Never Judge A Show by It's Pilot: K-Ville. (CLICK PODCAST)

My first impression of K-Ville, a cop show set in New Orleans two years after Hurricane Katrina, is that I applaud the effort. I have very high expectations for the show. I don’t want to see just another crime drama. I’m expecting to see something new and different. The creators of the show have an opportunity and perhaps even a responsibility to use their craft to show us the real world of the NOPD officers.

I watched the show. Visually, it is stunning as it is shot on location in New Orleans Louisiana. The episode begins with a flash back set two years earlier during the storm. Officer Marlin Boulet’s (Anthony Anderson) partner Charlie Pratt (Derek Webster) deserts him. Two years later Boulet has become fatigued from over work and is obsessed trying to return his city to his former glory. This causes Boulet to play by his own rules on and off the clock. Boulet now has a new partner Trevor Cobb (Cole Hauser), a soldier who served in Afghanistan and has a different idea on how to approach the job. With all his problems at work, things are just as bad at home. Boulet’s wife has had enough and plans to take their daughter and move to Atlanta. Officer Boulet’s civic pride may come off a little too self-righteous, but he truly cares about his city and will not tolerate others around him are leaving, stealing or profiting from the storm. Boulet’s old partner wants redemption for his actions during the storm. Boulet’s new partner also wants redemption for his actions during the storm. At the time of the storm it turns out that Cobb was in a New Orleans jail and managed to escape during the flood. Only Boulet knows his secret. I think the show has real potential and now that we know the premise I look forward to the next episode because I never judge a show by it's pilot.

The next episode opens with Cobb having a prison flash back. It then occurred to me that maybe the whole Cobb being an ex-con premise might be too much. Perhaps it would work better if Cobb were just an outsider who did not have the invested interest in the city that Boulet has and be more of a calming presence and the voice of reason. I think one lead character with excess baggage is enough. Besides the NBC crime drama Life already has a cop who spent time behind bars. But I digress. The episode involves a prison break and Cobb's special prisoner insight helps our heroes catch two of the bad guys but one gets away. If things weren’t complicated enough a jurisdiction dispute between the NOPD and a corrupt prison warden inhibits the police' investigation to find the third man. You knew political corruption would come in to play sooner or later.

I like the show and look forward to the next episode. I think that it is great that eighty percent of the show’s crew is from the local talent pool. I am curious what the people of New Orleans and the New Orleans Police Department thinks of the show.

To quote Marlin Boulet to Charlie Pratt, “Our rep's in the sewer, the pay sucks, crime is off the chart. But you finish your tour in the Middle East war zone and pop down here to be a cop. What's wrong with Cincinnati?”


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Tony Figueroa