"Terriers" is a recent offering from F/X's original programming. I don't love it enough to recommend it but I don't hate it enough to tell you to skip it.
Created by Ted Griffin ("Oceans 11") it stars Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James as loser private detectives who almost always end up on top of the situation in a (sometimes) funny way. The pilot and 2nd episode that I saw was uneven and at times just plain lousy and dumb. But, and this is the rub, there are also moments of real fun, sincerity and solid drama that elevate this show.
Series today really don't get a lot of chances to find an audience and I'm wondering if the USA network Psyche/Monk/In Plain Sight/Burn Notice crowd is going to want to adopt this one.
F/X has some remarkable shows like "Rescue Me" "Justified" and "Sons of Anarchy" that are pretty heavy - this one is lighter - a lot lighter. Dogs, sex and cracking-wise play into a lot of the situations that these two slacker detectives find themselves. Although it's not as fun as "Psyche" and not as heavy as "Rescue Me" there are times when it does achieve those shows' particular strengths.
In the 2nd episode, the Raymond-James character, who is in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, notices something licking his...uh, dangling man parts as he is making love to said GF. It's a dog they both hate and have adopted to their unending sorry. Now, I don't think I've ever seen that particular moment anywhere else (on TV 
) - and it was funny.
Logue, who looks like a refuge from the Manson clan can deliver a serious and touching moment with the best of them. He's a recovering alcoholic (of course) and is divorced from his wife (of course) and an ex-cop (of course) but he's buying the house he and his wife once owned to wallow in the self-pity of his current situation - well, he doesn't actual express that but his AA counselor does. When he goes in to take possession of the house, he flashes back to when they first moved in and everything was ahead of them and rosy. The look on his face is heart-rending. And anyone who has been there can feel his pain.
But then there are those moments, like when Logue is being deposed for a trial, when he does nothing but wisecrack to the deposing attorney and comes off sounding like the kid in school that you just wanted to slap. That and some very "precious" devices like Logue's cop ex-partner who is giving up smoking and is sucking on a plastic cigarette filter every time you see him that make the show less than wonderful.
"Terriers" has potential and it's on my Tivo's Season Pass for a while longer. We'll see how the show develops over time. It does have one of the cooler theme songs I've heard written by Robert Duncan.
A show I have no ambivalence about is "The League" - it sucks. It sucks enough to give a black hole an inferiority complex.
It's a semi-scripted comedy about several friends who every year apparently devote a great deal of their lives and energy to winning the fantasy football pool they all belong to - hence the title. Their league is comprised of various misfits and dumbshits who are smart enough to make fun of each other and pull really idiotic and unbelievable practical jokes but not really smart enough to realize how stupid they are acting.
This show is in its second season and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Perhaps the 1st season had sharper comedy and better writing. Honestly, I really disliked this show so much that even though I wanted to write this review about it, I shut it off - twice.
Who really thinks it's funny that one of the characters is so in love with his fantasy football lineup that he'd go to his hotel room with the league chart and jack off to it, saying the names of the players on his team as he does. I mean imagine that - really - all right, never mind don't. sorry to have put the image in your head. And then, of course, the rest of the guys come in, catch him and hilarity ensues - read the word 'hilarity as sarcasm because it definitely was - sarcasm - and definitely not funny. Or how about the clever scne where the guy who won the trophy last season falls and the trophy goes up his ass? Actually, I'm somehow making that sound funnier that it was. OMG - I mean, who writes this stuff?
Chad Ochocinco (Cincinnati Bengals star wide receiver) as a guest star was as painful a segment as can be imagined. Absolutely not funny, not well-acted, not well-anythinged. Ochocinco should stick to running like a gazelle down the sideline. He really doesn't need any more grief in his career anyway and guesting in the show probably reduced his net worth by a few mil.
I'm a huge football fan and this seemed like a promising premise for people who like sports. But "Arliss" or the terrific "Sports Night" it is not.
Phew - this whole show was just painful.
