Smith

Not interested in this show, but if you like crime capers:

n movies such as “Ocean’s Eleven,” the real star is the heist itself, the coming together of all the elements of an elaborate scheme according to a complex timetable, all against the uncertainly of something going wrong. Something always does, and that serves to keep the tension high.
The characters themselves are stick figures, men, or women, of action, with almost no back stories. That would slow the pace.

That makes caper stories by their nature a poor fit for television. Week after week of heists would get dull quickly.

In “Smith,” which debuts tonight at 10 on CBS, the writers have come up with a shrewd scheme to solve this problem. The heists remain at the center, but around the heists they deftly build back stories that work to draw the viewer into the characters and to identify with them in the everyday struggles.

Indeed, the heist crew live double lives, by day working the most mundane jobs as they cope with the challenges that families face everywhere. Their secret lives are kept from all, even their families. These are ordinary people living extraordinary lives.

As in “Ocean’s Eleven,” so in "Smith," the characters exude smoothness, quick-thinking, elan under pressure. And yet hanging over them is a sense of foreboding, like a huge sheet of plate glass with a tiny fissure we know will shoot and shatter all to bits. We, and they, the characters, just don't know when.

This sense of foreboding, along with these back stories, makes "Smith" a compelling drama. And it's helped enormously by the quality of the acting crew, led by Ray Liotta as Bobby Stevens, the gang's leader, and Virginia Madsen, who plays his wife, Hope.

By day Bobby works as a salesman but, as Hope suspects, his day job is a front for the heist ring, which specializes in high-end robberies using all the latest high-tech gadgetry. His gang includes: Jeff (Simon Baker), a weapons specialist who’s a little quick on the draw, and Annie (Amy Smart), an unpredictable queen of disguise. There’s also the just-paroled Tom (Jonny Lee Miller) and getaway driver Joe (Franky G).

Liotta, who blossomed as an actor in such movies as "GoodFellas," captures the sense of foreboding that hangs over his crew. He is cool on the surface but quick to snap.

He is the enforcer. When a team member’s gambling problem threatens their plan, Bobby takes him out to an alley and brutally beats him up. That volatility, along with Liotta’s icy stare, keeps the crew in line.

In contrast, Baker’s Jeff is a loose cannon, volatile and unpredictable. He likes the ladies. He appears easy-going. But any perceived slight is grounds for retribution. His behavior is chilling, as when he whistles a ditty as he aims and fires his rifle at a man’s head.

This contrast between slick veneer and lurking violence is heightened by the show's cinematography. Visually, "Smith" moves with the fluidity of smooth jazz. The colors are bright, easy on the eyes, the music techno-cool. It's like watching "Miami Vice” re-imagined and updated with the latest technology and the newest, coolest colors.

To be sure, tonight's premiere has a super-tense museum robbery and all the requisite fast cars and big guns one expects in a series about a gang of high-stakes criminals. The back stories at first seem almost nuisances to slow the adrenaline rush of the big caper.

But as the hour goes on, the back stories begin to grow, delivering the promise of "Smith." How well the series does will depend on how deftly those back stories are moved to the center of the drama. That's when Liotta and Madsen will deliver as actors.

[Source: Media Life]