[net.tv] New Show Review: HOT PURSUIT

moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (09/26/84)

In most TV shows seen over this country, I usually observe, after watching
fifteen minutes, a lousy concept done with inept handling.  Occasionally you
see an interesting concept with lousy handling.  But the new NBC program HOT
PURSUIT (at least in its pilot) is one of the most infrequent of all
creatures, a program that is produced with real flair and style, but has a
concept that just does not keep one tuning in.  And this is a real shame, as
Kenneth Johnson, the producer, director and writer of the pilot (and
presumably someone who will have much influence on the rest of the program)
does a very good job in handling the small talk, side details and
characters, and the interesting cinematography.  He's done very well in his
other attempts, the original 'V' movie (which I enjoyed very much), and The
Hulk series.  The latter I never watched much, but if I did happen to walk
in on the last few minutes, I always enjoyed it -- that scene with Bill
Bixby walking down the lonely road, another TV victim of man's insatiable
wish to screw up his own biology (why couldn't you have just eaten junk
food, Bill?) -- it always worked for me; and it's a compliment to Johnson to
be able to make us feel pity for a guy who can wipe out The Miami Dolphins
when he gets angry.  But this program suffers the same problem The Hulk did.

The first hour is great -- total paranoia as a brilliant engineer is framed
for murder (at this point I'm supposed to say "ala The Fugitive", but I
never saw that program; c'est la vie), and her husband, a veterinarian, is
the only one who stands by her.  However, he spots (after she has been
convicted of the murder) a double of her walking down the street.  Well,
this druggie who looks just like his wife was hired by one of those
made-in-Beverly-Hills TV bitches to pull a frame-up, and now the druggie is
running from both the husband (vet) and wife (engineer) team (he broke her
out of prison -- I mean, he's a vet, right?), and the bitch's henchman (an
ugly fella with a glass eye and a menacing British accent).  And that's how
every episode from now on goes... everyone looking for the druggie, while
hubby and wifey are also pursued by police (not to mention heavy).

Which is, for me, the problem.  The actors playing the couple are OK (though
too steamy-passionate... and every time they see kids, they look longingly at
them; it is not too good of an idea to get pregnant while you're on the
lam), especially the vet.  The details (the cops tracking them, the people
they meet along the way) are very nicely done, with good dialogue.  But I'm
impatient; I want to see them cleared, and the bitch thrown out of her
Gucci's and into the slammer, and the husband going into the judge who
sentenced his wife and going "Nyahh!"  But the more I watch, the better the
ratings.  And the better the ratings, the longer the show goes on.  And the
longer it goes on... (Ding! Ding! Infinite Loop!).  I sure hope they don't
just cancel it with no wind-up episode...  So, in other words, I'm going to
skip all but the concluding (if there is one) episode.

PS for those of you who saw it:  How does the vet keep that beautiful house
so clean with rabbits running freely all over it?

	    "Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown!"

					Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
					John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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