Watching KVille

As my first entry in the K-Ville world, I thought I would give an idea of what the pundits are saying. In general, the press has been unfavorable. The blogosphere on the other hand has been much better. I have watched the premier myself and while it’s not perfect, I think it has great potential.

Boston Globe: New Orleans provides turbulent backdrop for ‘K-Ville’

As Anderson and the show’s writers twist and shout to make points about the desperation and valiance of New Orleans, “K-Ville” becomes less than it could be. Tonight’s crime plot is set in motion after a shooting at a Katrina charity event, and the cops proceed to rifle through all levels of society in search of a motive. But that plot comes off as an afterthought, something thrown in to frame the portrait of Boulet. The show would benefit enormously by paying more attention to the crime stories, and letting the pain left in Katrina’s wake emerge incidentally, undeniably.

Cincinnati Post: New on TV: ‘K-Ville,’ Kelsey, snotty kids

The hook is that this is shot on location in post-Katrina New Orleans. That’s supposed to grab at our heartstrings as these cops feel passionate about their city. It comes off in the pilot as just exploiting the city’s real-life pain for cheap dramatic purposes. On the other hand, if the city’s present-day injustices can be raised with care and compassion in future episodes, it could poignantly make this rise above another cop show. It doesn’t in the pilot.

USA Today: Tasteless ‘K-Ville’ is the big sleazy

You could argue that any attention is good attention, considering how desperately the city needs our aid. Still, it’s hard to see what public good is served by turning New Orleans into some high-octane Deadwood on the Mississippi. Even to suggest that the networks might have some greater social responsibility beyond making money for their stockholders is to risk sounding quaint these days — but it is nevertheless true, and this show violates it.

Philidelphia Inquirer: ‘K-Ville’ blows ill for New Orleans

It’s one of those series where they constantly feel constrained to explain what’s going on, even though it’s obvious. “You figured we were on to you,” Anderson tells a criminal, “so you wanted to send a message.”

The only message here is: Change the channel.

Spokesman Review: ‘K-Ville’ puts Big Easy in spotlight

The camera shows both sides of New Orleans, the vibrant tourist center of the French Quarter as well as the unreclaimed squalor of its abandoned districts. And if the first two episodes are any indication, both sides of the city share the same atmosphere of corruption. “K-Ville” is a place where rich and powerful puppet masters wield enormous power with a callous cruelty befitting petty colonels in a Third World banana republic. This may or may not reflect the true state of things in New Orleans, but “K-Ville’s” rich gumbo of cynicism and doom fits in rather nicely with Fox’s Monday-night buffet of “Prison Break” and “24″ – shows shot through with paranoia and conspiracy, where the treachery and treason reach all the way to the top.

San Francisco Chronicle: Goodman: New Orleans deserves better than mediocre ‘K-Ville’. That’s TIM goodman, not JOHN Goodman.

The most distinguishing element - and the most important - in the new Fox drama “K-Ville,” is that it’s filmed on location in New Orleans. It’s a cop show about life, post-Katrina, in the Big Easy, so the people determined to rebuild there might as well get some of the benefits of a local production.

Mercury News: Oh, ‘K-Ville,’ can you break out of cop box?

Is it fair to demand more? After all, the series is fighting against a tide of escapist TV and more specifically against a show — “Heroes” — that defines the trend. “K-Ville’s” humble, street-level heroes can’t fly or teleport themselves, so what’s wrong with deploying a few slam-bang theatrics to help level the playing field?

Now that I am thoroughly depresses, I will stop. I do plan to watch. I plan to watch every week. I will keep you updated daily. I hope the series lasts for a long time. How about you?

LewisC