Friday September 27, 2002 michigandaily.com/arts mae@michigandaily.com ARTS 5 'Hack' features fine acting, but is plagued with bad writing O By Jim Schiff Daily Arts Writer The cast of "The West Wing" was right about one thing at last Sunday's Emmy awards: without quality writing, there is no quality show. Apparently, the produc- ers of CBS' new drama "Hack" weren't listening. Even with the acting pedigree of David Morse, Andre Braugh- er and Tony-winner Donna Murphy on board, the show suffers from misguided direction and a lifeless script. It's a shame, really, because "Hack" has a lot of potential, especially in its premise. Morse plays Mike Olshansky, a Philadelphia cop-turned-cabbie who was abruptly kicked off the force for stealing stature doesn't hurt, either, especially since he single- handedly beats up a trio of hoodlums in the pilot episode. But Mike is too much brawn and not enough brains. Later in the episode, when he tries to rescue a teenage girl from a sexual predator, he concocts a need- lessly complicated scheme to do so. It seems that the show's writers either know little about police work or are just stretching for material. Unfortunately, "Hack" is also a snooze-fest. The show starts off at a moderate pace, and then drops off gradu- ally until it slows to a crawl. And without any plot twists, the script comes across as cliched and stale. There's little suspense leading up to the conclusion, and as a result, we're almost relieved to see the money from a crime scene. In an effort to S redeem himself, Mike helps his passengers out of sticky situations. Using police work and a little help from his old partner, Mar- cellus Washington (Braugher), Mike tries HE to get his life back on track. Fridays The viewer gets the sense that Olshan- F sky is a bruised man early on; nearly everything in his life in shambles. His estranged wife, Heather (Murphy) and son, Mike Jr. (Matthew Borish) won't speak to him, he has few friends, and he can't make money as a cab driver because he drives too slowly. Helping strangers fills this void for Mike - he feels a sense of duty to society because he wronged it, yet at the same time, popping caffeine pills to stay awake driving a taxi is far from ideal. Mike sounds brooding and complex on paper, but he comes across as simply annoying onscreen. To his cred- it, Morse does what he can with the role: Like in "The Green Mile," he brings a physicality and rough-around- the-edges demeanor to his character. His towering k ACK at 9 p.m. BS episode end. Additionally, the relationships Mike establishes with his passengers seem contrived; the show doesn't thoroughly explain why they would trust a cab driver with their problems. "Hack's" writers assume viewers will ignore small details like this, except they stick out like a sore thumb. The most pressing concern with "Hack" is the underdevelopment of its supporting players. Com- bined, Braugher and Murphy are onscreen for a total of five minutes. If CBS is going to recruit high-caliber tal- ents like these two, it might as well use them. Other cast members, like Mike's boss Nicolai Zosimov (Mark Mar- golis) and Father Tom Grzelak (George Dzundza) have relatively more screen time, but are so stereotyped that viewers will wish they were written out of the show. Even will all these problems, "Hack" isn't beyond repair. If the show can generate some fresh story ideas and quicken its pacing, there's a chance it will at least make it through the season. As it stands, viewers have another reason to go out on Friday nights. Courtesy of CBS Tom Sizemore explains "You suck LaRusso." 'Robbery Hom1cide Division is just another TV cop drama By Jaya Soni For the Daily Set in the raw urban culture of inner city Los Ange- les, "Robbery Homicide Division" is the latest of crime dramas to make its way onto the CBS fall lineup. Among shows such as "C.S.I.," "The District" and other newcomer "C.S.I.: Miami" "Robbery Homicide Divi- sion" adds the intensity of high-profile crimes while depicting the struggles of the ethnically diverse and socially segregated west coast city. Unique to its genre of television programming, "Rob- bery Homicide Division" manages to incorporate an artistic flair of film produc- tion as each episode introduces the story line with an extended series of slow mov- ing shots intermingled among the trendy ROBE music of Los Angeles's ethnic community. As local conflicts, such as gang warfare, HOMI disperse onto the inner city streets, the DIVIS intensity of high power weaponry causes Fridays at some engaging cat and mouse action sequences. Guaranteed, every episode CB; promises a street combat sequence fused with the forceful sounds of heavy artillery and realistic imagery of bystander "bloodshed." If visual and auditory stimulation doesn't satisfy your taste for evening drama, then "Robbery Homicide Divi- sion" may not be the program for you. Though the show places emphasis on creativity within plot presentation, the storylines seem simple and lack any substantial sus- pense. Most characters appear one dimensional as a main focus of the show is placed upon depicting Lieu- tenant Cole's remarkable detective skills. Lt. Cole's assistant Archie "Dr. Death" Simms (Barry Henley, "Providence") may say 10 lines at the most within this first episode, well balanced indeed. The premiere of "Robbery Homicide Division" is engaging until the first commercial break. The storyline commences as two Korean teenage girls exit a popular night club adjacent to a seemingly average, unknown male bystander. As they exit, one woman and the unknown bystander are killed by two suspected Hispan- ic gang members driving in a gold sedan. Seemingly cool and collected throughout the program, Lieutenant Cole (Tom Sizemore, "The Relic") confidently struts onto the site and quickly analyzes the possible crime scenario. With his vast knowledge of weaponry, he posi- tions himself around the victims and instantaneously configures the order of shots fired. Without any other evidence, Lt. Cole and his assistant set on a trail to find the connection of the male bystander, as he was the tar- get of the shooting. The crime trail is neither long or difficult: In the next scene a Hispanic family is shamelessly gunned down in EERY CIDE SION 10 p.m. their home by a group of white suprema- cists. As promised, the scene spares no innocent bystanders except that of the housemaid who was flexible enough to fit within the confines of the kitchen cabinets. Her role is obvious as she is the identify- ing witness. Cut to a couple scenes later, Lt. Cole and his assistants coincidentally;work in front of a glass wall overlooking the panoramic view of Los Angeles and the surrounding hills. With a brief overview of the "concrete" evidence suggested by his assistants, Cole recognizes that the crimes are connected. Moments later, the suspect is identified as a former Los Angeles Police officer and Lt. Cole enters the next scene questioning the suspect's former partner who coincidentally works nights at the club in which the first shooting took place. The majority of the remaining episode follows Lt. Cole and his LAPD coworkers as they try and coerce the former partner to speak. Shots eventually break out between the men, and the final scenes are visually comparable to the hyper-stylized opening. "Robbery Homicide Division" may have potential if the other detectives get a chance to develop their roles. And hopefully, they have the abilities to participate dra- matically rather than as flat-line onlookers. As for sto- rylines, the audience should be given more credit as we may actually care about a consistent theme throughout the run of this show. Courtesy of CBS "Do you remember Afghanistan? I'm trying to forget it." Guess the movie, win a prize. 'That Was Then' fails to please By Douglas Wernert For The Daily Travis' birthday wish is to go back in time and change his miserable life. While listening to music, his house gets hit by lightening, and lo and behold, he's back in high school. Now the young Travis (James Thirty-year-old Travis Glass has something we all want. He is able to go back to when he was 16-years- old and live his life over again with the knowledge of what will happen in the S future. We've all dreamt of getting the' chance to change cer- tain unfavorable out- THAT X comes from our past Fridays and improve our situa- tion for today. Most of A us would leap at this opportunity. However, if you also had to be stuck in the new ABC show "That Was Then," you would probably let your girlfriend from senior year break up with you, if you catch my drift. The show begins with the intro- duction of its characters, one after another with a pause in the action and a "Wonder Years"-like voiceover from Travis explaining who these people are. Travis is, quite frankly, a loser. He works for a door company and is still kicking himself over how he let the girl of his dreams marry his brother, Gregg (Gregg's name has two 'g's because it looks "less Jewish"). Bulliard) is VAS THEN at 9 p.m. .BC reliving Homecoming Week, where he messed up his big speech and lost his chance with his love, Claudia (Kiele Sanchez). Not only that, but Travis has to deal with a now-alive gambling father (Jef- frey Tambor), a cheat- program together. High school sen- iors aren't supposed to look twenty- two-years-old, and winning a bet isn't supposed to fix a troubled mar- riage. Characters don't have any depth, with Pinkus stuck as the goofy best friend, and Gregg (Brad Raider) as the cocky older brother. In a completely unrealistic scene, Travis once again screws up his Homecoming speech, but tries to compensate with an all-too-pre- dictable "I am from the future ... let go of your past" rant. He somehow gets an auditorium to say in unison his saying, "Fix it on the way." Unfortunately, ABC didn't follow its own advice. "That Was Then" might work in an era of bad dramas. But that was then, this is now, and the show is destined to fail. MT~UMi!~ I ing mother (Bess Armstrong) and Danny Pinkus (Tyler Labine), his off-the-wall best friend. Travis tries to fix everything by "predicting" victories in the World Series to help his father, as well as trying to save an intoxicated friend's life. But some things don't go according to plan, and at the cliff-hanger ending, Travis realizes that going back in time wasn't such a good idea, as he actually screwed up his own life even more while helping others sal- vage theirs. The concepts have some potential, but apparently someone forgot to consider what happens in the real world when putting this hour-long $200 CUSTOM PRINTED -j Fr D FOTH UGHT RICH OR POOR? WHO FOUGHT? . < I