From the man who brought you “White Collar” comes No Collar, otherwise known as “The Glades,” A&E’s new police procedural that’s as predictable as rain on weekends.
Once more we have the bad boy/rogue cop (Matt Passmore) from the big city who is forced to move to a small town after breaking the rules back home. Has he learned to behave and play nice? Is the Pope Jewish?
Aussie Passmore plays Det. Jim Longworth, the new cop in a small town in the Everglades. His coming aboard, of course, irritates veteran cop/new partner, Mike Ogletree (John Carroll Lynch), a guy who’s lived there all his life, wears a uniform and seemingly plays by the rules.
Longworth, on the other hand, refuses to wear a uniform or even a shirt with a collar, preferring jeans and T-shirts for work and play. Are you still with me — or have you switched the channel already?
The premiere opens with a young couple asleep in a car at the edge of a swamp. Here’s where the show’s creator, Clifton Campbell, gets really clever. Unlike every other pilot in the last two years, the opening scene does not involve two extremely good-looking people having sex.
In fact, this couple is asleep — although the girl is in her underwear — having passed out drunk the night before. The young man gets up and lights a cigarette (he must have tremendous kidneys!) and spots a headless body in a nasty, gator-filled swamp. This causes him to vomit, vomit and vomit some more.
When Longworth is called to the scene while on the golf course, he puts crime scene tape around his golf ball and declares the 14th hole a crime scene, so no one can play through until he gets back.
Yes, it’s ridiculous, I agree.
When a gator bites him as he’s investigating, he gets to meet nurse/almost-single mom/med student Callie (Kiele Sanchez), a requisite wiseass who isn’t interested in Longworth. The fact that he’s smart, handsome, fun and wants to hang out with her son is unimportant.
On the good side, Passmore, who can, er, pass more for an American than most foreigners, has good chemistry with both the feisty Sanchez and also with the medical examiner (Carlos Gomez), who is his only friend in town.
“The Glades” isn’t bad, it just feels older than a swamp gator — and as hungry as one for some fresh meat.