Terriers - Pilot

Network: FX
Time: Wednesdays, 10:00-11:00pm
Cast: Donal Logue, Michael Raymond-James, Laura Allen, Kimberly Quinn

Summary: A favor for an old drinking buddy leads Hank and Britt, small time private eyes, down a rabbit-hole of corruption in deceptively sunny Ocean Beach, California.

Review: I'm having a lot of trouble placing what exactly was the problem with this show, but it doesn't seem to be any one thing in particular.  The acting was fine, the writing was fine, and the story was okay.  Nothing was exceptional, but nothing was horribly bad either.  Everything was just... fine.

I really wanted to like Terriers because one of the creators is Shawn Ryan, who is also responsible for Lie to Me and The Unit, among other successful programs.  One of the lead actors is Donal Logue, who spent years on Grounded for Life, which was one of my favorite daytime sitcoms when I was in high school.  So perhaps my expectations were a little too high going into the first episode.

Terriers disappointed me.  Like I said, I can't point at any one thing and say, "That's the reason why."   It was a bunch of little things.  The story was mildly enjoyable, but it was predictable.  I was never surprised by anything the characters did, even though I think parts of it were supposed to surprise me a little.  Nothing momentous happened, which is really bad for a pilot, since this should set the tone for the rest of the season, if not the series.  I wasn't even really sure what the main characters, Hank and Britt, were supposed to be doing besides running around doing favors for friends and somehow getting money for it.  Supposedly they're private investigators, but they don't have any ID or, presumably, an office of any type.

That's not to saw Terriers didn't have any redeeming qualities.  The writing was good, despite the predictable storyline.  The dialogue between Hank and Britt was, at times, pithy and even funny.  I caught myself laughing out loud at a few of the one liners.  And I found that I liked both of the main characters, despite their flaws.

It's common in shows to expose something from the main character's history (usually something bad) in the first episode, so that the viewers will understand him better and perhaps even sympathize with him.  This is no different in this episode of Terriers, in which we learned much about Hank's messy divorce, the ex-wife he's still in love with, and the fact that she's moving on with her life.  I'm not denying that main characters should have a past; I'm questioning the need to reveal so much personal information about him so early, before the audience has really had time to bond with him.  I really did like Hank, and I felt bad that he still seemed to be so hung up on a woman who no longer loved him back, but I also didn't really care yet because I haven't decided if I care about him.  So instead of being emotional, or even particularly revealing, the personal aspect of this storyline fell flat.

I might come back to this one when things die down over the summer, but I have no plans to continue watching as the new episodes air.  There just wasn't enough in this one to hold my interest.

Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad