I've said it before, I'm a sucker for a series that casts actors from my favorite shows. It's really all it takes to get me to watch something at least once. I suppose that means I'm going to have to give Leverage at least a three episode run. Look at that cast photo. Christian Kane from Angel, Gina Bellman from Coupling, and Aldis Hodge from Friday Night Lights. And as a bonus, Timothy Hutton. That's a pretty good start.
If that's not enough, one of the executive producers is John Rogers. TNT lists him as being from Cosby, but I remember him for writing and producing one of the best pilots that didn't go to series that I've ever seen, Global Frequency.
As for Leverage, Hutton is former insurance investigator Nate Ford. After his employer denies his son's insurance claim and allows the boy to die, he realizes he can no longer work for them. He ends up landing a gig to recover stolen airplane designs, and that's where he meets the team. They realize they are good together and move forward taking on the greediest and the most unjust. It sounds like a cross between Smith and Vengeance Unlimited, with less Madsen family in the cast. Get a look at the teaser, and a rundown of the rest of the characters, in the videos at the end of this post.
Ford's team consists of: Parker (Beth Riesgraf), the expert thief. Alex Hardison (Aldis Hodge), the internet and computer fraud specialist. Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), the badass retrieval specialist said to be able to take out a gang of henchmen without breaking a sweat. Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), the grifter. Nothing against Saving Grace, but I'd really rather have this premiering after The Closer next week. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until December. Curious to know more? Cory Doctorow has seen the pilot and has a short review up at BoingBoing.
And just because Miranda Zero is awesome, here are a few clips from Rogers' Global Frequency.
Six shows that I am watching pretty regularly this season
Five other TV shows where Sarah Palin should appear
Brought To You By ... - VIDEOS
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-09-2008 @ 1:49PM
Brad said...
Leverage does look to be a good one. I had the chance to check out the pilot a couple weeks ago, and my review (with a few screencaps and spoilers) is on TV Gawker, over here... http://tvgawker.com/fall-tv-preview-leverage/
Reply
7-09-2008 @ 2:53PM
jeff said...
I watched the first episode this morning and was impressed. Hopefully the show can pull ratings and continue with same quality as episode 1.
Reply
7-09-2008 @ 3:09PM
Tony said...
You are so right about the "Global Frequency" unaired pilot. I could not believe it wasn't picked up to series. A great cast (hello Michelle Forbs) and a hook storyline that could be taken anywhere. A real shame.
Tony
Reply
7-09-2008 @ 3:22PM
jaerisk said...
the end of the pilot is soo A-Team, I love it and can't wait.
Reply
7-09-2008 @ 3:57PM
tv junkie said...
saw the leaked screener last week, was pleasantly surprised to see Gina Bellman though. the show is like a less flashy version of AMC/BBC's "Hustle" with a bit of "Smith", it's for fans of caper flicks.
Reply
7-10-2008 @ 8:26AM
laura said...
I have met Christian at numerous buffy/angel conventions, listened to his band, witnessed him drunk out of his mind, and i still love him to death although i want him to cut that hair.
Reply
7-11-2008 @ 10:15AM
jaerisk said...
yea you're right he's overdue on the haircut, but still pretty awesome.
9-12-2008 @ 12:12AM
Diana said...
Love the premise and Timothy Hutton! Will watch for those reasons. Have never seen any of the rest of the cast nor any of their shows!
I find it quite interesting that current popular shows are never watched nor heard of by my crowd.
I believe that the current TV/Media/Advertising culture/promo/street teams make up statistics and that actually only a few people wind up setting trends and influencing network moguls.
If you watch the polls that yahoo works. It is amazing the number of hits you get when you begin polling good ol' dramas, crime, thrillers, comedies from say TNT-USA-Showtime, etc...Reality shows are HYPE and other than American Idol, not as many people watch them as you really would think! I nor any of my friends and/or family have ever seen a Survivor, Dancing With The Stars or any others...There is a poll now asking about a show I plan to watch (maybe) and the poll asks about this director or writer's other 5 or so shows. This is the first I will watch and have only heard of one other.
It's like the government, having worked within for 17 years, those statistics and information printed for mass communication on any given subject probably was cooked up by one or 2 interested parties. I worked a program for 3 yrs with supervisors supposed to be gathering data/stats to determine whether or not the federal government would initiate funding as an entitlement program & the day the bill went to state vote, they discovered no one had been collecting any data. Did that stop them, no, 3 years of data submitted in 30 minutes and the bill passed no more questions asked. That is a weak inkling of what I witnessed.
Reply
9-12-2008 @ 12:23AM
Diana said...
Love Brit & GB TV
More intelligent than ours...
I loved Hustle and if you adored the dark haired beauty there, you can find her as a marvelous reoccuring character in the 2nd. season of Showtime's DEXTER!
A show going down in my TV HX!
Reply