In Plain Sight

I'm not really a fan of TV crime shows, but new series always give me the chance of experiencing some fresh air - so I check them out. In this case, I was glad I did. The pilot started off slow, but after about 30 minutes (it was 90 minutes total w/commercials), it actually became interesting and stayed that way to the end. Subsequent episodes have kept up the momentum.

One novel aspect of the show is that its about a lady marshal in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She's in charge of people in the "witness protection program" who have been assigned to her area. She cautions and reassures them that since 1970 (when the witness program started), "No one who has followed the rules has ever been harmed." Powerful words.

Can they comply? When things go wrong, can she protect them? How can she keep their identities safe - even from the local police?

Aside from the setup, the show is ultimately interesting because she's fun to watch. She's sassy, witty, playful, smart, responsible ... and physically tough. I recommend watching an episode; if the lead character grabs your interest, then you're likely to enjoy the show.

After a lifetime in law enforcement, I don't like cop shows. The vast majority of them take themselves waaaay too seriously, and Hollywood displays very little understanding of how cops and police departments work. Oh, they have their technical advisors who show them how cops do tactical stuff, and they do manage to get that stuff mostly right, but it's the day to day stuff that they screw up. For example, how many times have shows depicted a detective leaving some major department and going to another city and immediately becoming a detective? Sorry folks, it just doesn't work that way. I don't care if you have a gold shield in the Big Apple, it you move to another state, you're going to go through the entire testing process all over again, go through another academy, and start out as a junior patrol cop working a beat.

So I don't like cop shows. Except.....

Mary Shannon has to be the most irascible, sarcastic, cynical, wry, blunt pretend LEO to ever pin on a TV badge. I love every minute she and Marshall are on the screen. Whoever writes for the show, especially the dialogue, is a genius. Practically every other line Mary utters is something that I wish I had thought of. At the same time, I identify with both her partner Marshall, and her supervisor Stan. Mary is the sort of partner and subordinate that you love to work with while simultaneously dreading whatever they're going to do next.

The show is hardly a model of realism, but I've given up on Hollywood ever getting that right. I watch the show because I want to see Mary cause Stan to pull out the rest of his hair, to hear her lay into some pompous FBI agent, to tell some protectee or family member just what an idiot they are, or to cause Marshall to go off on some existential tangent. You go girl!!

This is one of those shows that if given enough time will develop a loyal following. I have watched 5 episodes so far. I talked my girlfriend into sitting down for the pilot and she was hooked. Mary McCormack does an excellent job of showing a flawed character struggling with a dysfunctional family and the evils of her job(protecting and hiding criminals in Witness Protection). Fred Weller is excellent as her laconic partner. Paul Ben-Victor is dead on as the not-quite-aware section chief of the U.S. Marshall's Service. The shows are well-crafted and allow Ms. McCormack ample opportunity to zing her co-stars with great one-liners. The developing back-stories on her family show great promise. Lesley Anne Warren is an over the top version of the mother no one wants to claim as their own. She's a hard-drinking "good-time" girl who likes men, a LOT. Nichole Hiltz is her sexy, ditzy sister who is attracted to trouble. The cast is a lot of fun to watch and I am going to be rooting for them to be renewed for a second season.

Although it's hard to decide the future of this show based on its pilot, I would assume that this show will do well on USA. While it's not quite as good as the advertisements led it to be, I enjoyed the first episode and the characters it developed. As others have mentioned, I hope that it does not end up focused around solving murders, but rather the families the Marshalls need to hide. Mary is a refreshingly sarcastic woman with great one-liners and an over-all amusing personality. There is a great juggle between local crimes, witness protection, and personal affairs. Hopefully the rest of the episodes will live up to the standards the pilot has set.

With the addition of In Plain Sight, it's official...the summer cable shows like The Closer, Saving Grace, Burn Notice and Damages are so much better than anything the major networks have to offer during the "regular" season. Love the chemistry between Mary and Marshall. Love the quick quips and the realistic dialog. And the addition of a fine looking black detective with the unlikely name of Dershowitz for Mary to butt heads and crack wise with is pure gold.

I do agree that the mother and sister are best in small doses, but they do provide a nice slightly off-balance counterpoint to the thoroughly professional handle Mary has on her work life. One line describes the relationship beautifully: in replying to her n'er-do-well sister's question about why Mary won't just get rid of her defective car, she says "because, like my family, I love it a little more than I want to kill it." The people she's protecting have been getting better and better with each successive show. The most recent, David Foley, was a real hoot as an assassin's middleman.

All in all, I don't care if it's not exactly as law enforcement would do it. I'm not looking for authenticity in a summer show. I'm looking for fun, and In Plain Sight has it in spades.