TV Review: 'Eleventh Hour'

This is the part where I act like an authority on entertainment, and criticize the work of professionals who are, without exception, more successful than I in the industry in which we both work. Some people would say this is proof I have "balls", or "chutzpah" in Jewspeak. Others would say it's proof I'm a "douchebag". To catch up on any old reviews, you can find the link on the right hand side of the page, or just click here.

‘Eleventh Hour’ is a CBS procedural from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and if that sounds familiar, it should. That relationship has became a veritable factory in recent years, seemingly comprising half of the CBS primetime programming ('CSI', 'CSI: Miami', 'CSI: New York', 'Close to Home', 'Cold Case', 'Without a Trace'). I guess, then, it should come as no surprise that their latest effort feels quite familiar -- even before you find out it's yet another re-make of a British show.

It’s not that ’Eleventh Hour’ isn’t any good. It had solid acting, competent writing and direction, and a decent premise. It’s more that it feels like a derivative of better shows which have preceded it. The basic structure of the show, in fact, is almost a carbon copy of a formula which has had great success of late: Couple a brilliant, but socially-challenged man with a sharp, pretty female handler/partner.

The list of shows which use this model includes some quality entertainment -- ’Monk, ’House’, ’Life’, ’The Mentalist’, ’Fringe’, Bones’ -- but the window is closing on it, if not already shut. Not all those are perfect fits -- House doesn’t really have one partner (they switch them around a bit), and Bones flips the genders -– but you get the idea. Maybe that’s why ’Eleventh Hour’ feels so flat.

It’s not because of the acting. Lead Rufus Sewell is fine as Dr. Jacob Hood, the FBI’s head weird science dude (sorry to get so technical on you), and Marley Shelton isn’t bad as his partner, agent Rachel Young. Although, Sewell’s smoky voice and aloof demeanor is a bit more suited for the villains he usually plays, and may not be warm enough to draw a viewer in week after week -- at least, not in this cold of a role. In short, his character isn’t the quality of the aforementioned shows.

Sewell and Shelton are also asked to carry the show completely, with no colorful peripheral characters to fall back on, as many of those other shows do, which leaves the show resting on two less than fascinating characters and that week's storyline. The storylines are solid, some quite interesting, but not quite enough to overcome a familiar formula, structure and subject matter.

In other words: Knowing CBS, and their love for all thing procedural and middle-of-the-road, this show will be on for a long time. And if not, it'll probably be replaced by another procedural brought to by the good folks at Jerry Bruckheimer Productions.*

Using the age-old Hollywood scale of judgment –- HIGHLY RECOMMEND/RECOMMEND/CONSIDER/PASS (circle one) -– I rate ’Eleventh Hour’:

CONSIDER

* My writing partner and I actually had a meeting with a development exec at Bruckheimer's office once and it is amazing. It's located down at the end of a modest little street by the 10 freeway in Santa Monica, and doesn't look like much until you walk in to find a massive converted warehouse, done up in rustic Santa Fe-type decor, and a huge paining -- something like 20 feet high -- covering one wall. It was just like one of his movies -- big, expensive and cheesey.