Can Tonight’s Episode of TNT’s Perception Bounce Back from Last Week’s Bland Debut?
Pierce’s insights into the crimes are shown in a variety of ways, one of which is the highlighting of letters on the screen. There’s also some occasional philosophizing from the lead character, as he talks about perception and reality in his classroom lectures.
Thus it’s easy to see elements of Monk, The Closer, Psych, The Mentalist, and the movies The Oxford Murders and A Beautiful Mind mixed into Perception. What all the TV shows in that list share is a protagonist and close associates whom audiences like, root for, and want to invite into their homes every week. It’s a proven formula for TV success.
Alas, that’s the very thing Perception lacks. McCormick gives a reasonably persuasive portrayal of the troubled genius, but he doesn’t bring much personality to the role, at least not in the pilot episode. Most of his repertoire here appears to consist of frowns, which is a bit surprising given his work in the popular TV comedy Will and Grace. Cook plays a somewhat clichéd character, the overly intense police detective, and although she comes off as a mite more personable than McCormick, she doesn’t get much of a chance to convey the kind of winsome personality she brought to her role as fake-psychic detective Shawn Spencer’s paramour in Psych. Not even close, in fact.
The main case investigated in the pilot episode is as old-hat as the central characters, centering on the murder of a pharmaceutical company executive. A researcher for the company has falsified the results of a drug study, which would have resulted in an unsafe drug being placed on the market if Pierce and Moretti hadn’t providentially caught him while investigating a murder. The problem, as you may imagine, is that this mystery angle is neither original nor interesting. Casting a big drug company as a villain is, of course, the contemporary equivalent of making a sinister Chinaman or haughty German the murderer. (I can see it already: “Next week on Perception: Hitler clones!”)
Most of the screen time, in any case, is devoted to Pierce’s personal problems (another contemporary policier cliché) and the rather obvious plot angle in which his hallucinations — shown as if they were real — are actually the way his brain works on the puzzle to provide insights that will ultimately solve the mystery. There’s nothing wrong with the latter idea, but the writers don’t do anything interesting with it. And it’s rather difficult to see how it could be made interesting, actually, since all it involves is Pierce talking with people who aren’t really there, which is not intrinsically any more interesting than watching someone talk to people who really are there, after all.
I quit watching at the third display of liberal bias, namely, the human lie-detector. They had to go all the way back to Bush to find the most recent incident of presidential lying? Give me a break. And, oh by the way, click.
You missed the sad part. After the Bush tape, Obama came on the TV and the human lie detector died of a busted gut.
It was the Clinton finger wag.
Me too, it was horrible. Literally five minutes would not go by without some paean to some liberal cause under the guise of his “quirkiness”. The the Bush thing, not only hackneyed but Stalinesque. Plus, the whole “drug companies want to sell drugs that hurt people” meme is so idiotic and tiresome.
Karnick is wrong, this is beyond the pale. No conservative (or free thinking individual) should watch this crap! This is almost HBO-like.
Another popular series of the “detective” genre not mentioned is Numbers. But unlike Perception, Numbers’ genius – Charlie Epps – was a normal guy with a normal family. And the FBI agents were adults, including his brother Don. Perception’s Moretti looks more like a college grad student than an FBI agent.
My favorite detective series today? Castle, without question. There one certainly finds “a protagonist [two actually, Castle and Beckett] and close associates whom audiences like, root for, and want to invite into their homes every week.”
I’m with Trombonist. I turned it off after the Bush lied scene.
When that sort of thing happens, it really means one of two things about the writers of a show.
1) Either they are not intelligent enough to realize that at least half of their potential audience leans conservative. Which means that the writers are not very smart, and if not very smart, how are they going to write a good show?
2) Or the writers know that they are alienating at least half their audience and the writers simply don’t care and will continue to do so for whatever reason (it makes them feel good??). And why would I want to watch a show that is going to insult my political viewpoint week in and week out.
So guess what TNT and the advertisers on “Perception”, I’m not watching.
While I watched the pilot in its entirety, I do not plan on watching the next show for the same reason.
They should have used something that was less of a Truthyness and something that was more of a Reality. So I am done with it.
My sentiments exactly.
I vote with Trombonist and WJW. I too shut it off in the middle of Bush. I know that McCormick is a flaming liberal but didn’t realize he is brain dead too.
The USA channel has some pretty good series. Nothing requiring a lot of thought but better than reality shows.
I fell asleep ten minutes in.
Yea, came in just before the Bush part, left right after. Seemed like a good idea for a show and wanted to like it, but too ham fisted.
I guess if you believe Conservatives are either evil or stupid, you don’t feel bad about insulting them. Never mind they make up 35% to 45% of the population, or what Bush said in the clip was true, that all the intel agencies thought there was active WMD programs in Iraq, that even Saddam’s generals thought he had poison gas and possibly even nuke programs.
No, it was all just a big lie. Bush was just a dumber, friendlier version of Nixon. Angry simpletons, all of them.
Eh gad, living in their head must be terrible.
Yeah, B’Gal and I watched the pilot and were pretty disappointed at the slaps against conservatives. Plus, the show wasn’t that good, although, as the author mentions, it did have one minor plot twist that was interesting, just not enough to save the episode.
Got last night’s show recorded. They had better improve quickly if they want these two viewers. There’s just too much else to watch.
Watched the pilot and didn’t return last night. McCormick was okay, but the whole premise is untenable. Universities don’t keep hallucinating crazies in the classroom, genius or not. Also, his scruffiness was so obviously organized. And the FBI girl was such a purposeful visual contrast. And the evil drug company and evil Bush were so hackneyed. Just didn’t work.
It also ripped off some elements of the recently departed House – poorly. Cheers -
I watched — until the scene with the “human lie detector” laughing at George W. Bush. That was enough for me. I won’t watch any more. I’ve also given up on Leno and Letterman.
I sure hope The Closer spinoff is good…