Much like ABC's Life on Mars, NBC's Prime Suspect is a remake of a show that didn't need a remake. The original ITV series, which starred Helen Mirren as the steely female detective Jane Tennison, is an undeniable classic of British television (and indeed of television in general). NBC shouldn't have remade the show because it couldn't -- and didn't -- improve upon the original. Instead, the new Prime Suspect is an Americanized facsimile that can't hold a candle to its earlier, groundbreaking British counterpart.
Like most American remakes of British shows, Prime Suspect has been drained of subtlety. What made Helen Mirren's Jane Tennison fascinating was her incredibly flawed nature. She was brilliant at her job, but her personal life was in shambles. Her relationships fell apart because of her dedication to her job, as well as because of her alcoholism. Sure, she was a badass when it came to doing her job, but on the flipside, she was also a really messed up individual. That duality is why we cared about what happened to her.
The character of Jane Timoney seems to miss the point. The script seems to focus mostly on her being badass, giving her no real depth other than sporadic moments of bickering with live-in boyfriend and his ex-wife. There are also occasional moments of anxious career self-analysis with her dad (Peter Gerety, good as always).
Having said that, it's important to note that Maria Bello is fantastic in her role. While the script doesn't give her character much depth, Bello at least makes her a strange combination of tough and likable. If the show is worth watching at all, it's because of her performance, which is simply magnetic.
Less magnetic are her sexist co-workers, who include familiar faces Kirk Acevedo (Fringe) and Brian O'Byrne (FlashForward). While both actors have proven themselves to be great, in this show they're relegated to stealing her cases and dismissing her because she's a woman. Naturally, she's frustrated, and the audience is supposed to be outraged along with her.
While I'm sure sexism probably exists even in major police departments, the focus on Timoney being dismissed because she's a woman feels a little stale, if not plain outdated. Television has already moved on to showing woman police officers in positions of power and respect (Lydia Adams in Southland, Kima Greggs in The Wire). The battle regarding sexism in the police force has, at least on television, been fought and won by characters like -- you guessed it -- Jane Tennison back in 1991.
Don't look for the cases to carry the show either; the first episode's isn't compelling at all, thanks to the fact that the cops aren't given anyone to fight for. In fact, the only person that really appears to be at stake for most of the episode is Timoney herself -- she's beaten up pretty badly in a confrontation with a killer. Perhaps it's the show's intention to make the cases as routine and unsensational as possible, but if so, it's not a very effective strategy from a viewer's perspective.
Prime Suspect takes one of the greatest cop shows of all time and dumbs it down, stripping its protagonist of her most interesting traits (but filling her shoes with a great actress) and attempting to make us feel outraged over social issues that don't have the teeth they once did. I wish I could like the show more, but instead I'll just warn you to not waste your effort; just go buy the original series and watch it instead. C
Prime Suspect premieres Thursday, September 22 on NBC.
It's all in the details.
No. It's nothing like the original. It's totally undermined by the new "Jane" having to be glam, fashion dressed, wearing a hat that just came from the store, carrying a gun that is a penile competitor with her male colleagues, and having to amp the male generated sexism beyond the real undercurrent of actual, every day, work place sexist bias.
This show is not a shadow of the original.
The other problem is the supporting cast. Originally Bello's supporting cast was all men–just as in the British version. Well, NBC discarded the wonderful Joe Neives and replaced his character with a woman. This small change altered the dynamics of the show. Sick of the political correctness and the "sexist" vibe. Sick of the dumbed down writing. Sick of the "hat". Lose the hat, dolling. You look like a thinned out, female version of Guy Fierri with his sunglasses on the back of his head look.
We recently finished watching the complete Helen Mirren series via DVDs from netflix. I suspected that the NBC version would face tough sledding, and it only took about 10 painful viewing minutes to confirm my suspicions. It’s chillingly awful, the grit, the grief, the angst, the fallibility and a half dozen other real life textures never appear or are completely wrung out of this lame pseudo-clone. No amount of decent acting can salvage this thinly plotted, not ready for “Prime Suspect” turkey.