The Beast, "Nadia": Georgia on my mind

Brief spoilers for last night's "The Beast" coming up just as soon as I get some prison ink...

I'm still waiting for this show to rise up to the level of Patrick Swayze's performance, and it's still not coming close. The case of the week was slightly less predictable than the one from episode two, but it gave way too much of the episode's screentime to Travis Fimmel and barely dealt with the larger question of whether Barker's dirty and in what way.

Also, from a more superficial standpoint, I prefer seeing (but not living in) Chicago in winter rather than the warm climate that we've reached by this point in the production. Still lots of cool architecture, but not quite as distinctive without tons of snow on the ground.

I'm in for a little while, still, because shows like this can take a while to find themselves, but I keep having to recalibrate my hopes downward.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Beast, "Two Choices": Don't mess with D

Brief spoilers for the second episode of "The Beast" coming up just as soon as I tell you how I like my coffee...

Based on both the minimal comments last week and the surprisingly low premiere ratings (good reviews or bad, you'd assume at least a little rubbernecking factor), it doesn't seem as if too many people around these parts are interested in "The Beast" talk. And that may be fine: Thursday nights are a traffic jam for me, and I'm still on the fence about the show through these two episodes (which are the ones I got to see in advance).

There were some improvements here from the pilot, namely Larry Gilliard Jr. getting promoted from one of a bunch of guys trying to get Swayze's partner to flip on him into the only guy doing it. No doubt the producers liked what they saw out of Gilliard in the pilot (that or they watched "The Wire" season one) and decided to get more out of him.

But I think the show's still being too vague about what Swayze's allegedly doing and why it's bad. I'm not asking the writers to put all their cards on the table by the end of the second episode, but right now things are so unclear as to be uninteresting, and Swayze's gruffness and Gilliard's piercing stare will only take me so far.

I'm also not in love with doing these relatively self-contained undercover operations. There's often a desire for shows like these to have a procedural plot in each episode to make it easier for new or casual viewers, but what's always interested me about undercover work are the long-term aspects of it: the difficulty of having to live your cover for an extended period, the risk of growing too close to your target, and all the other things that made a show like "Wiseguy" so good. Showing Swayze and Tarzan getting in and out of a cover by the end of each episode not only makes those cases forgettable, but it makes what they do seem less special somehow.

Anyway, I'm in for a few more weeks, and we'll see how much two of the three main performances are going to keep me interested beyond that.

What did everybody (or anybody) else think? Click here to read the full post

The Beast, "Pilot": Open thread

I had my say on the pilot for "The Beast" in Tuesday's column, but for those of you who tuned in, what did you think? Click here to read the full post

Sepinwall on TV: 'The Beast' review

In today's column, I review Patrick Swayze in "The Beast":

You hear that Patrick Swayze has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and you wonder why on earth he would want to subject himself to the long hours and grueling workload of starring in a one-hour TV drama series that films in Chicago. He could be resting, or spending time with his family, or traveling, or doing anything but freezing his buns off near Lake Michigan.

And then you watch Swayze in "The Beast," and you realize that this is the best performance of his career - that the opportunity to play a part like this, and to play it was well as he is, may be fueling his ability to keep fighting against the cancer. And you realize, in an odd silver lining, that the cancer may, in turn, be fueling the performance.

To read the full thing, click here. I'll have some kind of post ready to go after the pilot airs on Thursday night, thought it may be another open thread. Click here to read the full post

Dispatch from press tour: Swayze checks into hospital, misses 'The Beast' session

Easily the most-anticipated session of the day -- if not the tour -- was for A&E's "The Beast," a new drama about a pair of undercover FBI agents, since one of those two agents is played by Patrick Swayze, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer only a few hours after the show was ordered to series. Though he had just discussed his condition with Barbara Walters, the room was packed with reporters eager to experience Swayze's candor in person.

Instead, A&E executives entered looking somber, and explained that Swayze wouldn't be in attendance because he had just checked himself into the hospital with pneumonia, leaving co-star Travis Fimmel and "The Beast" producers to talk on their star's behalf.

A&E president Bob DeBitetto said that the hospitalization was just a precaution, and that Swayze wanted it to be clear that "He plans to get back to promoting 'The Beast' as soon as he is back on his feet. He is unbelievably proud of the work that he and the entire 'Beast' team have done."

The session veered back and forth between logistical questions -- the first season wrapped filming in November, A&E and Sony had to make the show without traditional cast insurance -- and testimonials to Swayze's character and work ethic.

"It's been an absolute inspiration for me," said Fimmel, who plays Swayze's young protege. "He's an amazing guy. You can't help but respect him. I can't say enough good stuff about the guy. He makes the little things seem so not important."

"Although you forget sometimes that Patrick's going through treatment for cancer, it brings you closer together," said co-creator William Rotko. "For me personally, it would make you stop and think before you said you had a tummy ache in the morning."

Director Michael Dinner talked about Swayze's determination in the face of difficult weather conditions (the series was shot on location in Chicago, much of it during the extreme winter and summer) and Fimmel marveled that Swayze did most of his own stunts.

"You can hardly tell with the guy," he said. "He's such a man, you know."

Producer John Romano, a veteran of cop shows like "Hill Street Blues," said there's never been any thought about replacing Swayze, or of trying to continue the show without him.

"We've taken our cues from him, and he keeps saying, 'I'm showing up tomorrow.' You know what it's like to shoot an action show in seven days, and there's one day we didn't get, and that's in 12 episodes of television. We're tkaing our cues from his willingness to do the show, and it's inspiring."

My review of "The Beast," which debuts on Jan. 15, will be up on Tuesday morning. Click here to read the full post