A new crime drama from screenwriter Chris Morgan (“The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift,” “Fast & Furious,” “Fast 5,” “Furious 6,” “Fast & Furious 7”), “Gang Related” follows an LAPD officer who is also secretly a Los Angeles gang member. It stars “Lost” icon Terry O’Quinn and the guy who played Hunky Bosley on ABC’s horrible “Charlie’s Angels” reboot.
... The show is centered on Ryan’s divided loyalties, but neither he nor his father figures are complicated or surprising enough to make Ryan’s dilemma intriguing: Both Chapel and Javier have authority, but not a lot of charm or complexity. Ryan’s comrades on the task force are just as two-dimensional. …
... rolls with so many stereotypes and tropes it clanks. …
... mediocre …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... The pilot episode, airing Thursday, is less than promising, but once you get used to the cliches, the loudly telegraphed plot developments and the unrelentingly phony look of the set, the show becomes watchable in subsequent episodes, thanks to a few of the key performances and some well-directed action scenes. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... For what it is — a small-screen version of a big-screen shoot-’em-up — “Gang Related” is fine, but it won’t be confused with great TV. …
... a fast-paced shoot-’em-up/blow-’em-up affair (with the usual ridiculous disregard for actual public safety), but beneath the noise and oozing machismo, it’s not half bad as a deeper emotional story about family and trust. …
... Nothing feels authentic about this show. … Star Rodriguez has mastered every which way of looking absolutely bored. With this material, who can blame him? …
... feels like the dregs from the same pan in which many, many cop show predecessors, both better and worse, have been cooked up …
... Clunky dialogue, clichéd relationships, and an escapist action-flick aesthetic combine to subvert the ambition for gritty realism. …
... a dense serial about loyalty and betrayal, but without enough redeeming qualities to offset its high quotient of ugliness and mayhem.…
... instantly awful … it's pretty clear right away that you're dealing with a pile of cliches that can never be anything more than dreadful. …
9 p.m. Thursday. Fox.
