TV REVIEW: 'COVERT AFFAIRS,' 'RIZZOLI & ISLES' & 'HOT IN CLEVELAND'

They Work Hard for the Money

By: Josh Moorhead

July 25, 2010

Perhaps the greatest show left on television is getting back to the airwaves this week, and I’m definitely not talking about Ru Paul’s new reality show, though this article will have a bit to do with gender but hopefully without being as confusing as Ru Paul herself(?). See what I mean? I’m talking about Mad Men. That scotch-drinkin’, suit-wearin’ boys club about a time and a place where women could list being buxom on a resume and had to keep a lot of metal in their bras. Soon enough here, I’ll finally be coming around on the Mad Men band wagon at which point I may be relaying weekly Mad updates; I’ve just got some homework and Netflixing to do first. But while every billboard and bus stop is adorned with Don Draper, I thought I’d give a shout out to all my TV ladies. That’s right, Josh is here for you, baby…

And I just got slapped in the face. Women are operating on the airwaves these days in some interesting, independent, and strong ways. This month alone, we’ve seen the additions of USA’s Covert Affairs, TNT’s Rizzoli and Isles, and TVLand’s Hot In Cleveland. If AMC’s powerhouse time machine is about, in part, where women and men once were, the rest of the airwaves are about where the ladies are. On top of already existing shows like HawthoRNe, The Closer, and others I wasn’t watching yet because Lost wasn’t done, July’s additions make it a proud time to be a lady on TV.

But alas, like all men, I am a jerk and a pig. Am I right, ladies? I’m also a critic of sorts, so it’s going to be my gig here to not necessarily send some of these shows back to the kitchen but to not give them a rose in my Bachelor-like DVR selection ceremony. Let’s start with the best first.

USA’s Covert Affairs is a lot of fun and establishes a strong tone for itself right off the bat. The lead, Piper Perabo, plays agent Annie Walker who, I imagine, is kind of what every woman wants to be while still being a relatable reflection of what most women are. Annie is forced to juggle her personal and professional lives, her past and her ambitions, the perceptions of herself as simply another pretty face versus her whole, talented person. Annie Walker has some of that James Bond potential where women would want to be her and men want to be with her but without the superhuman confidence and wit that separates Bond from mere mortals. That’s actually to the show’s advantage, as Affairs could be a less melodramatic Grey’s set in the CIA instead of a hospital. Walker is a strong character — funny, honest, and earnest. But most importantly to the show, she comes off as real, which makes the spy game stuff more interesting. Usually, when you watch an action movie or TV show about spies, you don’t think about people you know, but Covert‘s premiere made me wonder if some gals I know in DC are, in fact, spies. The foundation of this show is obviously Perabo and the Walker character, which was very sound in the premiere, though I’m guessing Piper will grow into her character more over time. But what the show builds on that foundation is also strong. We have a charming blind guy named Auggie who knows the inside out of Langley and is always there for Piper. In a way, this seems like another female fantasy fulfilled: a strong male friend who, with closed eyes, won’t invite unwanted sexual tension. Then there’s Walker’s steely boss, TV vet Kari Matchett who I recognized from 24. If Perabo’s sexiness is a friendlier, opener, girl-next-door type, Matchett’s is a commanding femme fatale. And let’s not gang up on me for being sexist: To say that this show doesn’t play on the attractiveness of its leads (giving us a topless Perabo in half a bikini on a beach in the first five minutes) would be stupid…but it doesn’t rely on it. These people come off as surprisingly real. Matchett, as Perabo’s boss, is given an extra dimension as being the wife of the CIA head as played by Peter Gallagher. In a way, a line of dialogue Matchett share’s with him is the conceit of the show: “I’m not a CIA wife; I’m a wife who works at the CIA.” This show is about the personal dimensions of characters normally left as archetypes. As an action show, the stunts are solid if not spectacular and the realities of spy-craft are a little sensationalized, as always, but the show puts its bread on the table with its plot and characters. A twist at the end of the premiere guarantees an audience return (though it was a little telegraphed), as it sets up a conflict where Walker will have to prove herself as a strong, competent individual and not just a pawn in some dude’s chess game. That should speak to all the women staring up at glass ceilings from tall ladders all over. Covert Affairs airs on USA on Tuesdays at 10/9c.

You might think I was down with Affairs just because of all the guns and spies and missing bikini tops. But I say nay, I think. Us dudes can be easily flustered or distracted, as you ladies well know, but at least I was something when I watched Affairs. Unfortunately, TNT’s new ladies’ night — Rizzoli and Isles, airing on Mondays at 10/9c — didn’t move me in any way really. Except to sleep. That sounds dumb and cliched, and is, if it wasn’t true. I fell asleep. Last five minutes off and on, mind you, but still. Based on a series of mystery novels, Rizzoli and Isles is about two best friends, Detective Jane Rizzoli and morgue worker Maura Isles, who share time at the Boston PD. Rizzoli is beautiful, tough, and single by decision. Maura is a fashionista (so goes the show’s commercials) and a bit of a nerd who would rather talk to a dead person than a live one on most occasions. While Affairs‘ intentions with its characters are still somewhat obvious, at least they don’t come right out and say it. “I am a young, smart woman struggling to be taken seriously while balancing my personal life and my career” is not a line of dialogue in Affairs. There’s no such subterfuge in Rizzoli. Several times, dialogue turned to Rizzoli and Isles talking about their characters as if they were Angie Harmon (Rizzoli) and Sasha Alexander (Isles) themselves in an interview explaining their characters. Not to mention what kind of name for a show is Rizzoli and Isles? Sorry, I think I just don’t like typing it so many times. Regardless. In Affairs, you feel like you’re in Virginia or whatever other locale they’re shipping to. Rizzoli, probably due to a smaller budget, lacks that scope. I get the feeling Boston was a character in the books as much as its title characters, like New York in a Scorsese pic or a Spike Lee joint. But besides having characters talk about the Sox, the show is dominated by too many interiors to feel authentic or have space to breathe. The BPD itself feels more a baroque European dungeon than a lived-in, worked-in space. I feel I’m being harsh, and talking about interior design more than the women at the lead has me feeling…confused. So let’s get back on task. Of course Angie Harmon is a great screen presence, and it’s actually Sasha who I’m less familiar with but found more intriguing, but neither could keep me from being bored. In the episode I saw, the Boston Strangler seems to have returned, but the show shows its cards, as these legal murder things usually do: the murderer is the guest star of the credits…which is okay if said character was compelling. Here their motives are the polar opposite of their actions. I’m not sure if Rizzoli and Isles will last, but if it doesn’t I don’t fear for Harmon or Alexander — they can do better than this, especially considering how good it is for women in the TV game nowadays.

That extends to sitcoms. And if I start sounding sexist now, objectifying a woman’s body, you can’t blame me because we’re working into Betty White territory. TVLand, the golden oldies station on the television dial, is wandering into original scripted programming with their new half-hour Hot In Cleveland. The show stars Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick as three women who’ve just come over the hill and have ridden it down into Cleveland moving from LA. That’s all the premise you need right there. Add Betty White as the caretaker of the house they lease and suddenly Hot in Cleveland isn’t just hot there but everywhere. The show debuted with the top ratings of anything on TVLand in 14 years. Honestly, I’m passing over Cleveland in my rose ceremony, and not just because I moved from nearby there to LA myself but because the show just isn’t my cup of tea. The best sitcoms on TV right now are sans laugh track, single-camera comedies that riff on the traditional format. The Office is a mockumentary; 30 Rock is full of goofy throwaways; Community is something of a parody. Cleveland is very traditional, where you can nearly see the dialogue being pitched and hit like a softball game, joke by joke. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, to borrow another sitcom line, which is kind of the point of all this. TV isn’t just for dudes anymore, and the shows for the finer gender aren’t just the soaps anymore either. Cleveland is for the middle-aged woman who doesn’t see much or herself in Piper Perabo but doesn’t find herself in the corpses of Isles’s morgue either, nor should she. It’s also not a show about a housewife. The leads here have a place to comfortably and gracefully do their thing and look good while doing it. Forget it if it’s not enough to impress Josh Moorhead. Who’s he anyway? This one is for the ladies.