You could almost see the CBS pitch meeting for “Firecountry”, the latest action drama which premiered last night.
“Its Con Air meets Suicide Squad meets…. Backdraft.”, some overpaid suit might say.
And of course, in a TV and movie ecosystem that is completely tapped out of ideas, it got the greenlight.
So, here we go with the story of Bode Donovan (played by Max Thieriot) a convict who opps to join a special unit of criminal firefighters working to reduce their sentences by battling fires in Northern California.
But while some of the action sequences in the pilot worked quite nicely, it still has that all too familiar CBS action drama new car smell.
You’ll see the conclusion to all of the action scenes coming from a mile away. A lot of the characters are personalities running on about half a dozen other shows on TV right now. And this is just another flavor of an ice cream cone you’ve had many times before.
But you might also like it for those reasons.
Make no mistake, this is CBS. Shows like “Firecountry” can run for years, simply because it “clicks” with the Friday night crowd. And there is just enough potential for new ground to be broken, to warrant further screening if you enjoy the pilot. And the final ten minutes of the premiere is decent television.
In the end, as a stand alone episode, “Firecountry” was fine. But, you won’t see anything you haven’t seen anywhere else done in a similar way.
Let’s see where it goes. Especially on a perpetually slow Friday night where any new attempts at entertaining are welcomed.
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