K-Ville Premiere on Fox Fall TV Line-up

I am not entirely sure why K-Ville was greenlit by FOX for the new Fall TV season, other than to capitalize on the whole New Orleans thing. That in and of itself is sad to me, but expected from not only FOX, but TV in general. However, you would think that someone would have steered this show in a direction that didn't make you cringe at the idea that a national tragedy could be exploited so blatantly for ratings and ad sales. K-Ville has so few redeeming qualities, that I think I can safely say that it is one of the worst shows I have viewed in a while. Last Season's mid-season Drive was better than this hackneyed story of Black Cop/White Cop.

The worst offense of K-Ville started almost immediately. Sure, the first shot is a guy holding his head above what looks like really clean rising water, and then moves to Anthony Anderson's character amid New Orleans' residents on a freeway overpass waiting for help, but the worst crime is when we fast-forward to the present day and Anderson's neighbor pulls up in a new car that only cost her "two FEMA checks." I mean, come on, why would you put that line in a script, and it doesn't matter that Anderson chastises her for wasting tax-payer money, she's a nightclub singer and has to travel in style. I wish that were the one racist glitch in the script, but no.

Anthony Anderson (Transformers, The Departed, Scary Movie 3 and 4) plays Marlin Boulet, a cop with some anger issues and no intention of doing things by the book. He also has no patience for anyone who is trying to sell their house in his neighborhood or kids that steal his cypress trees. But still, you can see a heart of gold in a kevlar exterior. Joining him in the updated and not-funny-at-all I-Spy set up is Cole Hauser (The Break Up, The Cave, "ER") as Trevor Cobb. Seriously, when they first said his name, I thought they said Trevor Cop, as if this show weren't obvious enough. Add some supporting characters to the crime-fighting duo that, surprise, don't see eye to eye, and you got yourself a show, FOX (insert Lucas-style slow clap with more sarcasm than preciousness).

Oh, yeah, did I mention that Boulet's wife and daughter live in Atlanta and don't want to return to N'Awlins, I mean, K'Ville(what does K'Ville mean, anyone, anyone?). And Cobb has a dark past that we find out in the last two minutes of the show, and that secret is what finally brings the two cops together. The police captain, who I will call Margie's Husband From Fargo (John Carroll Lynch), has traded in a Minnesotan accent for a Bayou-light accent in at least one line that he has been given in the K'Ville pilot.

Now, let's move onto the issue of the "pilot." Good pilots keep you wanting more, for example, The Sopranos first episode. K'Ville wraps everything up in the end of the first episode, but as FOX shows scenes from next week, I guess they will find something else to deal with then. I did notice on IMDB that only six episodes are listed for K'Ville, and I really doubt that any more than six could be made. They pulled out all their A-material in the first episode, including a Casino owner's daughter, Miss Dubois (I never caught her first name, but if it is Blanche, I will start a campaign to keep K'Ville on the air forever) that is secretly buying up property in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, and hiring Black Rock Security to stage attacks on her own fundraisers to try and convince people to not buy said properties. And it's not for the money or real estate investments, oh no, it's because her brother was murdered and robbed of $80 by "those people". The actress (who probably should go back for that nursing degree as I don't think acting is her forte) actually has to give a speech in which she spouts all kinds of racist rants and goes as far to say that Katrina has offered K'Ville a new start, and I think she means one without "those people" around.

If that last paragraph didn't convince of how bad K'Ville is, one more example...Boulet's daughter, who is still afraid of the rain, is awakened by a flood coming into her room, from a hose that the Black Rock Security People (the same Black Rock Security that is having so much trouble keeping their contracts in Iraq) have placed through a window in order to dissuade Boulet from investigating the daily and nightly drive by shootings at Miss Dubois' fundraisers. Where is the Mystery Machine gang when you need them? Said Black Rock Security Baddie: "I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids." Look for that line in the deleted scenes; I know it's there.