I believe in giving every new show it's chance so when I heard they replacing Studio 60, a decent show with an excellent cast and obviously above par writing, I figured it must be pretty darn good. But after over an hour of lame dialogue, completely fanciful plot devices and contrived characters I had had my full. It's easy to see why NBC went this route, it a lot cheaper. I guarantee that Sorkin, Perry, Peete and Whitford didn't work cheap and replacing them with a bunch of nobodies who obviously work for a fraction of the price. But it wasn't just the SUB par acting that bothered me. It was the complete and total lack of believability.
Here are some examples:
1) The cops seem completely clueless. They're on the look out for a truckload of stolen Hawaiian shirts. They believe the Donnelly to be the culprits so they come into the bar that they brothers own (more on that in a second) and question the brothers. Later it is revealed that the stolen truck is in the alleyway behind the bar. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The cops suspect these guys but didn't even bother to notice the stolen truck sitting outside their place of business. 2) At the end of the episode it's said that Jimmy will get rehab for stealing the truck. Earlier in the episode it's said that he used a gun to steal the truck and as a result it's considered armed robbery (which is only kind of true because if you use a weapon to steal a truck it considered hijacking, which carries an even bigger punishment than that of your standard armed robbery). And it's said that the arresting cop will help to see that Jimmy only gets rehab. When does a cop decided how much time a perp will do? Doesn't the D.A. and the judge decide that? And no one I know who has even boosted a car for a joyride has ever only received rehab. No Jimmy would be doing some serious time because what he did was a Class A felony and it's like a mandatory 5 to 10 pinch and that's if he wasn't a repeat offender, which they are making it out to be that he was one. 3) Back to the bar. Just because you win a bar in a crap game, which is completely unbelievable that anyone in their DRUNKEN mind would ever put a bar on the line in a crap game, doesn't mean you will be able to just run it the next day. When a bar passes ownership the new owners have to apply for a liquor license and if they have had any criminal convictions then their application will be turned down. Not to mention the distributors for all the alcohol in the joint would have to rewrite their contracts with the new ownership and there is no way that any reputable beer or hard liquor supplier would ever do business with a bunch of street punks, who most likely would never be awarded a liquor license in the first place. 4) Hasn't anyone who watched this show seen Goodfellas or Casino? Before you can whack a made guy you have to have a sit down with the higher ups because if you don't then the bosses will find you and kill you. So Jimmy kills a connected guy and then Tommy kills a local mafia captain and they want you to buy that the full force of the mafia wouldn't already be fitting them for cement boots? And please don't tell me the mafia around that area won't know who did this or won't find out because, hell, it only took a phone call at the beginning of the episode for the Sal (the mafia captain of the neighborhood) to figure out who kidnapped his nephew.
I seriously could go on but that would be pointless. And aside from the completely unrealistic writing that sustains some huge plot gaps, what about that crappy acting and unbelievable cast? Doesn't it strike you at all odd that all these supposed inner city street thugs are remarkably well groomed and attractive? And the female lead is a little too good looking (and by the way too horrible of an actor) to be hanging around a bunch of low class slime balls who are too dumb to know that your aren't supposed to leave a stolen truck outside of your place of business and who are retarded enough to kidnap a connected guy?
If this were even remotely close to realistic in anyway these kids would be a hell of a lot more street smart, they wouldn't be reckless and wild, instead they would be smooth and ruthless. Otherwise they would be dead or in jail already.
In the end when the narrator says that Tommy took over the neighborhood, who's he kidding? The criminal element that runs the neighborhood would never allow a kid that stupid to run things and also if he iced the local Irish boss then someone else from the inside of the Irish mafia would fill the void. ---- Sorry I didn't mean to get into it again, that's what the list was for.
Simply put I don't buy it. There is nothing redeeming enough about this show to make me believe it will last more then, at most, ten episodes (less than a season). I guess I can start going to bed a little earlier on Monday nights.
Here are some examples:
1) The cops seem completely clueless. They're on the look out for a truckload of stolen Hawaiian shirts. They believe the Donnelly to be the culprits so they come into the bar that they brothers own (more on that in a second) and question the brothers. Later it is revealed that the stolen truck is in the alleyway behind the bar. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The cops suspect these guys but didn't even bother to notice the stolen truck sitting outside their place of business. 2) At the end of the episode it's said that Jimmy will get rehab for stealing the truck. Earlier in the episode it's said that he used a gun to steal the truck and as a result it's considered armed robbery (which is only kind of true because if you use a weapon to steal a truck it considered hijacking, which carries an even bigger punishment than that of your standard armed robbery). And it's said that the arresting cop will help to see that Jimmy only gets rehab. When does a cop decided how much time a perp will do? Doesn't the D.A. and the judge decide that? And no one I know who has even boosted a car for a joyride has ever only received rehab. No Jimmy would be doing some serious time because what he did was a Class A felony and it's like a mandatory 5 to 10 pinch and that's if he wasn't a repeat offender, which they are making it out to be that he was one. 3) Back to the bar. Just because you win a bar in a crap game, which is completely unbelievable that anyone in their DRUNKEN mind would ever put a bar on the line in a crap game, doesn't mean you will be able to just run it the next day. When a bar passes ownership the new owners have to apply for a liquor license and if they have had any criminal convictions then their application will be turned down. Not to mention the distributors for all the alcohol in the joint would have to rewrite their contracts with the new ownership and there is no way that any reputable beer or hard liquor supplier would ever do business with a bunch of street punks, who most likely would never be awarded a liquor license in the first place. 4) Hasn't anyone who watched this show seen Goodfellas or Casino? Before you can whack a made guy you have to have a sit down with the higher ups because if you don't then the bosses will find you and kill you. So Jimmy kills a connected guy and then Tommy kills a local mafia captain and they want you to buy that the full force of the mafia wouldn't already be fitting them for cement boots? And please don't tell me the mafia around that area won't know who did this or won't find out because, hell, it only took a phone call at the beginning of the episode for the Sal (the mafia captain of the neighborhood) to figure out who kidnapped his nephew.
I seriously could go on but that would be pointless. And aside from the completely unrealistic writing that sustains some huge plot gaps, what about that crappy acting and unbelievable cast? Doesn't it strike you at all odd that all these supposed inner city street thugs are remarkably well groomed and attractive? And the female lead is a little too good looking (and by the way too horrible of an actor) to be hanging around a bunch of low class slime balls who are too dumb to know that your aren't supposed to leave a stolen truck outside of your place of business and who are retarded enough to kidnap a connected guy?
If this were even remotely close to realistic in anyway these kids would be a hell of a lot more street smart, they wouldn't be reckless and wild, instead they would be smooth and ruthless. Otherwise they would be dead or in jail already.
In the end when the narrator says that Tommy took over the neighborhood, who's he kidding? The criminal element that runs the neighborhood would never allow a kid that stupid to run things and also if he iced the local Irish boss then someone else from the inside of the Irish mafia would fill the void. ---- Sorry I didn't mean to get into it again, that's what the list was for.
Simply put I don't buy it. There is nothing redeeming enough about this show to make me believe it will last more then, at most, ten episodes (less than a season). I guess I can start going to bed a little earlier on Monday nights.