TELEVISION REVIEW
Fresh, engaging 'Line of Fire' makes crime pay off for viewers
By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff, 12/2/2003
Without the usual excessive network hype, ABC is introducing a new crime series tonight. But don't be dissuaded from watching by the show's low-key entry to the schedule or its woefully generic title, "Line of Fire." This is one of this season's more promising new dramas, as it draws parallels between a gambling syndicate and an FBI task force, each of which has an imperious leader and an emotionally sloppy crew. A mainstream take on HBO's "The Wire," it's ambitious, energetically directed by creator Rod Lurie, and refreshingly unconnected to any of the franchises currently dominating crime TV.
The premiere, at 10 p.m., is a relatively austere hour, with only a few lapses into the emotional manipulation that mars many network dramas. That austerity is embodied by Lisa Cohen (Leslie Hope), who heads up the Richmond, Va., FBI unit that's after the Malloy gambling and loan syndicate. Hope, who was caught up by some embarrassing plot twists as Jack Bauer's wife in the first season of "24," brings an appealing cool to her role here, as a tense detective who keeps her cards close to the vest. Her agent Cohen is all business and cigarettes as she clings to her resolve to bring down the mob.
Her counterpart on the criminal side is Jonah Malloy (David Paymer), who is stiff-faced and brutal. Malloy runs a tight ship, and in a number of scenes we find him tormenting men who have disappointed him. He doesn't just berate a football player who has failed to throw a game; he orders his goons to crush the player's hands. In the second episode, he pressures a father to pay back a loan by taking his young son and placing him in the custody of call girls. Usually cast in more nebbishy roles, Paymer powerfully conveys Malloy's moral death but is not as effective when it comes to his charisma. Also, Lurie makes Paymer repeat Malloy's terribly self-conscious trademark line, "That's that with that."
These two leaders are surrounded by an interesting and sizable cast of characters, including Malloy's hothead lieutenant, Donovan Stubbin (Brian Goodman); Malloy's seething wife, Janet (Kristen Shaw); and Cohen's needy new trainee, Todd Stevens (Jeffrey D. Sams). The weakest character is Cohen's other trainee, the earnest Paige Van Doren (Leslie Bibb), who is driven to become a superagent by the memory of her late husband. "He was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11," she says, "and as they lowered his coffin into the ground, I said to him, I vowed to him that I was gonna get those bastards and I was gonna make them pay." Cue the strings. Let's hope Lurie moves away from Miss Goody Two Shoes as "Line of Fire" moves forward.
The show, which replaces "NYPD Blue" until February, is engagingly shot, with occasional split screens and an opening chase scene that lets you feel the stumbling and hear the breathlessness. Whether it succeeds or viewers say "That's that with that," "Line of Fire" comes as a nice reminder that "Law & Order" is not the only way to go.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
