It's not The Sopranos -- what is? But once the comparison is dropped, the latest Mob mini-series Falcone holds up nicely as dependable crime-family viewing.
Doubts had been raised about the show, and CBS's commitment to it, when it was dropped from its intended place on last fall's schedule. CBS president Leslie Moonves yanked Falcone immediately after the school shootings in Littleton, Colo., last May, saying "it just didn't feel right" to commit to a series that featured an ice-pick murder in its pilot episode.
Coming from the formerly shameless man who brought us such might-is-right shows as Walker, Texas Ranger, Nash Bridges and Martial Law,this was rich. And seeing the shootings, stabbings, beatings and garrottings in the version of Falcone that has finally found its way to the schedule, you have to wonder how the social climate has changed to make such violence now feel so right.
It comes with the turf, of course. No one tunes into a Mob show without expecting to see a few rats get whacked -- the imminent threat of sudden death is what gives the genre so much of its dramatic power. Even Moonves acknowledged as much when he gave the go-ahead to Falcone shortly after the Emmy voters lavished nominations on the equally brutal Sopranos.
"I think the success of The Sopranos certainly has influenced our desire to put this show on the air," he told TV critics in July. "When the lead character is a murderer and the show gathers more Emmy nominations than any show on television, we can't live by a double standard."
Of course they could, if they really meant all that hooey about TV programming having something to do with social responsibility. But it's actually corporate greed that drove the Falcone flip-flop. Last May, advertisers shied away from a network show where the bodies were perforated by ice picks. Now the mood has changed, thanks to the millions of people who fell in love with killer/family man Tony Soprano, and gunning down a few Russian drug kingpins in broad daylight doesn't feel so bad after all.
Moonves vowed that the new look, much-postponed Falcone,which is finally emerging this week in an unusual eight-night run, would do its killings "carefully" and "responsibly." But don't be put off by his double-talk. Careful, responsible settling of scores -- when they say, "Have a nice day" before garrotting you? -- is still killing. What redeems Falcone isn't the dodge of having a few murders take place off-camera but the generally smart writing and persuasive acting.
The dialogue is premodern so far as it steers clear of the everyday pop-culture references that made The Sopranos seem so striking. These Brooklyn mobsters come from the old school, even if they do ride around in SUVs and carry the latest gun-shop hardware. Falcone is inspired by the 1997 film Donnie Brasco,which was set in the 1970s, and there seems to have been a conscientious attempt to make it feel timeless just to distance the wise guys' brutality from squeamish TV reality.
Falcone,like Donnie Brasco,is based on the true story of FBI agent Joe Pisone who infiltrated a Mafia crew as an ambitious antisocial climber named Joe Falcone. But what makes Pisone/Falcone so intriguing is actually very close to what appeals to us about Tony Soprano: How do you go home to the wife and kids in the 'burbs after a hard day of punch-ups and shakedowns?
As the undercover operative, Jason Gedrick ( EZ Streets)shows a winning combination of street smarts and sensitivity in a character who by profession and instinct has to be hard to read. His scenes with his fellow mobsters (led by a dapper, overly slick Titus Welliver) are familiar to us from all those other Mob films that play off the same themes of respect and loyalty. But they still work well in Falcone,especially when we watch Gedrick's loyalties start to shift from the FBI crime-fighting machine to his more human criminal family.
His scenes with his real family are less satisfying because of the guilt he constantly carries for long absences that can't be explained. But clever writing makes up for the dramatic awkwardness: At bedtime he finds consolation in telling his younger daughter the story of wandering Ulysses: He went unrecognized when he finally returned home, but still regained his palace and his family.
No mention is made of his having to kill his wife's suitors though -- can't have too much violence on a family show.
Falcone premieres tomorrow on CBS at 9 p.m. and runs nightly except Sunday until April 12. On WIC stations ONTV and CHEK, Falcone debuts tonight at 9 p.m. Montreal's CFCF launches the series tomorrow at 8 p.m.
FINE TUNING
The Secret World of Gardens. Try seeing the world from the praying mantis's point of view. But lay off the aphids. ( H&G, 8 p.m.) Three's Company. Put on your irony glasses and make an attempt to find the strange pleasure in a sitcom that seemed so brainless at the time. ( Prime, 8 p.m.) NCAA Basketball. The championship game of U.S. college basketball, with all the betting-pool hype that goes with such made-for-TV events. ( CBS/Sportsnet, 9 p.m.)
Talk Shows
Open Mike with Mike Bullard. Michael Pinball, Rob Ross, Martha Wainwright. ( Comedy Network at 10 p.m., CTV at 12:05 a.m.) Jon Stewart. Kim Delaney. ( Comedy Network at 11 p.m.) Craig Kilborn. Bob Costas, Danny DeVito. ( Global, CBS at 12:35 a.m.) Conan O'Brien. Chris Rock, Ann Curry. ( NBC at 12:35 a.m.) David Letterman. Brooke Shields, Oliver Platt, Joni Mitchell. ( CBS at 11:35 p.m.) Jay Leno. John McEnroe, Kirsten Dunst, Catatonia. ( NBC at 11:35 p.m.) Bill Maher. Roger Loggia, Rebecca Hagelin, Tom Bergeron, Harland Williams. ( ABC at 12:05 a.m.)
Dates and times may vary across the country. Please check local listings.