Image Credit: Danny Feld/TNTSome people were probably surprised last week when the series debut of Rizzoli & Isles scored a record-high number of viewers for an ad-supported cable show. (That “ad-supported” qualification = darn you, HBO!) Those people are clearly not aware of the all-powerful charms of Angie Harmon, whose Abbie Carmichael is my personal favorite Stern-Sexy Law & Order Lady A.D.A. If anyone deserved her own TNT sassy crimesolving show, it’s Angie Harmon. (Now, if TNT could just pair up Rizzoli with a new show starring Jill Hennessy, that would be perfection.)
I was pretty excited going into last night’s second episode, and it started off great with an intra-police baseball game: Homicide vs. Narcotics. (Angie Harmon in baseball shorts flirting angrily with Donnie Wahlberg…this is why we watch television.) Unfortunately, about two minutes into the episode, somebody dropped a corpse onto the field…and instantly, everything went downhill. This is one of those quirky crime shows where everything is very enjoyable, except for the 95 percent of the episode that’s actually about crime.
There’s a whole lot of Bones-envy here: people flirt over dead bodies, exchange mock-witty repartee in the middle of crime scenes, and generally talk like they’re living in a sitcom that very occasionally features gunshots. Thing is, Bones slowly turned into a romantic comedy after starting out serious. It’s hard to hit whimsy right out of the gate.
Also not helping matters: the Boston of Rizzoli & Isles is perhaps the most inauthentic portrayal of Boston ever. The few actors who actually attempt an accent fall victim to the Chris Nashawaty Theory of Baaahhhston Accents. This wouldn’t be so noticeable if the show didn’t keep throwing Bostonia in your face: last night’s plot centered on the Boston Strangler, with some throwaway references to Paul Revere. Also, everyone is Irish, and every case requires five visits to an Irish pub. Dennis Lehane this ain’t.
There are some fun little bits of Rizzoli & Isles that make me want to check back on the show once it’s had some time to grow. (Like this throaway: “That’s the first problem. His mom named him Sandy.”) But I’m skeptical, because the two biggest problems with the show are right the title. Sasha Alexander’s Isles seems like a market-tested version of a nerd – as my girlfriend pointed out, “If she’s such an antisocial dork who hates living people, how come she loves shoe-shopping?” Most disappointing of all, Rizzoli has none of the qualities we usually associate with Angie Harmon: she’s spastic and quirky where Abbie Carmichael was titanium-tough. The actress gesticulates wildly with every line of dialogue; I’m guessing that she’s aiming for “tomboy,” but she’s coming up with “personification of ‘needs Ritalin.’”
What do you think of Rizzoli & Isles, PopWatchers? Would the show be better if Jill Hennessy were playing Isles? And now that Law & Order is over, can we all admit that despite all the hubbub over the various detectives, the real stars were always the Stern-Sexy Lady ADAs? If Angie Harmon is the Beatles, and Jill Hennessy is Elvis, then what does that make Alana de la Garza? The Clash?
The show is horrible.
Not just horrible, inexplicable. There are such glaring errors in procedure and logic it’s inexcusable. For instance, they never explain how they found the second and third murder victims. They open the scenes with the investigations in progress. Then you immediately trip to the fact that Brian Dennehy wouldn’t take such a small role so it must be important. Plus, Rizzoli would not begin a forensic exam of a car on the street without gloves and a witness cop. The whole production is shoddy and cuts too many corners. Fail.
Personally, I prefer SVU’s Alex Cabot.
Ditto!
I think the episode was very entertaining, and I’ve been enjoying both Alexander and Harmon’s work. How the hell is online shoe shopping related to insecurity in dealing with the living? If anything, fixating on perfection in appearance would make a great coping mechanism for someone who has trouble with interpersonal dynamics. This is the second episode of an enjoyable series, and I thought they did a great job with the material. Rizzoli and Isles has become a must see for my wife and I on Mondays.
Agreed…I love Sasha Alexander and have missed her since she left NCIS a few years back. Angie and Sasha = TV worth watching!
I’m certainly tuning in next Monday night and hope that the series continues to deliver enjoyable TV.
I’ll actually agree with you that Sasha Alexander is my favorite part of the show and I actually like the fact that she is socially awkward and nerdy in a way that is not stereotypical. She likes to look nice and dress up, but that doesn’t mean she knows how to interact with people, just dress like she does. The rest of the show, however, fails on many levels for me so I hope they keep working on it to make it worth watching every week.
I must say, I haven’t watched the second episode yet but the headlines on various sites are making me worry. I worried about the Boston thing, but assumed maybe it would become as secondary as it is on Leverage (I think generally people forget that is where the headquarters is, though it looks more like L.A., but no accent attempts – other than Sophie’s of course), but then I swear I was seeing more LA sites on R&I. And the accents (I like to pretend they are english actors who are trying american accents and aren’t great at it). But, I am thinking I will not watch it this week until I have two episodes in a row and make my decision then. I do kind of feel like we were two seasons into a show with the pilot.
Leverage may have been shot in LA for the first season (and actually, I think it was SET in LA for the first season), but since it’s been set in Boston, they’ve pretty much filmed almost all of it in Portland, OR. Not LA.
remakes are to movies as procedurals are to television…
“There are lots of them and you dislike both?” Cuz that’s all I got.
I’m guessing the finish to paige’s sentence is…….”they are both unnecessary.”
Angie Harmon is a right wing idiot, in real life and in her previous incarnation as Carmichael. I would have to be waterboarded before I would watch ANYthing with that rightwinged moron.
Typical Lefty we wouldn’t want to enjoy an actor for the job they do — coming from the Right I know what it’s like to enjoy TV and movies that star a very vocal Left Wingnut….
Not that i would want to refudiate Shane’s comments, but when I watch TV, I don’t give a crap what someone’s politics are.
‘refudiate’ – Hi, Mamma Palin!!
Wow, you dislike and ridicule someone for thinking differently from you? how Republican of you. You’ve just introduced us all to the leftwing idiot of this comment section. Glad that is out of the way now.
Grow up. I mean, to dislike someone for their personal beliefs is so antiquated… I think you missed the point of this forum… We’re discussing a SHOW called RIZZOLI & ISLES, not BASH ANGIE HARMON FOR HER POLITICAL STANCE! Get a blog and vent there!!!
That was directed @Shane, just to clarify.
Do I agree with Angie Harmon’s politics? No, but I’d definitely wathc a show with her in it. You sound just like Bill O’Reilly talking about how he won’t watch a movie with Sean Penn in it. Seeing that Sean Penn is a great actor, Mr. O’Reilly is just setting himself up to see Larry the Cable Guy movies for the rest of his life. Guess the point I want to make is, if you dismiss an actor because of his/her politics, you miss out on a lot of good material.
So you all plan to watch Mel Gibson movies then? Not that Angie Harmon goes around abusing people–that’s not my point. My point is that once something has turned you off about someone, it’s hard to watch them and forget that they are playing a character.
Actually, The Year of Living Dangerously (1983) is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. It also has Mel Gibson in it. I don’t plan on burning or selling my VHS tape. So I guess I do plan on watching at least one movie that he’s been featured in. The same way I would watch movies directed by Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, etc.
Seriously? This post is about an actress doing her job, not about her political affiliations. It’s moronic not to watch a scripted TV show just because there’s an actor on it with different politics than you. Don’t watch it because you think she’s a bad actress, don’t watch it because you think the writing is mediocre, at least make it a good reason.
I don’t think she’s a moron because she is right wing. Anyway, in the end, Rizzoli & Isles received the highest viewership this summer. I guess more people liked them after all!!! life is too short!!! Just enjoy the show!!
I haven’t watched the second episode yet, but I loved the first one. Also, Tess Gerritsen is my favourite author, I’ll definitely be watching the show based on her fabulous books!
Then you don’t want to watch this series because they have completely changed the characters and they are almost nothing like the women in her books.
I can’t imagine anyone further from the book’s Rizzoli than Angie Harmon. And Isles was almost Goth-dark in the books.
Love Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, but the writing on this thing is not good. We don’t need another “isn’t she cute but really smart” detective show. How about just a really smart detective show, Hollywood?
I watched the show last night for the first time and enjoyed it. I try not to let a person’s personal choice for politics/partners/religion, etc… tarnish my opinion of a person’s ability to perform their profession. If I did, I’d never watch anything that featured performances by liberals. In Hollywood, that really wouldn’t leave me with very many options… lol.
Agreed! I often wonder what politics in America would be like without the actors and celebrities sharp and insightful political comment!
So true. I have often wondered that very same thing!
I love Angie in this.Without her the show would be nothing!!!
The problem isn’t with the actresses it’s with the writing. It’s pretty bad. As you progress through each episode you can almost picture the check list the writers are going through in their head: Make funny reference to dead body – check. Make reference to shoes – check. Make Tomboy say something rude – check. Meet at Pub – check.
Exactly. I think the actresses are doing a good job with really inconsistent, subpar material.
Yes the writing is not good. It sinks what COULD be a good show. Let’s face it we have too many of these female crime heroines on TV now and just writing great dialogue does not seem to be enough…it has to be formulaic. It does feel like a checklist. Also there seems to be no research done on actual crime investigation…but I am noticeing that trend on several newer show. “The Glades” has the same problem. I was appalled to see two cops get INTO a car with a man in it who had been shot. They just sort of trampled all over it and threw the dead body around like a sack of flour. Impossibly bad scriptwriting….unless you realize that the “snappy” chatter between the two cops was the important thing in the scene. We’re watching this show because my son loves Angie Harmon. I really liked her on Law and Order and …yes…she is on the right in politics which I don’t like. But mostly what I don’t like is the way her character is written on this show. I mean she just comes of as a jealous meant spirited bitch who needs medication. I just need to know….Angie you are a good actress…what are you doing in this weird roll?
Actually enjoyed the show a lot. I think it’s great summer TV, which is defintely not all about the serious. I like Angie Harmon. (Although, my L&O ADA ladies will always be Alex Cabot (Steph March) and Casey Novak (Diane Neal). Love me some SVU!)
Word T!! Alex and Casey Rule!
You had me at Donnie Wahlberg!
“…like they’re living in a sitcom that very occasionally features gunshots.”
Yes! I’m so glad you said this. It’s like the writers can’t figure out if they want a serious crime show or a buddy comedy. They try to throw it all in there and it just doesn’t work.
I do think Angie and Sasha have good chemistry and work well together but the writing is really not doing them any favors.