside from the New York location shooting, it's virtually indistinguishable from ABC's cheap summer import series "Rookie Blue."
Goldberg and Kinney were two of the co-stars on ABC's short-lived "The Unusuals," which looked at the culture of the NYPD through the eyes of the detectives. It was at times too self-consciously quirky, but it felt specific, both about its characters and about New York, and it went before its time.(*) Given Price's prior work, and the premise, I had hoped for a kind of uniform version of that show, or an East Coast counterpart to "Southland, which premiered in the same week as "The Unusuals" and has evolved into a terrific series in its TNT incarnation.
(*) And as I can never resist pointing out whenever discussing "The Unusuals," that show starred Jeremy Renner right before "The Hurt Locker" was going to hit theaters. ABC could have had that guy under contract for years. Instead, they cut the show, and him, loose, and now he's starring in every major action franchise there is.
But at best, it's a companion piece to "Blue Bloods" — and, frankly, not as distinctive as anything I saw that show do back when I was still watching last season — filled with easily-digestible stories and, especially, characters.
Rather than let us gradually get to know our six rookies and their personality, the show instantly lays out colorful backstories for the six, and in several cases colorful nicknames. Leelee Sobieski's Jennifer "White House" Perry, for instance, is a former MP who fought in Iraq, while her partner, Harold House Moore's Jayson "Jackpot" Toney was an NBA bust who blew out his knee, learned humility and enrolled in the police academy. Goldberg plays a very old rookie, Ray "Lazarus" Harper(**),a longtime police reporter looking to reinvent himself after being laid off by his newspaper. We also have the latest in an NYPD dynasty (Stark Sands), an Afghani immigrant (Tom Reed) and the one law-abiding member of a family of drug dealers (Judy Marte).
(**) Ray's the worst offender of the nickname bunch, in that he's the one who tells everyone to call him "Lazarus." This is not how nicknames are supposed to work in polite society. If you have to give it to yourself, you don't deserve to be called it.
Not only do we find out these backstories through a series of clunky exchanges within the first 15 minutes of the premiere, but these stories come to define virtually everything each character does and says. Everyone Jackpot encounters gives him grief about what a selfish player he was, while Marte's character is less tolerant of minor crime than the others because she's so self-conscious about her upbringing.
The one character who actually feels like a person is their training officer, Daniel Dean (Terry Kinney), whom everyone calls "Yoda" behind his back. It's not even that Yoda seems all that multi-faceted, but that he's more than just a collection of interesting tics and biographic details.
Even though the characters are broadly-drawn, there are still interesting stories to tell about being a rookie cop in general and one in New York in particular. But though the characters are stationed in Harlem, and the show filmed on city streets, there's really no sense of atmosphere, nothing that ever feels distinctly New York. Nor do the cops make rookie mistakes that feel particularly interesting, let alone original.
Where "Southland" learned after a while that it could get away with episodes that were just a collection of anecdotes about life in a patrol car, "NYC 22" feels the need to contrive stories to keep each set of characters busy for the whole hour, or sometimes over several hours. So the legacy case falls for a local woman whose younger brother is a hanger-on in a gang, and keeps trying to get the kid out of trouble, despite his father's disapproval. Or we'll see two of the rookies be sent to a crime scene where they're told, "Let the detectives crack the case" — which, inevitably, means that they wind up cracking the case.
I know this is a weird thing to say about a TV show, but "NYC 22" feels like the TV version of the show it wants to be. I've been watching cop shows for a long, long time, and I'm struggling to think of a time in my life where this couldn't have aired, with minimal changes (if it needed any at all).
But that's probably what CBS — the most traditional, reliable of all the broadcast networks — wanted. Formula has done very well for them over the years, though usually it's better-executed formula than this. It may even be the show Price and company wanted to make, and it's easy to imagine it living a decent lifespan on CBS, doing annual crossovers with "Blue Bloods" and/or "CSI: NY," telling its familiar stories in familiar ways.
With the talent involved, "NYC 22" could have been much more than it is, even if most or all involved are fine with what it became.
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Trending Now on HitFix Boards
| Topic | Started By | Latest Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|---|
| sepinwall |
6 days ago
|
1
|
|
| sepinwall |
10 days ago
|
12
|
|
| Discuss Scripted Dramas on HitFix Message Boards » | |||
News From Our Partners
-
Ilana Rapp: Actor Richard Harmon From Bates Motel and Continuum Talks about SpongeBob Squarepants and Yoga
'The Last Classic TV Comedy'?
'Biggest Loser' Host: 'I've Never Seen Jillian Eat A Cupcake'
-
What to Watch Tonight: The Office's Big Farewell and the Season Finales of TVD, Elementary, and Five More
Supernatural Season 8 Finale Review: It's Raining Angels
Watch an Extended Trailer for CBS's Under the Dome (VIDEO)
-
'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II': The Oscar-Winning Movie is Getting a Sequel
'The Bling Ring' Cannes Premiere: Emma Watson Steals the Show (PHOTOS)
Why Brad Bird Turned Down 'Star Wars: Episode VII'; Talks 'Incredibles' Sequel
-
Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh
Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition
Video Interviews with Katie Aselton & Lake Bell of Black Rock
-
Listen to Selena Gomez's 'Come & Get It' Remixes
Katy Perry vs. Rita Ora vs. Beyonce vs. Kesha vs. Demi Lovato – Who Wore It Best?
Chris Brown Launches New 'Channel' Website, Gets More Personal Than Ever
-
'Zombieland' TV Series: Amazon Passes on the Pilot
'How I Met Your Mother' Final Season Spoilers: Producers Explain Time-Turning Format Change
'The Hangover Part 3′ Red-Band NSFW Trailer: It's Time to End the Trilogy
-
The Telefile - Modern Family: The Best Lines of the Night
The Telefile - Fall TV 2013: What's On When
The Telefile - TNT & TBS Upfront 2013: Reaping What Other Networks Sowed
-
Cannes Film Festival: Cannes 2013, Day One: Sofia Coppola offers the first misfire of the festival
Hear This: A song with a long title succinctly encapsulates ’90s power-pop
Watch This: Laura Palmer lives—however briefly—in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Get Instant Alerts on What's Alan Watching
Latest Posts
-
A show that shouldn't have worked instead became a great, popular, influential oneThursday, May 16, 2013
-
Some experimenting, but mostly the same old, successful CBSWednesday, May 15, 2013
-
A badger gets loose at Cece's wedding, and Nick and Jess ponder their futureTuesday, May 14, 2013
-
Has the show solved Winston yet? What stories would she redo?Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Recent Activity on Facebook
Most Popular on Facebook
Top Stories From Around the Web
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupBalaji K
April 14, 2012 at 9:36AM EST Reply to CommentToo many good shows to watch on Sundays. The last thing I need is a cop show like this. In any case, I watch Blue Bloods and Rookie Blue. So, I don't need another show luke those.
bobC
April 14, 2012 at 10:08AM EST Reply to CommentI'll give a shot, only because of Kinney and the guy from "The Unusuals."
War Chief Shake Zula
April 14, 2012 at 10:28AM EST Reply to CommentI'll do a "proof of concept" viewing just to see if it's actually as this review says...although, I've noticed they've been showing a lot of the same scenes in the promos, which is usually a sign that the rest of the show is boring...
dylanfan
April 14, 2012 at 10:41AM EST Reply to CommentI didn't watch but thought I read that one of the rookies was going to be a volleyball player which was appealing as exposure for one of my favorite sports -- did that even get mentioned?
sepinwall No volleyball discussion that I can recall.
April 14, 2012 at 6:27PM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula According to some puff piece at Zap2It, Sobieski's character is the ex-volleyball star.
April 15, 2012 at 9:30PM ESThttp://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/04/nyc-22-gives-leelee-sobieski-an-appreciation-for-police-women.html
N8
April 14, 2012 at 12:39PM EST Reply to CommentDeNiro also produced TriBeCa. Set it in NYC, he'll give you money regardless of the show's quality.
lztouchthedream
April 14, 2012 at 12:40PM EST Reply to CommentI hope Jennifer "White House" Perry goes to visit her sister Britta at some point. I've heard she's the worst.
War Chief Shake Zula First one of those I've seen today. You'd think someone would clue in sooner...
April 14, 2012 at 9:48PM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula Either way, kudos.
April 14, 2012 at 9:48PM ESTA
April 15, 2012 at 12:24AM EST Reply to CommentSpot-on review, Alan. It's a shame given some of the solid actors in this (Kinney, Goldberg, Sands); I almost feel bad for them.
And may ABC be forever shamed for canceling The Unusuals and letting Renner slip off to stardom.
Just out of curiosity, how many episodes of the show did CBS send to critics?
War Chief Shake Zula Several of the reviews I've read elsewhere have said they've seen four episodes - which is pretty much the entire planned run for the regular season.
April 15, 2012 at 9:11AM ESTNeoGeo12
April 15, 2012 at 8:41AM EST Reply to CommentWho gonna hear you cry?
When there no complex crime dramas on broadcast
Who gonna hear you cry?
When Cable got Justified, Southland, and The Closer
Oh I miss The Chicago Code.....
bearcouch
April 15, 2012 at 12:08PM EST Reply to CommentSeemed to much like Rookie Blue from the previews and I never bothered to watch that show either. Enough with New York cops already.
I wouldn't mind a Miami Vice remake, but done like the movie which was underrated!
Darcy
April 15, 2012 at 8:19PM EST Reply to CommentAck. How Adam Goldberg keeps getting jobs is beyond me.
War Chief Shake Zula Is he really that bad? I've never seen his work before...
April 15, 2012 at 9:02PM ESTBeachguy
April 16, 2012 at 5:09PM EST Reply to CommentHad high expectations for this show. Looked like it had shades of "Unusuals" written all over it. Was so disappointed that after it was over had to watch the "Unusuals" pilot to rebalance.
DWall
April 17, 2012 at 7:39PM EST Reply to CommentHow did this thing get made and aired as a pilot? It blew ... chunks.
Jim
April 22, 2012 at 10:12PM EST Reply to CommentOne of the worst cop shows since cop rock. Southland is much better and Blue Bloods is better.