The Job

Denis Leary can indeed be funny and clever at times and is always likable, but this takes the cake! This show showed Leary's genius.

The Job is set in New York. Leary plays Mike McNeil, a hard-nosed detective who is married, has a occasional drug problem, and has a girlfriend. McNeil has serious attitude. So much he's dripping in it. The precinct is filled with funny, interesting and likable characters besides McNeil. An excellent cast too. All of the episodes in this show are really funny and are addictive. The one liners in this show are everywhere. You'll be in stitches after hearing them and still laugh about them a few minutes after and then some. The cases the precinct deals with are something else to stripper nuns, a bathroom hostage situation, and more are over the top. This show was too good. Could have grown legs to last many more seasons.

The Last Word: A great, fantastic show. I miss this show dearly. All episodes of this show are great. You get even belly-laughs...a lot. ABC made a huge mistake by giving this the ax. Too bad Leary did not revive the show for cable TV. Still, I give this show one of my highest of recommendations. Truly a one of a kind show.

It's 20 years since "The Job" aired on ABC and those dimwitted nitwits cancelled this unparalleled brilliant comedy series after 19 perfect pitched episodes. In my wisdom I bought the DVDs and find the show to be as funny and relevant today. Dennis Leary and Peter Tolan never compromised on their vision. The scripts and the jokes are sharp, fast, sophisticated and hilarious. The cast, oh the cast, so perfect, so completely comfortable with themselves in their characters, convey so much in a smirk, an ebrow raised, a flared nostril. This is one of the best comedies ever produced for American TV. An immediate classic. Subsequently, came Leary's "Rescue Me," but the characters did not have the same depth and most too adolescent for my taste. Nothing comes close to "The Job."

It's hard to believe that ABC, a network owned by the Disney Corporation, a network that once harbored television's most irritating character, Steve Urkel, a network that gave birth to long-running entertainment tumors like "Full House," could come up with not ONE of the greatest genre-pushing television shows of all time, but TWO, in a period as short as three years, and cancel them both. The first was "Sports Night" a series that has rightfully been called "one of the greatest things in the history of television;" the second was "The Job."

What IS "The Job?" Is it a sitcom? Is it a drama? Is it a 'dramady?' The answer to all of these questions is 'yes.' "The Job" is all of these things and more, a concoction of acting, writing, and production so perfect, that the very idea that it could come into being so soon after the demise of "Sports Night" practically defies all possibility, and yet it happened. And yet it had a wonderful timeslot. And yet it was canceled.

"The Job" stars Denis Leary in what could have and SHOULD have been his first real niche role outside of standup and performance art-comedy: A New York Police detective named Mike McNeil with a drinking problem, a smoking problem, and a drug problem, who has a wife and kids, but also has a mistress on the side, and a wandering eye. The perfect anti-hero.

Surrounding Leary is an equally-talented cast that comes together just as seamlessly as, again, "Sports Night." Bill Nunn is Leary's partner, Terrence "Pip" Phillips, the good-conscience-with-a-halo to McNeil's horns-tail-and-pitchfork, chiding him for his bad behavior while simultaneously envying him a but. Lenny Clarke delivers his familiar big, goofy police officer role without flaw, often drawing some of the loudest laughs. Diane Farr shows that she has razor-sharp acting skills to go along with her extremely good looks. Adam Ferrara is, as usual, hilarious.

But don't let all the comments about how funny this show is throw you off: as was said, it's NOT just a sitcom. It also carries all the elements more familiar in drama-territory wonderfully.

And just when shows like this were giving television viewers with an ounce of good taste a chance to dance around on TGIF's grave like Evil Homer Simpson, all that "family friendly" programming has to rise back out of the ground like half-decayed zombies and take big, fatal bites out of the skulls of more daring and innovative programming like "the Job," all under the command of Mickey Mouse, Zombie Master.

ABC should be proud of themselves for bringing this show into existence in the first place, but that pride should be more than obliterated by their decision to heartlessly yank it away just as we were all starting to enjoy it. They should be ASHAMED of themselves for once again caving to the lowest common denominator and dropping this one, as if their treatment of "Sports Night" wasn't bad enough.

Let's hope Comedy Central's weeklong special showings of "the Job" a few months ago were an indicator that Denis Leary took note of what happened to "Sports Night" and was smart enough to get a hook-up for his show with that network as a backup plan. It may be the last chance for cutting-edge shows such as this to protect intelligent viewers from a new wave of Urkels and Tanners sucking (extra emphasis on that) what little brains are left out of television with a bendy-straw.

After just two episodes, Denis Leary's "The Job" has become a must-see part of my Wednesday nights.

Perhaps the most remarkable element of the show is Leary's almost ego-free presence at the center. He co-produces, he co-writes, he stars, and yet the character he creates is, unquestionably, a jerk. He's a caustically funny and charismatic jerk, but he's a jerk nonetheless. Leary is quite aware of this, allowing the other characters to call him on his jerkiness; one actually slaps him.

In a strange way, this liberates the show. We know Leary as a star, and we already like him, so the show doesn't feel the need to prop him up as a fake hero. Leary finds all sorts of nuances, demonstrating that he's a much better actor than anyone gave him credit for being. He finds the laughs, of course -- many, many laughs -- but he also finds a measure of pathos and sympathy in this aggressively selfish and self-centered man.

If I have any complaint about the show, it's that it's too short. Half an hour isn't enough time to truly develop the policework, to set up and follow a complex, involving case. In this, the apotheosis of the television police program, "Homicide: Life on the Street," doesn't need to worry about being unseated from its throne as the best damn cop show ever. Leary's "The Job," though, has much of the same energy, the loosey-goosey character-centered approach and gritty realism of "Homicide," and that's high praise indeed.

That, of course, is ABC's cue to cancel the show as soon as possible, as they did with "Sports Night" and other quality programs. Tune into "The Job," and hope ABC lets it live.

I saw the episodes in Austria and I must say that the German production company made a great job using the best dubbing voices for the different characters. It was a funny show with a lot of real-life stories - unfortunately broadcast in Austria after midnight. I also liked "It's Like, You Know..." which also had been canceled after two seasons. The question in both cases is why? But remember: "Star Trek" was a flop at the beginning and no public broadcaster was encouraged enough to buy "Sex and the City" ... So, what remains of "The Job" is a good memory, a couple of episodes on DVD+R and the hope for a future release on DVD.