Winter’s here. It’s cold outside, so it’s the perfect time to steam up the TV schedule.
CBS and ABC do the honors with lanky hunk Josh Holloway and leggy vixen Tricia Helfer.
Viewers will recognize them as bad boy Sawyer from Lost, and the seductive Cylon Number Six from Battlestar Gallactica.
Here’s the scoop.
Intelligence 8 p.m. today (CBS). “Our most secret weapon isn’t a machine,” the CBS teaser teases. “It’s a man.”
The premise - U.S. cyber security has implanted a microchip in Gabriel Vaughn’s (Holloway) brain that connects him directly to the global information grid with complete access to the Internet, WiFi, telephone and satellite data.
Yes, it sounds a bit like Chuck, only without the goofy subplots.
The chip processes information like a computer, but Gabriel’s brain metabolizes it.
Naturally, Vaughn has a comely doe-eyed handler assigned to protect him. They banter, quip and trade barbs. Meghan Ory portrays Secret Service Agent Riley Neal. There’s sexual tension.
Further tension - there’sa second chip out there and the villainous Chinese have it.
Added bonus: CSI’s Marg Helgenberger plays the secret project’s chief, Lillian Strand. “Vaughn is reckless, unpredictable and insubordinate,” Strand says. We love our bad boys.
Intelligence is a gung-ho antihero action series and rated TV-14 for language and violence. Tonight’s special premiere follows NCIS in order to take advantage of that show’s No. 1 status. Intelligence will move to 9 p.m. Monday next week. The first season is set for 13 episodes.
Killer Women 9 p.m. today (ABC). Yes, Texas Ranger Molly Parker (Helfer) looks hot in leather pants and skintight jeans, but she’s tough as nails and good at her job.
Of course, the series wastes no opportunity to show off Helfer’s impressive assets whenever possible -sprayed-on tank top, clingy evening gown, and nothing at all climbing into bed for her blossoming affair with “sexy, dangerously handsome” DEA agent Dan Winston, played by Marc Blucas.
Complication: Parker is still married to her smarmy husband Jake. She’s just waiting for him to sign the divorce papers, but he doesn’t want to let her go. That can’t be good.
Stationed in San Antonio, Parker doggedly pursues the truth in the face of an entrenched good-ol’-boy network and sexist co-workers.
“We’re saying it’s kind of Kill Bill mixed with Justified,” Helfer says. “It’s got the procedural part if you want the investigation of the week. But it is a little more serialized, more characterized than a straight procedural.
“It’s also got a lot of action and stuff for women who enjoy that. It is a cop show.”
The series, based on an Argentine drama, comes from executive producer Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) and creator Hannah Shakespeare (The Raven). There will be only eight episodes in this midseason tryout; each features a new killer woman of the week.
Also, don’t expect Kill Bill or Justified.
Chicago P.D. 9 p.m. Wednesday (NBC). The latest police procedural from Dick Wolf (Law & Order, Chicago Fire) is a formulaic rehash treading familiar ground.
The drama follows the uniformed cops who patrol District 21 and the Intelligence Unit that combats the city’s organized crime, drug trafficking and high-profile murders.
Veteran character actor Jason Beghe is Sergeant Hank Voight, the gruff chief and father figure of the Intelligence Unit. Working with him is Detective Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda). The requisite “brash young detective” is Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer), and the mandatory too-attractive female cop is Halstead’s partner, tough, no-nonsense Detective Erin Lindsay ( Sophia Bush, One Tree Hill).
To be politically correct, we need an Asian-American, a black officer, and a cute, ambitious younger female. They are (in order) Archie Kao as Detective Sheldon Jim, LaRoyce Hawkins as Officer Kevin Atwater, and Marina Squerciati as Officer Kim Burgess.
The undercover cops are newbie cadet Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger), and grizzled veteran Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas).
The pilot for Chicago P.D. lacked subtlety and seemed to be geared for the lowest common denominator viewer. Maybe it was suffering from trying to introduce such a large cast.
At any rate, it didn’t make an impression on me, but I’ll give it one more episode before passing.
Justified 9 p.m. today (FX). One of the top 3 dramas on TV returns for Season 5. The series stars Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, and Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder.
Goggins is one of America’s most gifted actors. It’s a joy to watch him and Olyphant work.
Psych 8 p.m. Wednesday (USA). It’s Season 8 for Sean and Gus (James Roday, Dule Hill). There are only 10 episodes scheduled, so this may be the final hurrah. Ratings have been slowly eroding since Season 4.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email: [email protected]
Style, Pages 30 on 01/07/2014