Crossing Lines

The first two season of this show are amazing. Brilliant writing, fantastic acting and interesting story lines. The formula is similar to your Law and Order or NCIS type shows, but the European setting adds an extra element. Every episode is set in a different country, instead of your usual New York or LA story lines. The cast are truly diverse, with German, French, Dutch main characters. Several episodes have you on the edge of your seat, with some very exciting and dramatic events.

Then season three happened. Suddenly half the cast was gone...including the main character Hickman! There had been a few story arcs in the second season that are just forgotten. What happened with Ava's search for her father, did Hickman end up with Amanda (she was such a great character who deserved more screen time) and the story lines of the other major characters such as Tommy's ongoing family problems. Really disappointing to have such a good show turned into an entirely new series. 10/10 for the first two seasons, forget the third.

This is one show worth watching in my opinion and I am surprised at the negative reviews that are rubbishing it. It is obviously not technical enough for those reviewers. I find William Fichtner character very likable and I also like the way he goes about his work. He is a really good detective who thinks outside the box. Nothing seems to get in his way and even if it is a bit unbelievable that he gets to solve every crime in record time, it is still entertaining. The supporting cast is also excellent,i For this show to be successful, I do believe it will need to take on more interesting dark themes or it runs the risk of becoming a run-of-the-mill forensics series like Law and Order or Kojack...no knock on these shows.....

Like the other reviewer, I stumbled across this series by accident when I was looking through the ratings and didn't know what this show was about. Recognizing several actors I enjoy watching, I decided to look it up and found it buried on NBC's website. The synopsis looked interesting and follows similar crime dramas we also enjoy and felt to me like a Criminal Minds Europe type of show.

We watched the first two episodes and thoroughly enjoyed them. It had a Spooks feel (MI-5 to US folks), Criminal Minds and a bit of Law and Order mixed in with a lot of suspense, action and a few twists. It has a great cast and I'm not bothered by its size. It's a very cerebral show that gets you thinking and I do hope it lasts the 10 episodes its scheduled for to see how it plays out. Given the poor quality of shows available for viewing this summer, this is a breath of fresh air.

Shame on NBC though for keeping this jewel hidden... a little bit of marketing and it could be owning its time slot easily.

.....something for the grown-ups!!!! NBC shame on you for not playing this one up --- I might have missed it altogether but somehow I caught wind of Donald Sutherland and put it on my DVR!!!! I've only watched the first nine minutes so far and I'm captivated. William Fitchner --- so good in "Prison Break" --- a delight to see him on screen again --- and --- NBC --- if you will go LOOOK at the ratings on IMDb for Prison Break they are still at 8.5! This looks great...an ensemble cast of interesting sounding characters. (In that, not unlike Prison Break...some of the best acting EVER happened in that series (Robert Kneppner "T-Bag" to name another), while Wentworth Miller certainly was not hard to look at. In fact, if you really want to mix it up a bit, NBC, throw T-Bag and Wentworth a bone, and bring them on in some surprise roles on Crossing Lines (says she with a sardonic little grin).

Not everything has to be pablum for the kiddies. There are still some of us out here who want REAL TV....not REALITY TV!

Crossing Lines is a smartly written, cleverly acted and well produced drama about an international crime fighting unit that investigates multi-national (hence the name: Crossing the "boundary" lines of EC countries) high end and highly sophisticated crimes. The characters are intriguing yet follow similar patterns found in shows like CSI and Criminal Minds: aloof male leader (king archetype), warrior, princess and magician (computer genius) archetype as well.

The show's writers and producers have created some interesting twists in the first several episodes in terms of the main character's back stories and developing relationships with in the ICC unit. In addition, the crimes themselves are fresh and do not follow typical "clean all wrapped up nicely endings" often associated with other high end crime dramas on television.

The dialog is smart and treats the audience as viewers with a brain and soul in that there is plenty of passion and cognitive material to digest in each episode.

The writer's plot twists are risky and make watching the show intense since you are never quit sure where the producers will take the characters and story lines.