IT’S the newest twist in gang warfare: One of the gangs is the FBI.
Welcome to the grim, ultra-violent world of “Line of Fire.”
This is the new crime series ABC has chosen to replace “NYPD Blue” Tuesdays at 10 p.m. beginning Dec. 2. (“NYPD Blue” will return in time for the February sweeps, ABC says.)
“Line of Fire,” though, is something new – a gangland series not populated by Italians and not taking place in New York or even New Jersey.
Instead, “Line of Fire” concerns itself with a crime syndicate run by a guy named Jonah Malloy, who you could describe as a ruthless nebbish.
He’s played by nerdy-looking David Paymer, but Jonah’s no pushover. He’s a highly professional criminal who rules Richmond, Va., with an iron fist.
Yes, you read that right – Richmond, Va. Not only is Richmond a hotbed of gangland activity, according to this show, but it also boasts a branch of the FBI that is amazingly well-staffed for a field office just 98 miles away from Bureau headquarters.
In “Line of Fire,” the FBI and the Malloy syndicate are positioned as direct rivals. And although there’s no mistaking which guys are good and which are bad, the show has a way of drawing parallels between the FBI agents and Malloy’s lieutenants that sometimes blurs their differences and emphasizes their similarities.
ABC sent over three episodes of “Line of Fire” for preview and I watched all three in one sitting yesterday – a relentlessly gloomy experience.
The overall impression is that “Line of Fire” is another in a long line of recent network crime shows that seek to up the ante on sex and violence and test the limits of what viewers will tolerate on network TV.
It seems the networks are jealous of all that violence HBO gets away with on shows such as “The Sopranos.” Their ambition to be more like HBO is reflected in such gritty, violent shows as NBC’s “Boomtown” and last season’s “Robbery Homicide Division” on CBS. They were both cancelled, by the way, which should tell the networks that viewers don’t want to see these kinds of shows on commercial TV.
“Line of Fire” in particular is a sadist’s dream. In the show, people who cross Jonah Malloy are beaten senseless, tortured, maimed, clubbed, kidnapped, drowned and, of course, shot.
Understandably, given all that mayhem, this is a show that never cracks a smile. Like too many other shows of its type these days, “Line of Fire” is ugly and depressing – not exactly the tone ABC should be going for at the onset of the holiday season.