Television Series Review.
Battle Creek. CBS on Sunday nights at nine p.m.
This new series is all about police detectives in Battle Creek, Michigan. The police department of the city is underfunded (as most all over-funded police departments across America declare on a daily basis) so the FBI is brought in to supplement the detective efforts of the sadly lacking force. The show is a rip-off of the two show sequence appearing years ago in Rockford Files. That sequence was the one that made Tom Selleck a star and gave him his own show (Magnum P.I.). The rip-off is in the characterization. A tall terrifically good-looking man comes in to take over the one person FBI office (real likely).
He’s humane, brilliant, always right and has the NSA and the rest of governmental agencies behind him, no matter what he asks them for. His partner, the Battle Creek detective on the force, is the classic old not-so-good-looking slob who works around the system using his vast life experience. No matter. The ace FBI agent is always right. “If you prick him he bleeds,” was one of his classic quotes when both men were questioning a drug dealer. The humanity portrayed by this simple statement caused the drug dealer to snitch out one of his suppliers.
Yes, it is that dumb. But then it’s produced by David Shore, who also produced House. In producing
House, Shore was constrained by other directors and producers. Apparently that’s not the case with this show, for his sophomoric anti-female and moronic sense of humor pervades everything. It was interesting to see that both Rockford Files and Magnum P.I. were referenced in this first show, however.
The ripped-off concept of the show is decent, the location great, but the script was about as adult as something you’d see on Tele-Tubbies, or worse. Good fortune placed this show against the final show of the season for Downton Abbey. There was no contest whatever.
Photo Courtesy of CBS.com
