Season Begins With "K-Ville," "Prison Break"

The single best performance on any new series this fall belongs to Anthony Anderson as Det. Marlin Boulet on Fox's "K-Ville." The post-Katrina New Orleans police drama, debuting tonight on Fox, centers on Ninth Ward native Boulet, who struggles to hang on to his home, his family, his city and at times his sanity amid the ruins. Anderson's fiercely committed performance gives this show a gravity that helps it overcome a couple of overblown action sequences. Along with the third-season premiere of "Prison Break" on Fox tonight, it gets the fall TV season off to a solid start. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Boulet is rebuilding his flood-damaged home amid the ruins of his neighborhood, even though his wife and child have moved to Atlanta to escape the devastation. He's also still recovering from the horror of Katrina, which was made worse by the desertion of his partner, one of many Nawlins cops who simply fled amid the madness. As the series opens, he gets a new teammate, Cole Hauser's enigmatic Trevor Cobb, an ex-Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan. They roar into action when gunmen target a series of benefits for Ninth Ward rebuilding. A couple of gunfights and car chases later, the case leads to some mercenaries who after serving in Iraq found post-flood Nawlins a similarly fertile environment...                                                                      (Above: Hauser and Anderson.)

It's not the car chases or gunfights or mercenaries that make this show work, though. It's the little details of post-Katrina life. A prowler outside Boulet's house at night turns out to be a neighborhood kid stealing one of his shrubs which managed to survive the flooding. A key revelation about Cobb's past emerges when Boulet notices that Cobb has no problem finding his way around the city - even though all the street signs are missing. And on and on.

The most compelling plot line features a terrific performance from Derek Webster in a recurring role as Boulet's disgraced former partner, Charlie Pratt, who is jumpy and ashamed and defiant all at once, and desperate to regain his badge. A couple of scenes between the two of them deliver scalding evidence of what the storm did to that city and its people.

The show is filmed on location, pouring needed millions into the city's economy and drawing vast credibility from the very real scenes of devastation. News reports show city officials of two minds about the series, which is honest about corruption and crime and even some little sins - Boulet is always happy to accept a free drink while on the job. But this is one location that could not be re-created on a backlot in Van Nuys. The show gains more than backdrops - it soaks in the lifeblood of the city.

There's definitely some dumbass cop-show nonsense here, especially at the melodramatic finale, when the mercenaries try to make their escape in a chopper. But Anderson and New Orleans make this very much worth watching.

"Prison Break," on the other hand, remains claustrophobic and gripping, while thoroughly against my better viewing judgment.

As season three opens, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is behind bars in a Panama hellhole called Sona, which is run by inmate kingpin Lechero (Robert Wisdom), while the guards remain outside the walls. Imprisoned with Michael are Agent Mahone (William Fichtner), former Illinois prison guard Brad Bellick (Wade Williams) and the one-handed sex murderer known as T-Bag (Robert Knepper). Michael's brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) is on the outside this time, trying to get Michael out while connecting with various loved ones who were scattered to the wind at the end of season two.

(Above, Wisdom and Miller.)

This show has been increasingly ludicrous, yet it's a can't-put-it-down thriller. The writers must need daily rubdowns given all the contortions they go through to keep the action going. It turns out the reason Michael was sent to Sona was because the powers that be - the same ones he's been fighting for two seasons - need a mysterious inmate named Whistler broken out of there. And as Michael showed by getting Lincoln off Illinois' death row in season one, he's the best man for the job. Yeah, right.

Fortunately, Miller is a very appealing leading man, while Fichtner, Williams and Knepper are as compelling a bunch of scumbags as you'll ever see on a single series. It's a grave injustice that none of them even get nominated for Emmys. These four actors will keep me suspending my disbelief for a few more weeks, anyway.

Comments

[Aaron]

It sounds like the best character in "K-Ville" is the city itself; everyone else pales in comparison.

And Prison Break? Well, the only interest I have in the show is finding out if those rumors about Wentworth Miller are really true. ;)

[carolyn]

Prison Break has been my favorite show 4 a very long time it keeps me guessing the new show last night k ville was very good also so i am truly glad that both are on during the same time now i have to miss 2 hours of work/ Tuesday night is my call in night until 11