Marlowe

I've seen plenty of worse cable series than this one would have been. I wonder whether executives didn't just decide against "modernizing" the iconic central character after seeing the finished product and perhaps disappointing ratings for this pilot. It's easily something I would have given another look were there more episodes unless and until they ran out of ways of making them as seamless as was this one. Mercifully absent cringe-y attempts to recapture either the genre, the period, or both.

I can tell why this pilot was not picked up; it lacks distinction. And apart from the protagonist's name, the Los Angeles setting, and a few lame quotations of famous phrases ("Trouble is my business"), it also lacks any meaningful relationship to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe stories. Jason O'Mara's thoroughly modern P.I., confident, sexy, and smirky, certainly does not recall Marlowe's cynical, thoughtful personality in any way whatsoever. And while I enjoy watching hunky television actors in their late 30s and early 40s as well as the next gay guy - you could even call me an aficionado - there is just not enough going on with the character. Or anything here, really.

No relation to Chandler's Marlowe.

Marlowe never had a secretary. He wasn't that chummy with LAPD.

The lot was too busy. Too many coincidences. Characters just sort of showed up.

I really wish the title was not "Marlowe." So many others did Marlowe better.