I am – Hercules!!
Aaron Douglas, who played labor-leader spaceship mechanic Galen Tyrol on Syfy's “Battlestar Galactica,” plays labor-leader Toronto cop Frank Leo on CTV’s “The Bridge,” and he’s the best reason to tune in to its CBS premiere tonight.
It’s not in the same league as "The Wire," but it has a strong opening and its 2-hour pilot was compelling enough to hold my attention, which puts it a cut above most CBS fare. It’s about a popular cop who finds himself using the police union to root out corruption.
If you’ve nothing better to do on a hot July Saturday night, I say give the first five minutes a look and see if it doesn’t grab you as it grabbed me.
The New York Times says:
… the series is in the “NYPD Blue” and “Southland” vein, trying for realism. It isn’t in those shows’ league, but it’s a welcome change from the glossy triviality of other summer filler like “Rookie Blue” or “The Good Guys.”… flat and occasionally tone-deaf writing, which hits a low point when a cop says, at a particularly tragic juncture, “Sometimes I think the world is held together by nothing but God’s tears.” The performances outside the lead roles are also shaky, though Aaron Douglas (the super-mechanic Tyrol in “Battlestar Galactica”) is fine as Leo and it’s nice to see the Robert Altman regular Michael Murphy pop up here as a cagy police chief. …
The Los Angeles Times says:
… Clearly, creator Craig Bromell, himself a former Toronto police chief, has David Simon-like aspirations. As in "The Wire," the corruption in the Toronto police department is systemic rather than the work of one or two villains (although the early appearance of an almost laughably Nazi-like female deputy chief assures us that Canada's reputation for mildness does not preclude sexism). But "The Bridge" does not have the depth, or the patience, of "The Wire." In the pilot, things happen far too quickly and over-dramatically. … Although overblown in message and action, "The Bridge" is well-performed and worth watching if only to see if it will stand by its thesis: that real change comes from people working together. Or if it will succumb to the standards of the time and evolve into yet another show in which a male lead battles forces within and without to discover who he really is. This time in Canada.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… By no means a great show, "The Bridge" is at least a little bit different from most police procedurals. … While "The Shield" touched on police unions, "The Bridge" approaches the issue more directly, which makes the show unique in at least one aspect. Other elements -- a snitch among the rank-and-file, Frank's liason with a fellow officer -- seem more familiar and somewhat dull. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… a muscular new police series for CBS that has early potential. … in its best moments, echoes "The Shield." Alas, there are not enough of those moments, and "Bridge" quickly loses focus. …
Variety says:
… isn't arresting enough to become the sort of self-starter necessary to succeed in the ghetto of broadcast television. … Series seems to be begging for a more nuanced treatment of police hierarchy but too often settles for one-dimensional heroics. That said, there's something intriguing about a summer show that is at once too complicated in storytelling and too simplistic in aesthetics to comfortably mesh with CBS' flashy procedural-stacked lineup. "The Bridge" at least makes a stronger first impression than the summer's other new Canadian cop import, ABC's "Rookie Blue."
8 p.m. Saturday. CBS.
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