An A&E crime drama about a Wyoming sheriff from “The Closer” writer-producers Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny, “Longmire” is based on a series of novels by Craig Johnson. It stars Australian Robert Taylor (“Vertical Limit”), Katee Sackhoff (“Battlestar Galactica,” “24”), Lou Diamond Phillips (“SGU”), Bailey Chase (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Damages”) and Cassidy Freeman (“Smallville,” “The Playboy Club”).
It’s a decent procedural with some handsome New Mexico scenery, but invites perhaps a few too many comparisons to FX’s much superior “Justified,” which also features a wily, Stetson-sporting lawman (Taylor) chasing down bad guys in rural America. The much more famous Sackhoff has a smaller role as the lawman's city-trained deputy.
(Another new crime drama, the period hourlong “Vegas” premiering on CBS this fall, puts a very similar sheriff’s Stetson upon Dennis Quaid’s head.)
... I'd like to see the mysteries grow more engaging as the series moves along, but "Longmire" at least starts with a good foundation in Walt, his sidekicks, and the wide, open spaces they travel.
... As for the mystery elements, the opening installment feels a bit thin. … As the tale unfolds, some lazy choices are in evidence, which is alarming. You’d think that with the telegraph and the Internet and all, word would have reached even Wyoming by now that central figures in criminal investigations should not stand in front of windows during questioning when a sniper is known to be on the loose. Apparently not. …
... It's an old-fashioned sort of show, working unapologetically toward wisdom rather than cleverness …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... There's very little drama, and the pilot episode lumbers along like an overfed elk. …
The Pittburgh Post-Gazette says:
... A&E has tried to move back into scripted programming with the disappointingly generic "The Glades" and paint-by-number action-adventure "Breakout Kings." Compared to those efforts, new drama "Longmire" marks an evolutionary leap forward -- but it may still pale compared to other smart, basic cable dramas. …
... The mystery tonight might be slight, but the pilot is a dusty little gem.…
... The opener is a bit plodding and pedestrian, but the setting is gorgeous and a nice change-of-urban-pace, and the cast (including Katee Sackhoff and Lou Diamond Phillips) is fine. …
... There's nothing terribly groundbreaking about Longmire as he and his team wrangle with the local, resentful Native-American community in the course of solving mildly puzzling but often violent crimes. But it is satisfying in its own low-key way …
... A&E has hewed closely to crime with the smallest of twists in its scripted efforts, but even by those standards "Longmire" feels low on firepower. …
10 p.m. Sunday. A&E.
