K-Ville

FOX just never learns when it comes to good shows, K-Ville joins the roster of good shows that FOX cancels after 1 or 2 seasons. K-Ville is a cop show that takes place two years after Hurricane Katrina and the select few of officers that have remained on the New Orleans Police Department. Marlin Boulet (Anthony Anderson) is a veteran of the NOPD's Action Felony Squad and gets stranded by his old partner in the storm two years ago, Marlin is still attempted to keep some little bit of order to all the chaos that has happened and remains faithful to the city of New Orleans. He meets a new guy named Trevor Cobb (Cole Hauser) who becomes his new partner but has ulterior motives than Marlin Boulet even though Trevor Cobb had a pretty bad criminal past. So Marlin Boulet and Trevor Cobb work together in order to bring justice back into New Orleans as the city continues to get back on it's feet. The show has great plots, Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser make a great team! FOX just can't seem to even open their eyes and realize that they are wasting good shows like this and keeping some crappy reality shows like "Kitchen Nightmares" and "The Moment of Truth". Overall, good show that FOX should have kept!

Officer Marlin Boulet is a most unique and appealing lead character. His pride and sense of duty as a New Orleans policeman at once offers great dramatic counterpoint to his intense love for his city and its people while in general it provides us with someone we'd be proud to call a friend and be more than happy to protect and serve us. His partners, both present and past, also offer a wide-range of character strengths and flaws that can provide excellent story lines going forward. I was disappointed to read prior postings and their reactions to the initial episodes. Give this one a chance, people! Both my wife and I are well pleased with the episodes aired thus far, feeling it has gotten better by the week as we learn more about each of the main characters.

At first I couldn't wait to see the pilot....now that i've seen it I just can say that this show didn't reach the point which I expected. Some scenes are voluntarily cut; actors are running then in about 3 second they're chasing bad guys by car without transition. What's wrong with the director? Was he lazy enough to not film some parts? By the way, scenario is simply too predictable...I found the mystery of the crime in about 15 minutes: find the problem!!! So if you want to make your own point of view, check this show...Whereas I didn't say lot of great things about it, I really love Anthony Anderson (The Shield was is best performance for my part) and that's why I rated this show 5 stars unstead of 3.

THis show is one of the best i've ever seen. It's got a little bit of dark comedy which take a while to understand but when you have a teacher who does it it's easy. Some of ya'll might not get it or just don't like it. Well i'm not one to judge but i think this show deserves a chance. Anthony Anderson is one of my favorite actors and it's strange to see him in a drama but it fits after a while. There's some more TV shows that need worse grading like *in my opinion* pushing daises. So common ya'll give it a chance. Come on it's not like another law and order it's different. It's More like CSI: Miami but i think it's better than it. It's a good thing they put it in New Orleans because it shows what has happened there. It's got some facts in K-ville. I may not know anyone in new Orleans but they need help in publicity. G.W.B didn't do anything. Instead of a documentary it's good they have a TV show. It might not be all facts but i think it's better than documentaries.

Network: Fox; Genre: Crime Drama; Content Rating: TV-14 (some fierce violence and adult content); Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Seasons Reviewed: Series (1 season)

In the immediate aftermath of the 2006 Hurricane Katrina disaster, the city of New Orleans begins to rebuild. Marlin Boulet (Anthony Anderson) plays a cop who stayed behind rescuing citizens off roofs while his partner wigged out and fled the city. Boulet is assigned a new partner, Cobbs (Cole Houser), who has a secret of his own - he survived the storm by drowning his roommate, hoping the water wouldn't rise past the ceiling of his prison cell.

At it's best ("Ride Along", "Melissa", "AKA"), the show sticks up for the city's rich culture and heritage, making the case that "Nawlins" is widely misunderstood by the east and west coast dwelling pundits who proclaim it "a welfare state that is never coming back" (as a reporter voices in "Ride Along"). Anderson sells a love for the city, and Houser sells a respect for Boulet's love for the city. The title itself is a reference from inside New Orleans showcasing the city's subversive sense of humor.

At it's worst, many in the short series run, the show simply appears to use the current event climate of New Orleans as a backdrop gimmick to run several routine crime stories through. Mississippi, Alabama and Florida post-Katrina don't make nearly as interesting a setting, I suppose. Even when extolling the character of New Orleans we only get to see the city as 2nd unit stock footage passing by a car window or a narrow shot of the front of a house. This works against the show. I want to feel like I'm there. Right in the middle of it. Immersed in the middle of a war between reconstructionists like Boulet and thugs and drug dealers who take this opportunity to drag New Orleans back into the wild west.

There is a lot of potential here, that "K-Ville" doesn't realize. "Rescue Me" started as a post-9/11 look at firefighters in New York and while it always holds to that truth it has also fleshed itself out into a rich, humorous universe of it's own. "K-Ville", on Fox is handcuffed to a cop drama template. It's got a few splintery shoot-outs and a few dry humorous smirks but is largely humorless, thrill-free and uninspired in it's shallow, predictable stories. The characters have yet to flesh out although it appears "K-Ville" was really working at them. In Too bad because the show is pretty well made. There is an intensity to some of the action, a shaky camera technique and a willingness to blow things up and shoot-up and rip apart sets that gives the show a movie quality. "24" on a smaller budget.

You can become attached to any show you watch at length. I really wanted to like "K-Ville", mostly for the strong, likable lead performance from Anthony Anderson. Anderson came into his dramatic own with his startling turn on "The Shield" and this is further good work from an actor who could easily become great. Vic Mackey would be pleased with Boulet. But "K-Ville" as a whole doesn't rise up to it's potential and it's made up of elements that might seem different and freshly brutal for those only christened by network TV, but will come off a little been-there-done-that from those who have experienced FX's aforementioned cop thriller.

* * / 4