‘Dark Blue’ puts feel before story

New York, July 12: Television loves the troubled, iconoclastic loner.Outside, they`re antisocial, quirky, radical and unique. But inside, they`re just wounded puppies, warped out of the social norm by tragedy; given half a chance, they`d be frolicking on the lawn with their loved ones.

Which means they`re not really radical or unique after all. Especially not since so many shows have abandoned actual character development for this form of shorthand. ‘Dark Blue`s’ Lt Carter Shaw, who heads a covert undercover group with shady detectives and no oversight, is one of the latter. He wears sunglasses indoors. Doesn`t shave. Has insomnia. Wields a shotgun. Emotes, "I see things that need to be fixed." And Has A Tragic Past. Of course. That he`s played by Dylan McDermott -- who even in 8 o`clock shadow seems like your nice neighbor -- could cause cognitive dissonance-related whiplash in anyone. TNT`s ‘Dark Blue’ looks good. Executive producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Danny Cannon and Jonathan Littman wrote the ‘CSI’ low-lit, color-saturated playbook, and there`s a harrowing opening scene that owes David Fincher his props. But ‘Blue’ is a confusing mix of cliche and posturing that seems more interested in framing a shot than telling a story. I`m still not 100 percent sure just what the lead bad guy`s gang actually does to be bad. Sure, they torture, set fires and shoot one another, but "Jack of all crimes"? Do you get a WGA card for that? Being thrown in medias res doesn`t help: One of Shaw`s crew is so far undercover he might have flipped, so the pilot spends its time figuring out which side he`s on. In the process, the narrative just grows murkier and murkier until bullets fly, people get shot, the credits roll and you`re left wondering, "What the hell was that?" But not in an "I must come back next week to find out" way. Cop shows are a dime a dozen, and highly stylized ones briefly do well as shiny objects that entrance viewers. But nothing lasts without a core of direction and a protagonist who inspires intrigue and curiosity rather than eye-rolling. When the title of your series seems to describe its lighting setup better than anything else about it, it`s time to reach for the "off" switch. Bureau Report