Release Date:
07/14/2008
Air Date:
Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST
TV Network:
A&E
The Skinny: A&E's first scripted series in six years is based on a true story and follows William "The Cleaner" Banks (Benjamin Bratt), an "extreme interventionist" who overcame his own addictions and now takes a no-holds-barred approach to get addicts off the street and into treatment.
The Good: We love Intervention and Dog the Bounty Hunter, and between kidnapping and the "any means necessary" approach to saving lives, there is a nice mix of both. Bratt's good, but the supporting cast (including Battlestar Galactica's Grace Park and Esteban Powell) add much-needed life and humor into the otherwise bleak pilot.
The Bad: Again, the series looks very bleak, and the pilot suffers from some terrible dialogue (including Bratt's cringe-inducing chats with God). Another crime fighter with a troubled home life, Banks and his wife sleep in different rooms, and his kids take a back seat to their father's work. That's a lot of despair piled atop an already grim premise.
Don't Meth with Me: Aside from the bad dialogue, the pilot does show some promise. The first addict the gang helps is a teenage basketball all-star who is stealing his mom's jewelry to buy meth. If the show continues to find interesting ways to portray its junkies and their problems, some of the other problems might resolve themselves.
Watch, Ignore, or Read a Book Instead? With many cable favorites returning, you can probably skip it. But maybe DVR a few episodes and hope it improves.
The Good: We love Intervention and Dog the Bounty Hunter, and between kidnapping and the "any means necessary" approach to saving lives, there is a nice mix of both. Bratt's good, but the supporting cast (including Battlestar Galactica's Grace Park and Esteban Powell) add much-needed life and humor into the otherwise bleak pilot.
The Bad: Again, the series looks very bleak, and the pilot suffers from some terrible dialogue (including Bratt's cringe-inducing chats with God). Another crime fighter with a troubled home life, Banks and his wife sleep in different rooms, and his kids take a back seat to their father's work. That's a lot of despair piled atop an already grim premise.
Don't Meth with Me: Aside from the bad dialogue, the pilot does show some promise. The first addict the gang helps is a teenage basketball all-star who is stealing his mom's jewelry to buy meth. If the show continues to find interesting ways to portray its junkies and their problems, some of the other problems might resolve themselves.
Watch, Ignore, or Read a Book Instead? With many cable favorites returning, you can probably skip it. But maybe DVR a few episodes and hope it improves.