I am – Hercules!!
A poor and derivative crime drama from writer Jason Richman (“Swing Vote”), “Detroit 1-8-7” stars Michael Imperioli (“Life On Mars”) as veteran Detroit homicide detective breaking in a rookie cop. (187 is cop code for “homicide.”)
Zeus knows there are so many TV crime dramas it can be challenging find some way to find an original angle, but cops shows like “The Wire” and “Justfied” demonstrate it’s still possible.
And “1-8-7,” even as it accumulates an improbable amount of unrealistic behavior, just piles up into a mountain of cop-show clichés:
* Veteran detective dislikes his new super-enthusiastic partner.
* Rookie detective vomits at site of murder scene. (Even though the rookie has apparently been a policeman for some time.)
* Minority detective scolds fellow cop for not demonstrating more compassion for victim.
* Cop is mortally wounded on what is purported to be the happiest day of his life.
Some scenes are as silly as ones you’d find in “Reno 911,” without benefit of being funny. At one point a detective fails to pat down a captured suspect, then cuffs the suspect to a children’s slide so the detective can take a phone call. It’s all in service of a gag a 7-year-old could see coming a mile away.
Another scene has Imperioli’s character exacting a confession from a captured suspect who already requested a lawyer. The detective does this just by sitting in an interrogation room and staring at him.
Close to the end of the pilot, Imperioli’s character decides to discuss his own personal issues with a gunman during a hostage situation. I’d swear I saw virtually the identical device used in the pilot for Fox’s “Standoff” a couple years ago. (It sucked then too.)
The Washington Post says:
… As Detective Louis Fitch of the Detroit police force, Imperioli harbors the broodingly potent power he displayed in "The Sopranos," but there's also a world-weariness to his characterization that could be mistaken for an actor's boredom with lame scripts -- and a sense the show is heading for a brick wall. … comes across, despite the strong performances, as wan and halfhearted. …
… 'Sopranos' veteran Michael Imperioli, shorn of the majestic mustache he sported in 'Life on Mars,' is the only good thing about this otherwise unimpressive and derivative police procedural about detectives in the Motor City. …
On “Detroit 1-8-7,” Michael Imperioli (“The Sopranos”) plays a crabby, burned-out homicide detective. And that’s pretty much it. …
… very much a slab of TV …
… The original pilot felt a bit like a 21st century version of "Homicide," focusing more on the cops than the cases, where the new version - particularly the second episode, which was filmed after the docu concept was ditched (where the final version of the pilot still has weird traces of it) - feels more generic, even with the Detroit location filming. …
… A rock-solid, back-to-basics drama about a dedicated group of homicide detectives …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
… While the cop genre is all but played out, "Detroit 1-8-7" is stylish and acceptably rough-hewn enough to make it worth your while. It's visually interesting, keeps several storylines spinning at once and has an agreeable cast. Sometimes all you need is a good cop show, no matter how familiar. …
… isn’t a great show - yet. But this ABC drama about a homicide squad (“1-8-7” is street slang for murder) in one of the nation’s most crime-ridden cities could prove to be a worthy successor to the network’s now classic “NYPD Blue.” … “Detroit’s” on-location shooting aids its authenticity, but the show goes awry when it goes for a joke. For example, medical examiner Abbey Ward (Erin Cummings, “Mad Men”) carries bruises from her after-hours avocation: roller derby. “Detroit 1-8-7” is one of those shows that is going to need some time to finds its destination.
… just may have enough forward thrust and raw emotion to take off. On the downside, the show relies on all the inner-city crime-show moves we’ve seen a million times before. …
… The jury still is out on "1-8-7" after its entertaining but flawed premiere. There's a fine show in there somewhere, and landing Michael Imperioli as an enigmatic lead certainly helps, but it smacks of trying too hard and appears desperate to be compared to the king of the subgenre, "Homicide: Life on the Street." …
… emerges as a spare but undistinguished, by-the-book copshow … plays like a pretty straightforward procedural -- similar in tone to "Homicide," including one profane (and frequently bleeped) interview with a hostile witness. It's not bad, but it initially looks relatively uninspired next to TV's best copshows, including current entries such as TNT's "Southland."
9 p.m. Tuesday. ABC.
