The Evidence

When watching "The Evidence" series premiere this week, I forgot I was at home watching a one-hour TV show. The writers, direction and acting are very big-screenish (if you know what I mean) looks like something I'd see on the big screen. It's COLUMBO meets CSI - very modern, edgy, action-packed, suspenseful and even funny!! They have slow motion, stills and fast past pans and I felt like I was there, not at home watching it on TV.

The only thing I didn't like about the show was the "garage scene" with Rob Estes. Reminded me of A Beautiful Mind. Creepy. I know they had to give his character a back storyline, but please. I hope they finalize his own personal case and focus on current day happenings - not the past.

Other than that, very entertaining and cinematic. It's Columbo meets CSI - we see how the murder is done and the evidence and then hope that the detectives figure it out. Very creative and modern! Makes you wonder how they do it!!

When I saw the preview for the primer of The Evidence, I though, "Oh no, not another cop show," but by the end of the hour, I realized this is definitely not just another cop show. I loved the playful banter between Orlando Jones and Rob Estes. The dialogue was quick witted and often times very funny. The over all look of the show was very contemporary, without being pretensions. I am usually disappointed when a show tries to look edgy and new. Often times this means a shaky camera and pointless cuts. While The Evidence was very "cutty," in the end it all added up to a very cool style.

I was also very drawn into Cole's (Rob's) back-story. His wife's unsolved murder reminded me of Molder's obsession with his sister's abduction in the X-files. I hope, like the X-files, this story thread is recurring though out the season. I'm intrigued keep them coming.

A so-so CSI style show. Lot of quick cut edits and saturated hues. Locations (with some name changes) appear to be fairly accurate; e.g., main hospital in the pilot episode was SF General, and was on the correct street in the right neighborhood (22nd St.in the Mission). I do have one gripe concerning the portrayal of SF homicide detectives. As any SF resident over the past couple of years will attest to, SF cops don't actually solve homicides. The amount of cases brought for prosecution is very low and the DA and SFPD are pointing fingers at each other. Acting is OK, Orlando Jones' voice is a little soft, needs to speak louder. In this current cut and run network environment, not sure if ABC will stick this one out a while and re-order for fall. On the other hand, they don't have much in the way of cop shows in their present lineup.

Network: ABC; Genre: Crime & Mystery, Drama; Content Rating: TV-14 (language, violence, adult content and some gore); Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Seasons Reviewed: Series (1 season)

ABC was advertising "The Evidence" - for months before the few weeks it was actually on - as a ground-breaking new twist on the crime drama. That twist is based on a gimmick where the show gives us the items in evidence - including the deceased's body - laid out on a table and described to us by Martin Landau in the beginning of the show, then lets us see the murder and how all these items come into place as detectives Bishop (Orlando Jones) and Cole (Rob Estes) attempt to solve the case.

The show is potentially unique in that if you don't switch over to it in the first 60 seconds you will be missing out on all the fun. The episodes vary in how cleverly the show uses this gimmick, but the best ones - and the Pilot is the best one - reveal that the true meaning behind the item is not what we'd expect. A cell phone number may not be a cell phone number at all. In that Pilot we see a severed finger with a ring on it as a piece of evidence, and then sweat it out while the ring changes hands wondering who the inevitable will finally happen too.

However, for the rest of the series, after the show's first few minutes it pretty much goes on auto-pilot. The prospect of being able to follow the evidence through the show falls apart with what could either be network or series director tampering that assumes that the audience is stupid or unable to tune in at the beginning of a series. Because we don't have a memory after all, the slightest mention of a piece of evidence triggers a flashback of it on the table for us. Once again, just as it marred the truly original "Tru Calling", the network's desire to pander to the stupidest audience member out there by serving us every detail on a silver platter with incessant flashbacks, prevents us of any joy of putting the pieces of the mystery together ourselves.

Given that the networks apparently think there are a lot of armchair detectives out there, why would they rob us of that little pleasure? And given that that gimmick is the only thing that makes "Evidence" stand out, what is the point of even seeing it at the beginning in the first place? Unlike "CSI" where "the evidence speaks for those who can't", "The Evidence's" use of evidence becomes increasingly pointless to the story.

As the procedural/crime portion of the show goes, well, that part isn't bad. "The Evidence" is a little bit sharper than the "Law & Order" franchise. Hell, it is a lot sharper than the inexplicable cable hit "The Closer". Personable performances and solid buddy chemistry between Jones and Estes give the show more personality than we're used to from a network crime series. Estes' Cole is obsessed with solving the murder of his wife several years ago - a storyline used to bookend most episodes. Jones does something of a half-star turn here. While he does still slink in and out of his wacky comic mode, we are seeing an Orlando Jones that is miles away from 7-Up ads and "wacky black guy sidekick" movie roles and is now a much more mature as an actor than he's ever been given credit for. I'm impressed.

But despite what a joy it can be to watch the two leads go back and forth, "The Evidence" never gets beyond a broken gimmick or build itself up to that next level as a stand-out entry in the already saturated crime drama genre, quickly running out of steam before the end of its already short run.

* * ½ / 4

The Evidence One Hour Crime Drama Premiered 9pm Wednesday, March 22, 2006 on ABC *

"Not since NCIS has their been a more idiotic rip off of CSI" "CSI: San Francisco is the weakest of the CSI's this is a CSI isn't it?"

That's what I have to say in a nutshell about The Evidence.

The only thing that intrigues me about this new crime drama is that it's not on CBS like all the other who-done-it crime dramas on television these days (except for NBC's Law and Order).

Orlando Jones (Make 7 up yours) and Rob Estes (Gilmore Girls) star as crime fighting buddies in The Evidence, a crime drama that brags of only one original idea: present the evidence at the beginning of the show. Sounds potentially interesting right? Sure, but try as they may, The Evidence is all they have.

The first downer I noticed about this show was that the cinematography was out of whack in an NCIS kind of way- jump cuts from one side of a person's face to the other, very distracting and very un amusing for the eye. The other bad thing I noticed, and this is a big bad thing, they copied CSI (and all its many clones) right now to the fuzzy flash backs and helicopter establishing shots. OK?

To make things worse, the dialog is awful, the acting stale and uncomfortable; Jones is still breathing his 7 up days and it's hard to ignore. Estes does little better, his incompetent, sober character (I lost my wife to a killer I can't find) is clinched and played by an actor who should be kicking Jones's ass by now. Where is the feeling? No one grits their teeth or cares about this dead girl's killer. The realism is not there!

Original, die hard CSI watchers know what a good crime show looks and feels like, and will probably be unamused by this ABC wannabe and go back to their CBS chalk lineup. My prediction is that this show will be about as successful as the remake of Dragnet starring Ed O'Neil and Ethan Embry. However, NCIS is still on the air, and The Evidence is just as idiotic so you never know what America will sucker into.

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