(S01E01) You know that commercial that says, "The real question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?" Well, over at USA Network, the question isn't whether "Characters Welcome" is their slogan, it's "Do I want to welcome these characters into my world?" In the case of their newest drama, In Plain Sight, the answer is...I don't think so. The series presents Mary McCormack (The West Wing) as Mary Shannon, a U.S. Marshal for the Witness Protection Program, living and working in Albuquerque, New Mexico. To say that Mary is a bitch is an understatement. She's aggressive and grumpy and hard to take. As the pilot played out, Mary showed glimpses of a softer side, a need to fix the problems of others that led to her career protecting and serving those in the Witness Protection Program. However, unlike USA's other quirky character dramas, In Plain Sight doesn't have the charm of Burn Notice, the wit of PSYCH, nor the whimsy of Monk. It may be that this pilot was just overstuffed with too much of Mary's life, but overall, there's not much in Mary Shannon's life worth watching.
In Plain Sight depicts the marshals of the Witness Protection Program as part baby sitters, part detectives, and always on the clock. Nobody will be signing up for this service based on what they saw of Mary Shannon and her partner Marshal Marshall Mann -- get it?. As played by Frederick Weller, Marshall is a laconic foil for Mary's over-the-top histrionics. He's cool and collected, and even though he reminds Mary that he's not her assistant, he's the one doing the scut work and interfacing with the boss. The boss is completely ineffectual and doesn't seem to know what's going on with the case or even how to buy a gift for Mary. It's her birthday, which apparently is more important to everyone else than it is to her. When she's forced to a surprise party thrown in her honor -- "There are 60 people in there waiting to scream surprise" -- it makes you wonder if she even has six friends, let alone 60.
As hard as it is to put up with Mary's attitude, she's a walk in the park compared to her flaky, floozy mom, Jinx, and Brandy, an obnoxious, criminal little sister. With family like these two, it's a wonder that Mary hasn't placed them in the system and relocated them where they could be someone else's headache. Mary also has a hunky Hispanic boy toy, Cristian de la Fuente, who sounds like Fernando Lamas and shows off his pecs. No dancing, at least not yet.
There was a case to be solved. The teenage son of one of Mary's mob witnesses is murdered along with a girl who seems to be an innocent in all this. Mary is pissed off because the boy was her responsibility, and her investigation involves local cops, Mexicans, Native Americans, mob witnesses and such. Yes, there's lots of local color. The script skirts around the procedural aspects of the case, and the voice over narration which is meant to help tie in all the details, isn't very helpful.
Overall, In Plain Sight isn't without some moments that work. Bobby D, the local detective played by Todd Williams, is fun. Although why he is attracted to Mary -- "Is she seeing anybody?" -- is anybody's guess. Okay, I realize Mary McCormack is beautiful, but Mary Shannon is like John Wayne on estrogen. Not a nice mix. In the end, I'm not thrilled about the prospect of spending more time with Marshall Shannon. Maybe one more episode to see if it improves, as is the case with many pilots. However, if In Plain Sight doesn't click by then, it's going into my closed case file.
Other points of interest
-- Creator David Maples (Huff, Rugrats) drops in an occasion pop culture reference, like the Amazing Kreskin. Mary doesn't know who Kreskin is. She does, however, wish she had a Columbo question when she wants to bring down a snotty Indian, and pulls a fake Meg Ryan orgasm when trying to smoke out a mob guy on the phone. In that instance, she says her name is Nomi, as in Nomi from Showgirls. Really, I'm not kidding.
-- Great crack at the Witness Protection Program, Bobby D refers to them as "The branch of law enforcement that puts criminals back on the street."
-- Mary is supposed to be a fixer, but does the Witness Protection Program really offer breast augmentation for witnesses who want new boobs? Maybe it was just more quirky storytelling.
-- Living up to his name, Frankie Nuts, Mary's mob witness, tears through a morgue, unzipping body bags to find his son.
-- Running gag involves Mary's purple Ford Probe, a piece of dreck car that she uses to transport witnesses and everything else she has to do.
-- Why is Mary wearing layers, including a jacket, when it's 112 degrees in the desert? When you live in a desert town or the tropics, dress appropriately.
-- Did you see the commercial with Vincent D'Onofrio from Law and Order: Criminal Intent knocking on the door of Mary's house, introducing himself as Detective Bobby Goren and welcoming her to the USA Network with a strawberry-rhubarb pie? That was funny.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-02-2008 @ 9:47AM
Drew said...
I liked the show overall. Mary's family was probably the worst part of the show for me. But I did like Mary and thought the show introduced us to her very well. I think the series will pick up. I don't mind voice overs but these certainly are not as good as the Burn Notice ones. I did like the interaction between Marshall and Mary.
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6-02-2008 @ 10:11AM
jordancda said...
Yeah, any problems I had with the pilot were definitely more because of Mary's family than herself. I'm watching again next Sunday. I enjoyed it.
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6-02-2008 @ 10:36AM
Dorv said...
I think McCormick did a servicable job with what was probably not the best writing that the show will portray. Some series have to figure out their voice in the first season, and when given that chance, really develop into good shows. I think this can be one of those shows. I think you'd need to flesh out more of the work team, and (as noted by other comments) limit the family side.
I could care less that her sister is probably a drug mule.
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6-02-2008 @ 10:38AM
Dorv said...
And I like what McCormack (sorry about the misspell in the first post) does with her eyes. I think she portrayed emotion quite well with her eyes.
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6-02-2008 @ 10:45AM
Jeremy said...
'Shannon' is only a b*tch, if you find that rough-attitude unattractive. I for one, definitely do not!! : )
And, I don't know about "overstuffed;" but, the series definitely has to spend at least some time building-up her character...especially in the first episode.
I'm certain there are more angles and complexities to come with 'Mary.'
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6-02-2008 @ 7:38PM
jordancda said...
Word. Mary's bitchiness is only annoying if you find that annoying. I'm more along the lines of Bobby D.
6-02-2008 @ 10:50AM
tspack said...
I liked it a lot and will be back. I agree that her family is annoying and hope they have minimal story time, but overall I quite enjoyed it. Aside from the mom and sister, I liked the characters and thought they were fun to watch, even Mary.
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6-02-2008 @ 11:04AM
mike said...
Yup. One more chance to see if it's worthwhile but if it continues on like last night it won't even get tivo'd. The Mary character as it stands is not a person I want to check up on weekly. I'd rather watch 60 minutes of Marshall and his boss.
But based on the episode, days are much longer than 24 hours in NM. The entire episode, multiple locations, long drive times that were referenced in the script, multiple arrests, sex, etc. etc. happened all in the same day? And she still made her surprise birthday party? Poetic license is one thing, but you'd need a StarTrek transporter to do all this in one day.
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6-02-2008 @ 11:09AM
Jessica said...
I liked the show a lot - my favorite quick spot - most funny to me anyway - is when she came out of the bathroom after throwing soap at a guy's genitals and questioning him. She state how special he was and hopes he called. I just really like her tone an body language. I think it will be pretty good. However, I noticed this show shares some similarities or exact opposites with Burn Notice - the voice overs, having a single mom and troublemaker sister vs. a mom and trouble maker brother, she is stuck in Albuquerque, NM vs. being stuck in Miami, FL (is he in Miami?). The show is pretty dirty as in sandy, grimy vs. the clean, crisp lines and brightness of Burn Notice.
I will keep watching the show because I do Like Mary McCormack and the show overall.
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6-02-2008 @ 11:31AM
Liv said...
It's new - it's not reality, I'll keep tuning in.
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6-02-2008 @ 1:09PM
Mandy said...
I did not care for the pilot but I will watch the next episode to see if it improves. My concern about the pilot is how different the recent ad campaign was from the original ad campaign. That suggests to me that they showed the pilot to test audiences and ended up making a ton of changes that in turn made the pilot feel disjointed. I'm hoping by the second episode they will have the kinks worked out, so I'll give it another chance.
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6-02-2008 @ 1:48PM
Kevin said...
YES!
I thought I was crazy. I watch USA all the time and a few months ago I swear the commercials for the show were more comic and lighthearted. Then nothing for a few months, and suddenly the commercials start back up again and have a completely different tone of seriousness. My first thought was that if the commercials have changed, so must have the show. The first commercials are what made me decide to give the show a shot- and the show last night made me shrug
Law and Order:CI, Monk, Pysch, Burn Notice. All great show that I'm happy have new episodes this summer. If IPS can find it's own unique formula that the other have, summer shant be so bad
-Kevin
6-02-2008 @ 1:48PM
bc said...
"if In Plain Sight doesn't click by then, it's going into my closed case file."
God, I hope so, because I don't think the show is the one with the problem here.
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6-02-2008 @ 2:18PM
Jake said...
I haven't seen it yet, but the fact that the creator of Huff is behind this show is a big negative. I really wanted to like Huff, and the acting was good, but it was so depressing! I finally asked myself if I wanted to tune into a show that was that depressing. My answer was no. I am sure i'll give this show a chance, but I hope this guy writes characters people will want to tune into, not get depressed with.
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6-02-2008 @ 3:49PM
Franklin said...
I was severely disappointed with the pilot. Lots less humor than I hoped and as others have said, it just seemed disjointed.
If it was reworked at the last minute, that could explain things, but I don't think I'll give it more than 1-2 more viewings before I bail on it. I hope it improves because I was really looking forward to this series.
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6-02-2008 @ 4:39PM
mike said...
Hey, I just remembered, was that Paul "Stump the King" Goebel that got shot out the window at the very beginning? They barely showed the actors face.
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6-02-2008 @ 5:47PM
keithnl said...
"To say that Mary is a bitch is an understatement. She's aggressive and grumpy and hard to take."
"Mary Shannon is like John Wayne on estrogen..."
Just two reasons why the show was so great. I loved that they made her so unlikeable. Everyone is right though, her family definitely was the worse part, but I couldn't tell if it was just the standard TV bad family that I always hate.
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6-02-2008 @ 7:52PM
bruce said...
Okay, am I the only one who thought "Marshall" (Weller) simply did a "Randall Graves" (from 'Clerks') impression the entire show? He sounds JUST like Jeff Anderson/Randall Graves. And he was doing the same wise-ass voice the entire show. Really bothered me. Watch Clerks and then watch this show and tell me that this character is not a complete and total rip-off of Randall Graves. Most unoriginal character ever. If you have to rip of Clerks, you really need to not be writing character dialogue.
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6-02-2008 @ 10:55PM
LW said...
Bruce!!! thank you for noticing that too! I could not for the life of me name the movie, it has been driving me nuts for the last 23 hours trying to figure it out but it is too close to Randall not to be either an homage to or a direct rip-off "Clerks".
I am 50/50 on the show, they have the checklist of supporting characters covered but are cutting right to the chase with her 'serves a purpose' relationship boy-toy chat and the sister snortin a bump out out of her suitcase full of blow, after she told Mary about the bag of weed in the boyfriend's Jeep (when she stole the car, was this when she picked up the dope?) and then you have the obligatory adversarial romantic interest in the local police detective.
6-02-2008 @ 9:20PM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
I like this show so far. It's got alot of potential to get better. I loved Marshall's sign language bit. I love spunky women like Mary. Allison, if you wind up hating this show and we still like it can we get someone else to recap them? Hope you change your mind though.
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