K-Ville Pilot

When described, K-Ville sounds like an interesting show. The premise, the story of New Orleans cops in a post-Katrina setting, suggests that current issues not usually discussed will be explored. Unfortunately for anyone watching, it doesn't pull this off.

The show could change drastically from the pilot, but last nights episode was nothing but a cliche filled crime procedural. It featured a cop investigating the murder of a friend and predictably getting too personally involved to make rational judgments. Until of course, the last ten minutes when it is all wrapped up---despite the fact that the culprit's motive doesn't quite make sense. (A woman sabotaging her own fund raisers to rebuild the run down area of New Orleans, because her brother's killers lived there? ? Seriously?).

The lead Marlin Boulet (Anthony Anderson) was abandoned by his partner is the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina, which causes him to not trust his new partner Cobb (Cole Hauser). While he turns out to be right (Cobb is an ex-con who escaped from prison during the storm), Boulet's attacks show him as as irrational. Combined with drinking on the job and a refusal to move out of New Orleans, despite his wife's pleading, Boulet comes off as very unlikable. Perhaps with more focus on Boulet's as a person and what is leading him psychologically, this would be a different story. But this is lacking from the pilot. The sacrifice does not even result in good action sequences. The action scenes mostly consist of car chases, which are too choppily shot to be enjoyable.

Next week Heroes returns opposite this show, so I probably won't bother watching further episodes to see if things improve. When a series is goo d enough, I'll find a way to watch multiple episodes in the same time slot. But K-Ville just doesn't convince me to bother.