Fall season off to a great start with “Standoff”
If all the new series this year are as good as the premiere of “Standoff” (Fox 9PM), it’s going to be an awesome year.
“Standoff” is the story of two FBI Hostage Rescue Team negotiators, Matt and Emily, played by Ron Livingston (Office Space, among others ) and Rosemarie DeWitt. If you’ve seen the commercials, you know that the show opens with the public revelation that Matt and Emily are… uh shall we say, involved. Don’t worry, that’s the only spoiler I’ll toss in, and that one is out of the way by the time the opening credits roll.
The premiere of Standoff walks the well traveled path of shows like NCIS and Numb3rs, with a team of players working each week to resolve the Threat of the Week. There seem to be deeper serial elements (such as the relationship between Matt and Emily), but it doesn’t seem it will approach “24″ or “Lost” status of serialization.
Other notable cast members include Michael Cudlitz, who’s one of those actors you’ve seen a hundred times but never in a principal role and Gina Torres as SSAC Cheryl Carrera. Yep, Zoe’s back and she’s an FBI agent.
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Wow, that’s an awfully dry introduction to a show I’m looking forward to seeing more of. I guess the thing that impressed me most about the show was that it was well crafted and just a pleasure to watch. It will be a good diversion in the weeks to come, which is what TV is all about. It’s not too deep, the characters are likeable, if a little flat so far and pacing is well done.
Being about hostage negotiation, it’s not a lot of action. The tension is there, of course, but ideally, the action is restrained and more psychological than physical. Think of movies like Negotiator or even the Denzel parts of Inside Man and you’ll have an idea of how this is going.
So Standoff and House premiered last night and we’re all better off for it. If the other new shows I’m waiting for live up to Standoff, it’s going to be a great TV season!
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