The Deep End is pretty shallow

Bob posed an interesting question earlier today: do you miss FlashForward. Without getting into my original answer, after watching tonight’s pilot episode of The Deep End I can tell you this — I’m definitely feeling its absence right now.

I won’t say that I was overly excited about The Deep End going in, but I was intrigued, given the fact that I enjoy legal series, and that I got a good vibe from Ivey’s preview. And, spoiler alert for all those of you who bought into the comparison (not Ivey’s, but apparently everyone else’s) — this show is nothing like Grey’s Anatomy.

In fact, if I was forced to make a comparison, the only one I could come up with is that Matt Long’s Dylan Hewitt visually reminds me of Kerr Smith’s turn as Paul Robbins on Eli Stone … not a blight you want on a new show.

But that’s far from this show’s only problem. The Deep End’s hook is clearly meant to be its characters, so why do they all suck? Dylan is shockingly naive for someone who would have had to be a summer associate at a huge law firm during his years in law school in order to land this job. Matt Long’s Jack McCallister charm is not going to carry him through here.

Addy (Tina Majorino from Big Love) herself would have never made it out of those two summers as an associate during school. But had she survived, she would know full well what was expected of her as a first-year associate. She acts as if she’s the first first-year to be run into the ground. And that it’s somehow inappropriate for her to be expected to succeed. Majorino needs to leave the Mormon back in Utah.

Liam (Ben Lawson) was okay. Slimy, but you’d expect at least some lawyers to be like that. Except he won’t lie … not that he should, but that totally cracked his facade as a believable person, considering everything else about him. Even so he could be tolerable, if not for the Scrubs-like relationship he appears set to have with Beth (Leah Pipes) — think Lucy and Cole.

Beth, of course, is the other first-year who’s been there for 10 days, who is somehow indispensible on a matter that’s probably been at the firm for many years. Right. Oh, and she’s Lindsay from season one of The Practice, with a father/mentor at a bigger law firm who disapproves of the direction she’s taken her career. Awesome.

Look, The Deep End could very well develop into something great. And I will be tuning in next week to watch it. But this is no legal drama — this is a soap opera-like vehicle set in a law firm. Which is why, in part, this show is nothing like Grey’s Anatomy … there’s been medicine practiced at Seattle Grace from day one. So far at Sterling there’s just intrigue.

Married couple/managing partner and head of litigation Cliff (Billy Zane) and Susan (Nicole Ari Parker) promise nothing but eye-rolling drama, and not just because Cliff is sleeping with Katie (Rachelle Lefevre), whose chemistry with Dylan I did enjoy. Hart Sterling’s (Clancy Brown) return is obviously meant to be disruptive, but to me he just seemed dumb, and completely unaware of what running a law firm entails.

I was impressed by the guest casting, and I’m sure we can count on a lot more familiar faces going forward. Bottom line though, overall I was as disappointed as I could have been without going into the pilot with a lot of expectations. Hopefully next week will show me something light-years better. Otherwise, I guess I’ll now be counting down to FlashForward’s return.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 21, 2010 @ 21:00 EST5EDT