I am – Hercules!!


A crime drama from writer-producers Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (“The Shield”), “Women’s Murder Club” follows a homicide cop (Angie Harmon, “Law & Order”), a prosecutor (Laura Harris, “Dead Like Me”), a reporter (Aubrey Dollar, “Point Pleasant”) and a medical examiner (Paula Newsome, “The Lyon’s Den”) who form an all-female justice league to solve crimes in San Francisco. It’s based on the series of books by James Patterson (“Kiss the Girls,” “Along Came A Spider”). Jessica Simpson’s ubercreepy dad somehow found his way onto the project as a producer.

(If you ever want to see some amazing work by Craft & Fain, kindly find and watch a copy of “Underneath,” the five-star 2004 episode of “Angel” that introduced Adam Baldwin as law-firm muscle Marcus Hamilton. It’s episode 5.17. One of the finest hours of television ever broadcast, I swear to Christ.)

Angie Harmon and Laura Harris are insanely beautiful. I really like Aubrey Dollar, who plays the reporter, as well, at least when she’s not affecting a stammer. I liked Dollar a lot as the hot tomboy in “Point Pleasant” too.

In the original “Women’s” pilot, which will never see air, the reporter character was already a full-fledged member of the “club” and actively trading info, tips and theories with the others from the get-go. In the revised pilot and the series, she is an outsider trying to find her way in, a better approach I think.

The show also follows at least three of the four protagonists into their personal lives. The cop is now suddenly supervised by her ex, who has a new kindergarten-teacher lover. The lawyer is just moving in with her doctor boyfriend but is also having an on-and-off affair with a defense attorney. The M.E. contends with a depressed, wheelchair-bound husband.

If I don’t recommend the series, know that – my deep and abiding love for shows like “Columbo,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Police Squad!” “Homicide,” “Boomtown,” “The Inside” and “The Wire” notwithstanding – I’m just not that into cop shows. And “Women’s Murder Club” doesn’t feel different enough from most of the procedurals so aggressively cluttering up the airwaves.

USA Today gives it two and a half stars (out of four) and says:

… neither taxes our brains nor insults our intelligence … The show's attempt to blend Grey's Anatomy girl-talk with CSI homicide isn't always the smoothest, but it's functional. … It would be nice if the exposition were less clunky and the show did more to capture what is special about its San Francisco setting. Still, the actors are enjoyable, and their series in large part does what it sets out to do. It isn't nearly as good as Friday Night Lights, of course — few shows are. But unlike so many fall clunkers, it's competent. …

The New York Times says:

… a throwback to “Charlie’s Angels.” As Lindsay Boxer, a homicide investigator in San Francisco, Angie Harmon (“Law & Order”) has an almost campy ’70s look: her hair is long and fluffily layered, and when she stalks a suspect, gun up, crouching on stiletto-heeled boots, ’70s-style syncopated music plays in the background. … has its own ick factor, one found on other crime shows like “NCIS” on CBS and “Bones” on Fox: a tone that is at times as jaunty and playful as that of “Murder, She Wrote” is countered with grotesque, lingering close-ups of mutilated corpses and severed body parts. It is a jarring disconnect, to say the least, almost like adding a laugh track to “Silence of the Lambs.” If it’s the right show, the ick is worth it. “Women’s Murder Club” is all right, but not good enough.

The Los Angeles Times says:

… There is a definite "Sex and the City" meets "CSI" vibe to "Women's Murder Club" but it's a good vibe. Harmon, with her "Law and Order" credentials, makes a natural bridge and a believable detective. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… It is efficient and well-paced, and it tries hard to breathe life into these characters. But the effort doesn't really pay off. The two-dimensional people in this glossy "Sex and the City" meets "Law & Order" mixture don't really come alive, and maybe that's the inevitable result of a hybrid that shouldn't be attempted. Or maybe it's a case of the blahs that are affecting most new network programs, which feature a lot of interchangeable characters who exist to quip, share predictable revelations and, most important, move the plot along.

The Washington Post says:

… Fans of the "CSI" and "Law & Order" franchises should not be hanging onto their seats, waiting for cool forensics or complicated legal plot twists. … For those pining for some rapid-fire girl talk, though, the show does have its moments … The show essentially adopts the names, personalities and careers of Patterson's creations, but not his plotlines, which tend to serial killers, who don't necessarily come around every week. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

There are all kinds of sadness in "Women's Murder Club," the new ABC series set in San Francisco that starts tonight. For instance, there's a kind of choking-back-the-tears sadness after watching the pilot, that hour being tragically lost forever. (All right, 45 minutes. Which may be sadder, because it felt like four or five nights.) There's a choking-back-the-laughter element that someone at ABC thought to send a second episode. That's just sad - what, TV critics don't have lives? We'll just watch anything? We're dumb enough to endure another 45 minutes of bad writing, bad acting and bad storytelling? See? Big, steaming piles of sad.…

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

Although scripted by two former writers from "The Shield," there's nothing gritty or particularly realistic about ABC's "Women's Murder Club," but that's OK. The show is an entertaining, estrogen-powered hour regardless. … Although "Murder" is in the show's title, this "Club" is not as thematically dark as other crime procedurals. There's a lightness to the lead characters and their interactions that's a welcome change of pace. …

The Denver Post says:

It's "Murder, They Wrote" with overage BFFs. "Quincy M.E," with a female crew. "Charlie's Angels" for the post-feminist 2000s, plus enough "CSI" gore to keep the male audience interested. "Women's Murder Club" is a standard-issue procedural with female leads who hold their coffee klatches on the run. Slated on Friday nights, the TV schedule's black hole, it's not likely to make waves.

The Boston Herald says:

… uneven, unconvincing ABC crime drama … These friends engage in all sorts of snappy “Grey’s Anatomy” banter. “You know, I love you like an annoying, pushy, emotionally stunted sister, but I need probable cause,” Jill grouses at Lindsay. … they’re girls playing make-believe career day.

The Boston Globe says:

… a flat crime show … The cases these women solve are very much beside the point. They are built to go easy on us. The "Women's Murder Club" writers throw together the murder plots - which are, essentially, a string of red herrings - as if they're mindlessly mixing up macaroni and cheese. Ultimately, the dead bodies are just an excuse to get together and dish without having to patronize coffee shops. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… sprints energetically from the gate carrying genuine qualitative heft: charismatic leads, snappy dialogue and an agreeable blend of lighthearted and dramatic. The only real weakness in the premiere is the obvious strain to balance the personal lives of its lovely female protagonists with their all-encompassing focus in the workplace. …

Variety says:

… flat hourlong series that suffers from a multitude of unnatural behaviors. … Action and patter in the pilot's early going are rushed, and the acting uneven; it will take some time to get to know, and even longer to like, the members of this "Club." …

9 p.m. Friday. ABC.

Kubrick in HD!!

A Clockwork Orange [HD-DVD]
Eyes Wide Shut [HD-DVD]
The Shining [HD-DVD]
Spartacus [HD-DVD]
2001: A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray]
2001: A Space Odyssey [HD-DVD]

TWILIGHT ZONE: THE COMPLETE SERIES!!


$164.99!!

That works out to $33 Per Season!!
The extras-crammed Definitive Editions!!
Individual seasons cost $69.99 New; $50 used!!
They were going for close to $100/season not too long ago!

(The discount presumably celebrates the release of the “Twilight Zone” movie in HD, so don’t expect it to last ...)