BY ALEXANDER RUSS
Daily Arts Writer
Published September 12, 2010
When people like Shawn Ryan, the creator of the hit TV show “The Shield,” and Ted Griffin, who wrote the screenplay for the “Ocean’s Eleven” remake, come together to produce a TV show, viewers should — in theory — buckle their seatbelts for an exciting ride. Well, you can loosen the straps a little bit. While the new FX series “Terriers” does feature two leads with strong chemistry in Donal Logue (“Grounded For Life”) and Michael Raymond-James (“True Blood”), and the pilot does create suspense for next week, the dialogue and vibe of the show are so dull at points that it’s easy to drift your focus from the TV.
"Terriers"
Wednesdays at 10 p.m.
FX
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“Terriers” centers around two private investigators, Hank Dolworth (Logue) and Britt Pollack (Raymond-James). Dolworth is a former police officer who lost his job and wife due to alcoholism, and Pollack is a former thief who decided to change his ways and become a detective. In the pilot, Dolworth and Pollack try to track the daughter of one of Hank’s friends, while at the same time uncovering a business conspiracy involving Robert Lindus (Christopher Cousins, “Breaking Bad”), one of the town’s “favorite sons.”
One of the true highlights of this show is the chemistry between Logue and Raymond-James. Sure, their characters may have been on opposite sides of the law at certain points, but that doesn’t get in the way their ability to work together. There's no clashing between their personalities as one might expect, and both characters are able to throw in their fair share of comic relief.
One of the marks of a good pilot is the ability to create compelling cliffhangers. By the end of the pilot, as Dolworth and Pollack successfully have Lindus in custody, they start wondering to themselves if they are ever going to have to deal with him or his men again. Not only are Dolworth and Pollack pondering this, but the audience is as well. Perhaps Lindus is done, but if not, Dolworth and Pollack will undoubtedly have their hands full.
However, one bone that needs picking is that there’s little in this show to set it apart from the rest of the FX lineup. There's simply not very much about “Terriers” that's truly original. The writers were seemingly unwilling to take chances, and while they succeeded in creating a realistic drama, they also created a plain boring one. Even going literal with the title and throwing in a dog sidekick would have improved things immensely. Not that “Terriers” needs a dog sidekick specifically to be a great show — but it needs a jolt of innovation or excitement, significant action scenes being the most obvious missing piece.
When watching the rest of the FX lineup, from “Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia” to “Rescue Me,” it's clear the writers of those particular shows have taken chances with their respective genres. That's why those shows are returning for new seasons and have such loyal fanbases. If “Terriers” wants to make it past its first season, it will need to find an X-Factor.
