Fall Premiere Week: The Chase

Here at the Popcorn Trick, we recently wrote a preview of the upcoming Fall television season and what we were looking forward too. And now, even though the season has already started, it seems like this week is as good a time as ever to write a few posts on the new shows. Up first is Chase, and NBC action show about Federal Marshals. But first, I want to point you in the direction of what the A.V. Club had to say about it, and suggest that if you only have time to read one review of Chase (and seriously, the show doesn't deserve too much more of your time) I'd recommend the A.V. Club's.

Anyway...

The Chase stinks.

When I first realized it wasn't going to be a TV dramatization of the 1994 Charlie Sheen/Kristy Swanson movie, I got annoyed (yes, I should have figured it out once I saw that the "the" article wasn't affixed to the television show, but I still hoped).

The Chase, about US Marshals finding felons on the lam gives us nothing new, other than a female tough-as-nails lead, Kelli Giddish. And while I hope Chase gets cancelled quickly, I hope Ms. Giddish lands on her feet, because she possesses an interesting screen charisma that is refreshing in the misogynistic world of television. But enough of the good stuff about Chase.

A blatant ripoff of the NCIS dynamic (which, yes, I understand has ripped off the dynamic from countless shows before it, but at least they do it well), Chase follows a team of people who chase down the bad guys. Terrible dialog, cliched action pieces (I just knew she was going to go across the rodeo and not around it to apprehend the bad guy because she's relentless in her pursuit and doesn't care about personal safety because oh yeah, her dad was a criminal and everyone thought she'd end up a criminal but instead she stops criminals but I'm waiting for the episode where someone tells her she thinks like a criminal).

As bad as that last sentence was, the show was worse. Don't waste your time on it.