Looking to break out of a slump, the FOX Television Group’s fate is in the hands of Dana Walden and Gary Newman, the new chairmen and CEOs of a network desperately seeking programming hits, a fact they acknowledged at the winter TV press tour.
The network chiefs fully realize that FOX now languishes in fourth place and its ratings are challenged, but nonetheless Newman expressed optimism, noting the way to turn things around is to “do the hard work, get in business with the best talent, support their visions, focus on one time period at a time.”
Though the hip-hop music industry drama “Empire” just recently debuted, the network chiefs were only too pleased to inform the winter gathering of the nation’s TV critics in sunny Pasadena that the freshman show has already been renewed for a second season.
Not all is bleak at FOX as “Gotham” has proved to be one of the rare hits that keeps growing its audience, while the wacky dysfunctional crew in New York’s 99th police precinct in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” now in its second season, delivers one of the true bright spots in the comedy lineup.
“Bones” has been on the air longer than anyone can remember, and the fact that Hart Hanson, the creator of that series, is hoping for another knockout success with the comedic crime procedural “Backstrom” is not out of the realm of possibility, even though it may be a challenge for a series to thrive where the central character is so patently unlovable.
Loosely based on a series of books written by Swedish author Leif GW Persson, “Backstrom” is an Americanized version of a subversive crime procedural in which the titular character is an offensive, irascible and unhealthy detective who just happens to see the worst in everyone as he goes about the business of solving crimes.
Lt. Everett Backstrom – played effortlessly by Rainn Wilson, who managed to torment his colleagues in the long-running series “The Office” as an obsessive paper salesman – has returned from disgrace to lead Portland’s newly-minted Special Crimes Unit, which is tasked with navigating the city’s most sensitive and serious cases.
Oddly enough, Backstrom seems to be completely incapable of handling sensitive matters of any kind.
This is a man with no filter, taking an offensive attitude to a new level with his persistently loutish behavior.
An unrepentant misogynist, Backstrom has no qualms about expressing sexist and racist opinions.
The interesting dynamic is that, though Backstrom doesn’t play well with others, the outlandish detective must work with a diverse team of colleagues, from the idealistic young female detective Nicole Gravely (Genevieve Angelson) to veteran case-closer and part-time pastor Sgt. John Almond (Dennis Haysbert).
Backstrom is not only grumpy and ornery, but he’s been given orders by his doctor to “make a friend” so as to improve his health. Well, he’s also told to eat more vegetables, and neither instruction is likely to be followed.
If Backstrom has any friend at all, it may be his roommate Gregory Valentine (Thomas Dekker), a weird character in his own right, who appears to be the detective’s connection to the seedy underworld of Portland flowing with drugs and prostitution.
Other colleagues in Backstrom’s orbit include the quirky forensics expert Sgt. Peter Niedermayer (Kristoffer Polaha), good-guy Officer Frank Moto (Page Kennedy), and civilian informant Nadia (Beatrice Rosen), a Russian native oddly well-connected.
The success of “Backstrom” seemingly depends on the ability of Rainn Wilson’s character to be funny enough with his sarcasm and quips so that he’s not completely eclipsed by the detective’s offensive behavior. He’s not so politely described as coming from a nether region.
I doubt anyone would really want to knock back several beers with Everett Backstrom. After all, he’s not likable. The challenge for the series will be its ability to sustain ongoing interest in the flawed detective’s sleuthing. For now, “Backstrom” deserves a chance for several viewings.
At the press tour conference, Rainn Wilson, dutifully trying to sell the series, observed that he found his character more interesting because his life is falling apart and that he would rather “hang out with that person than a slick procedural detective who’s got all the answers.”
Later in the conference, Wilson asked the audience to “take a little ride with us.” Admitting his character is a jerk, Wilson noted that we will learn “some really interesting things about him and his coping mechanisms, about his family.”
Again, the challenge for “Backstrom” is finding an audience willing to hang in for the 13 episodes for the arc of the darkly comic story that is unknowable at this point.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
