New cop show clicks; comedy lacks laughs

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This article was published 05/02/2011 (5449 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THANKFULLY, not all first impressions are lasting.

The immediate and unavoidable reaction to the first few minutes of The Chicago Code goes something like this: Jennifer Beals? As a police superintendent? Seriously.

Beals has been a lot of things in her career — model, Flashdance–r, L-Word lover and cover girl on about a decade’s worth of sexy-Hollywood-stars magazine editions — but it’s pretty safe to say not many people ever thought of her as the tough-TV-cop type.

It’s a bit jolting to see her as just that in The Chicago Code, the new Windy City police drama that premieres Monday at 8 p.m. on Fox and Global, but to the show’s immense credit, she quickly becomes believable in the role and fits right in amid a stellar collection of cops and villains.

The series, created by writer/producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield, The Unit), follows a classic good-vs.-evil confrontation in a city renowned for its grey-area approach to politics and policing. Beals stars as Teresa Colvin, dedicated cop who has risen quickly through the ranks to become the Chicago P.D.’s first-ever female superintendent.

She got the job partly because of the endorsement of powerful (and thoroughly corrupt) alderman Ronin Gibbons (Delroy Lindo), who figured Colvin would be easy to push around once installed in the top police job. Imagine his surprise, then, when she makes it clear that her primary focus is going to be attacking corruption in all levels of civic politics and law enforcement.

When Gibbons dismisses her request for task-force funding, Colvin decides to launch an under-the-radar campaign against organized crime and back-room corruption. To lead the charge, she enlists her former squad-car partner, Det. Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke), who’s something of a legend in Chicago police circles for his on-the-edge tactics and impressive success rate in clearing cases.

Aided by new partner Caleb Evers (Matt Lauria), the first ride-along in ages not to get dumped by Wysocki after just one shift together, Wysocki and Colvin begin a stealthy effort to follow the clues, money and bodies right to the top — which, in this case, will inevitably be Gibbons’ office.

The Chicago Code succeeds because it has done all the little things right — smart casting, led by the unexpected strength of Beals, the unconventional appeal of Clarke and the imposing presence of Lindo as a most worthy adversary for the law-and-order types, along with seamless writing and a great, gritty locale.

Don’t dismiss this show based on first impressions. There’s depth, and hopefully a lot of distance, to be found in a lingering second look.

— — —

Ain’t no Sunshine: At the other end of the best-foot-forward scale in Monday’s new-show lineup is Mr. Sunshine, the new ABC sitcom that carries a couple of top-drawer TV stars and the inevitable high expectations that follow.

To call it a dismal disappointment would be a woeful alliterative understatement.

Mr. Sunshine, which gets an early-release debut on Monday at 7 p.m. on CTV (then has its ABC premiere on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.), stars Friends alumnus Matthew Perry as Ben Donovan, the overburdened manager of a San Diego sports arena called the Sunshine Center.

In addition to being temporary home to all the clowns, critters, skaters and slam-dunk artists that pass through its doors during the regular rotation of sports events and traveling attractions, the Sunshine Center is also inhabited by its own peculiar crew of misfits and eccentrics, all of whom report to Donovan as he struggles to keep the seats filled and the ticket booths humming.

Aside from the early mid-life crisis he’s suffering on his 40th birthday, Ben’s biggest problem is his boss, the wealthy and eccentric Crystal (The West Wing‘s Allison Janney), whose erratic behaviour never fails to leave Ben feeling he’d rather deal with acrobats and elephants.

It’s an intriguing setup, but nothing more. It isn’t just that Mr. Sunshine is humourless, which alone is a death sentence for a TV comedy; this show somehow manages to feel soul-less, as if its characters are a bunch of dead-eyed half-humans who don’t realize that what they’re saying is utter unfunny nonsense.

Mr. Sunshine rains hard on what looked like it might be kind of a fun prime-time parade.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

 

TV PREVIEW 

 

 

The Chicago Code

Starring Jennifer Beals, Jason Clarke, Matt Lauria and Delroy Lindo

Monday at 8 p.m.

Fox and Global

 

Mr. Sunshine 

 

 

Starring Matthew Perry, Andrea Anders and Allison Janney

Monday at 7 p.m.

CTV