I get it. You’ve had enough cop shows, even if the characters are quirky (Life) or there’s a cool visual style (Southland) or a silly-yet-attractive author tags along (Castle). But hear me out: TNT’s new summer show Dark Blue (Wednesdays at 10) is a cop show that just might be worth your Tivo time.
First off, we have Dylan McDermott. Does anyone else remember The Practice? And more importantly, could that really be his real eye color? I’ll forgive him for that unwatchable show Big Shots a couple years back since it doesn’t seem like he’s aged at all since he was in court. Maybe it’s just the fact that he gets to remain stubbly and scowly as Carter Shaw, a tough and tortured cop who’s determined to take down LA’s worst criminals. He runs a crack team of undercover cops and has no time for a social or personal life, though the pilot hints that he may have had one in the past. I can’t resist those tortured souls.
Ty Curtis (Omari Harwick) is Carter’s right-hand-man, but has trouble completely focusing on the job now that he’s dedicated to his new bride. The team’s young hotshot is Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox), who lied her way onto the force, this impressing Carter.
Guns, bad guys, dark warehouses…it’s all familiar fodder for a cop show. But the show explores one question that might be different: when do you go from pretending to be a drug addict or a conman to actually becoming one?
