Complete First Season
- Drama
- 2009
- Buy the DVD
All photos © TNT
Reviewed by Will Harris
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here was a time when the words “Executive Producer Jerry Bruckheimer” were seen so infrequently on TV that just attaching them to a series was enough to send its “Oh, I gots to see this!” quotient into the stratosphere, and so it remained for several years, thanks to the success of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,”“Without A Trace,” “Cold Case,” and the inevitable “CSI” spin-offs, “Miami” and “New York.” All good things must come to an end, however, and there soon came a time when Mr. Bruckheimer’s name alone was no longer sufficient to keep a show on the air beyond its first season. And if you’re keeping track, that time came circa the 2005 – 2006 TV season, when neither “E-Ring,” starring Dennis Hopper and Benjamin Bratt, nor “Just Legal,” starring Don Johnson and Jay Baruchel, managed to secure a second season. As these did not prove to be isolated incidents amidst Bruckheimer’s track record – we hardly knew ye, “Justice,” “Modern Men,” and “Eleventh Hour,” and at only two seasons, we didn’t know “Close to Home” a heck of a lot better – it’d be easy for a cynic to suggest that mainstream America doesn’t love Jerry Bruckheimer nearly as much as it used to.
And yes, I know Carl DiOrio just said more or less the same thing in his recent Hollywood Reporter article. But dammit, I’d already decided on the premise of this review before I’d read that, and it’s too late to turn back now.
Seriously, though, with Bruckheimer’s latest drama, “Dark Blue,” his name was, at best, the third most interesting thing about it. Given TNT’s track record with “The Closer” and “Leverage,” it’s become pretty easy to get optimistic about its new series, and the fact that this one starred Dylan McDermott, late of “The Practice,” made it an easy sell. Unfortunately, while it makes for a decent hour-long diversion, “Dark Blue” rarely rises above the level of “it’s okay, I guess” during its first season.
McDermott is Lt. Carter Shaw, head of a special undercover task force within the LAPD. He and his trio of officers – Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox), Dean Bendis (Logan Marshall-Green), and Ty Curtis (Omari Hardwick) – regularly slip into the underworld via false identities in order to infiltrate various crime rings. It’s a career which doesn’t exactly lend itself to a fantastic personal life, as you might well imagine, and during the course of these 10 episodes, we’re witness to how it wreaks havoc. Ty’s wife knows of his job, but she wants to have a child, and he’s torn between the desire to start a family and the enjoyment of the adrenaline rush he gets from his work, while Jaimie’s situation is arguably worse, since she’s dating a D.A. and has yet to reveal her profession to him. Dean, for better or worse, doesn’t have a significant other, but during the course of the season, we still see him struggle with his secret identity, so to speak, particularly in the episode entitled “Ice,” when he really starts to like one of the criminals he has to bust.
The criminal in question, by the way, is played by Daniel Roebuck, who really nails the what-a-swell-guy persona, making it just as painful for viewers when he’s taken down. For the most part, though, the villains on “Dark Blue” might as well be twirling their mustaches, so evil do they come across; former “Riches” star Gregg Henry has particular fun playing the part in the episode “Guns, Strippers, and Wives,” and Michael Biehn offers an enjoyable despicable turn as a crooked cop in “O.I.S.” Speaking of guest stars, there are several faces which will be familiar to HBO viewers, including Al Sapienza (Mikey on “The Sopranos”), Hassan Johnson and Gbenga Akinnagbe of “The Wire,” and Shawn Doyle (Joey Hendrickson on “Big Love”).
The preceding two paragraphs may have left you wondering what’s so bad about “Dark Blue,” but while the show is pleasant enough while you’re watching, it doesn’t have that certain something that keeps you coming back. Although there are plot threads that connect the episodes, most of which involve the characters’ personal trials, there’s ultimately more of a villain-of-the-week feel to the proceedings. In fairness, the season finale does successfully take everything you’ve learned about Carter Shaw, his team, and their abilities and produces a relatively satisfying conclusion to the show’s first year, but even then, the question which drives the episode – did Carter intentionally shoot another officer? – is hardly one which leaves viewers on the edge of their seat. By the time you’ve reached the end of “Dark Blue: The Complete First Season,” you’ll realize that, despite its title, the show ain’t that dark.
Special Features: For one brief moment, I allowed myself to get excited about the fact that a Warner Archive release actually appeared to have included bonus material, in this case a preview of the upcoming second season of “Dark Blue.” As it turns out, the so-called “Season Two Preview” is just the teaser commercial that everyone else who watches TNT has already seen. In fairness, that’s possibly why they didn’t bother to promote the preview on the back of the box, but even so, it’s pretty lame to get our hopes up however briefly, only to provide so little in return. And on a related note, why on earth was Season One of a still-on-the-air series released through the Warner Archive imprint, anyway?
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