This is one of my favorite new shows, it’s sort like Law & Order mixed with John Doe mixed with a little The Shield.
Wednesday’s episode was great, William Sanderson (Larry from Newhart) played a homeless guy that witnessed a murder. I also remember him from The X-Files, he was an alien abductee that Mulder took an interest in.
Anyway, I think the characters on Life are interesting. First you have Cruise, a cop that went to jail for murders that he was later found innocent of. Now he’s out of jail, rich (I assume because of wrongful imprisonment lawsuits), eccentric, and smart (guess he did a lot of reading in prison.) Plus you’ve got the potential love interest in his pretty female lawyer that got him out of jail, his ex-con accountant buddy that lives above the garage in his mansion, and his female partner that definitely has a dark side, past and present. Plus the overall story on finding out who framed him. He drives around a 1980-something Buick Grand National that he got from some latino hoodlums, after his other car (Aston Martin?) was crushed by his friend in a tractor accident.
And on top of that he has the hidden agenda of finding out who framed him. It’s a good show.
It’s one of my favorite new shows, too. I started watching because of Damian Lewis, who was so good in both “Band of Brothers” and “The Forsyte Saga”. The characters are interesting, and the mysteries so far have been engaging enough.
William Sanderson was especially good in this episode. I liked when he was in Crews’s house and mentioned that he should plant more trees so nobody would be able to see him when he murdered Ted.
Ted’s proposal for the new bar was funny, too.
The one thing that’s bothering me is the repeated use of the same “documentary” clips. Yeah, we get that the detective on Crews’s case still thinks he did it, and the DNA evidence doesn’t make him think different. Can we move on?
ETA: His first car was a Bentley, by the way. It’s a good thing he wasn’t too attached to it.
I didn’t know Damian Lewis from anything else, but I know I wouldn’t want him staring at me with that intense tilted-head stare he does on this show.
Yeah, Ted’s proposal for the bar was very funny, and they didn’t even mention the ad space on the waitresses boobs (ok, her t-shirt.)
I think they probably keep showing the documentary clips in case you haven’t seen them in previous episodes, but yeah, that does seem to bug people, like my GF.
Hope William Sanderson’s character comes back, he’d make a good recurring character.
I also find it interesting that Crews has an understanding and almost sympathy for criminals, and that his partner is so familiar with addiction and other dark things. Makes for an interesting team.
I really enjoy it and hope it finds an audience. Any description will be a bit flat, making it sound as Yet Another Cop Show, when the plots, characters and acting takes it quite a bit above average.
Wednesday seems like a poor day for it though. Every network is competing Mon-Thur leaving the field open for the weekend. The ovarall audience might be smaller, but putting a good show on in the tv wasteland that is Saturday evening, might make a winner.
I dislike tv as a general principle but my room mate is one of those who cant not have it on even if hes not watching. this show is the only new show on that I have an interest in at all, it looks pretty good so far.
I do like how based on his history of false arrest and prosecution, Cruse tends to slow his partner down when she tries to rush to judgment. He tends to step away and look for reasons why a person didn’t commit the crime they are investigating, gives the team good balance and is true to his caracter’s “life” experiance.
The episodes seem to be about 90% self-contained murder investigations, with 10% about Crew’s personal life and his ongoing quest to find out who framed him and why. You’ll periodically see “documentary” interview clips of people involved in his case, so you’ll be up to speed when he deals with his own case.
I’m really enjoying it. I, too, tuned in because of Damian Lewis (and because I’m a sucker for cop shows), and haven’t been disappointed.
I am getting tired of the same documentary clips, though. I hope they’ll be done with them soon, or that they’ll just put them in the intro or something so those of us who’ve seen them eleventy-billion times can just skip through them.
I have also started watching, the last episode being the first one I’ve watched right through. I like it a lot so far. Fun, witty, Lewis’ character Crews is a lot of fun to watch, his partner has a Sandra Bullockish look without the “Overly Good Girl”, she could kick ass and take names too. (or whatever the actual expression is)
Yeah, I have caught him losing the American accent a couple of times, too. I really like him as an actor, though. It is definitely one of the better new shows.
He needs to be wrong at least once, on something major. And somebody needs to punch him out for his creepy stalkerish-behaviour, either his ex-wife (or her new husband) or the retired black detective. His “quirky” ability to zoom in on the important evidence is bordering on ESP (while all the cops around him, including his partner, are conveniently stupid), which in my book completely undermines any attempt at serious drama. Besides, it’s hard to care about who really committed the murders that sent him to jail for 12 years when his life now looks pretty damn good, what with the mansion, hot cars and hot women. Heck, if he hadn’t been sent to jail, his life would probably be crappy by comparison. The only stigma apparently attached to his jail time is that he’s distrusted by some characters, but they’re presented in such a way that the audience is obviously not meant to like them or care about what they believe.
If the show was gutsy, the final episode would reveal that he did commit the murders and his private investigation is actually looking for the person who ratted him out, with the intent of killing them, too. Fat chance of that, I know.
I’ll give it and The Bionic Woman one more shot before finding another use for my Wednesday night.
I started watching. Then, they showed a guy whose wife died a picture of a guy–not a line up mind, just the guy. And asked if he was the guy who committed the murder.
“No.”
“Are you SURE?”
“Yeah, that’s not him?”
“You’re SURE that this guy, who we think did it, is not the guy?”
“Yeah, that’s not him.”
“Well, he didn’t identify the guy who killed his wife. Guess he must be involved in her murder, then.”
You make several good points, and I hope as the series goes on they allow Crews to make mistakes and be a more well-rounded person. But he’s still an interesting character and a nice twist on the traditional cop. He’s got a sense of humor. He takes the zen stuff seriously, but also uses it to play with other people. He likes women and fast cars and wants revenge.
I think it’s pretty good. It’s not my favorite new show, but I find it worth watching.
I think what I really like is the relationship between Crews and his partner (whose name I just forgot). They feel like they’re actually trying to work out a partnership instead of giving the impression that they are cardboard people awaiting the opportunity to have sex.
Finally watched a full episode. No documentary clips – if there were any, I must have thought they were commercials and fast-forwarded through them.
It was fun seeing Deadwood’s Robin Weigert and Garrett Dillahunt again. Weigert cleans up good, and it’s nice to hear her talk without spitting. Dillahunt seems to be everywhere lately.
So is the woman attorney Crews’ ex-wife? Is Cuddahy (sp?) connected with Crews’ past - an ex-cellmate or something? What’s up with the big dumb cop with the little moustache?
I really liked that the dialogue isn’t the kind of trite crap we’ve heard a thousand times before. My husband was watching a movie on Lifetime right after I watched Life, and the difference was astonishing.
My only complaint is that again, here’s a show with too many gorgeous actors. And when are women going to button up their shirts? Even the two middle-aged aunts on Pushing Daisies were showing cleavage this week.
