TV Watch: Maybe "Graceland" only seems "formulaic" because the characters aren't (yet?) terribly compelling

by Ken

Normally I wouldn't try to write about a show like USA's Graceland after only two episodes, especially when I'm so conflicted about it. It's always possible, for example, that once I've absorbed all the characters and circumstances piled on us in these early episodes, it will all fit together more credibly and interestingly. The problem is, I don't know how many more episodes I'll be sticking around.

Anyone with shouting range of USA's promos knows that Graceland is the name given to a California beachfront house seized from a drug lord and repurposed into an undercover residence for a bunch of undercover agents from several federal agencies -- in the case of the TV show, mostly FBI plus a couple from DEA and one from Customs. For the record, we're told that there really is such a place, and stuff similar to what we see happened there. Luckily, no stress is placed on the historicity of the stories, so that's one thing we don't hae to worry about.

I guess what's supposed to be interesting is the "double undercover" -- that each of the house residents is undercover in his/her enforcement cases, and then returns "home" to a running undercover identity, the idea being that people in the area are vaguely aware that they're, well, something out of the ordinary, but that each has invented for him/herself a personality that provides cover for themselves and the house.

At the center of the story, at least so far, are the two smartest guys ever inducted into the FBI -- the preppy-cute new graduate, Mike, who's all rulebook and earnestness, and is assigned against his wishes (he wanted to be assigned to D.C. to begin his ascent to the directorship of the bureau) to Graceland where the roost is ruled by the stubbly-rugged-cute Briggs, who used to be rulebook-earnest but somewhere along the line became a rule-maker unto himself -- who apparently still usually gets his man but by unorthodox means that make the higher-ups nervous. In fairness, they also seem nervous about what the heck he's up to. And we learned late in the first episode that the reason Mike had been dispatched to Graceland is to spy on Briggs.

Already a suspicious mind is on alert: If Briggs is so smart, how can he possibly not figure out why Mike has been inflicted on him? Well, in fact, there were earlier indications of suspicion, and by the end of Episode 2 we know for sure that he does know, which I mention because it's typical of a lot of the detail of the show: None of it may be wildly plausible, but most of the things one might point to as too improbably really could happen.

Briggs the wily veteran who has learned the real ways of the world, as opposed to what he learned in FBI School. Mike the straight-arrow newcomer who becomes the butt of his housemates' jokes. Lauren the earnest agent who becomes dangerously emotionally involved with Danny, the agent who's shot in the pilot episode. And so on and so on. All of it could happen, probably does happen in real life. Reduce each of the characters to a tagline and the setup can sound formulaic. And while it's not that the cast, for all its obvious prettiness, is inept -- the boys and girls can talk and walk, often at the same time and at a rapid clip. There just isn't, or at any rate so far doesn't seem to me to be, much that's really grabbing about any of them.

I think the relationship that has come closest to grabbing me is Mike's with a dog who latches onto him on the beach. I assumed the dog was going to follow him home, and the housemates would fight about whether the new guy can have a dog. Apparently not. But when the dog reappeared in Episode 2, I perked up. So far the only thing I know I want to see more of is Mike and the dog.

So far, the plots also seem kind of schematic, which again probably is just a fancy-sounding way of saying that I don't much care about them. I suspect TV construction in the way each episode builds so far to a climax of danger and supposed suspense at the scene-of-danger of the undercover operation du jour. Again I can't dismiss this automatically as implausible, because I suppose such things do often happen in serious undercover operations. So what I probably mean is that the elaborate setups seem to me more like plot mechanics than anything I'm apt to really care about.

Sometimes our behavior tells us more about what we're thinking than our thinking. I left the pilot of Graceland optimistic -- I thought the show would be worth returning to. And I did return this week. But about 20 minutes into the show I happily relinquished my attention to something else I was trying to do. Oh, I do that a lot; I'm often trying to multitask (rarely successfully; these days I'm usually lucky if I wind up getting one thing done). And I knew the DVR was recording the show, and I could catch up on it anytime. But afterward, I didn't have any great desire to do so, and in fact I wound up doing it mostly because I wanted to see if the show might be worth writing about this week. (I still don't know.)

Johnny (Manny Montana), Paige (Serinda Swan), Mike (Aaron Tveit), Jakes (Brandon Jay McLaren), Briggs (Daniel Sunjata), and Charlie (Vanessa Ferlito) -- I think I've got 'em right, but I wouldn't swear.

It seems worth noting that the show was created by Jeff Eastin, who gave us USA's White Collar. This is interesting because White Collar has all the things that Graceland doesn't so far seem to: characters and relationships that really imprint themselves on the viewer: con man supreme Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer), his FBI handler Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), Neal's strange-underworld pal Mozzie (Willie Garson), Peter's devoted wife Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen), Neal's assorted lady friends. Oh sure, the shows have plots, but it's the regular characters I tune in to see.

For the record, Season 5 of White Collar apparently won't come our way till fall. Also for the record: USA Network has absolutely the worst website I've seen, at least for anyone who's trying to extract information about its shows. If everyone involved in maintaining the website were shot, it would be hardly any loss -- least of all to the website.

#