TV Review - Crisis

The series is CBS' Hostages meets ABC's Revenge. Created by Rand Ravich, Dermot Mulroney plays the Dylan McDermott and the Emily VanCamp role, combined into one. Mulroney plays Francis Gibson, the secret master mind of a mass kidnapping of a bus-full of high school children. All the children are next of kin to powerful politicians, CEOs and other well-to-do people in Washington, DC. Francis uses those children to blackmail their well-to-do parents for Francis' complicated revenge and power scheme. Francis' revenge might also go to a later redemption, as he may be fighting a greater government conspiracy that shafted him.

Rachel Taylor stars as Susie Dunn, the FBI agent assigned to investigate and ultimately stop Francis and his organization. Lance Gross co-stars as Marcus Finley, the Secret Service agent assigned to protect the President's son who is one of the kidnapped children. Susie and Marcus work together, running around DC chasing after the remnants of Francis' machinations.

Phillip Noyce directed the pilot episode. Noyce has directed political thrillers like Patriot Games, so handling the government agents hurrying from here to there is something he's good at doing. Noyce has handled dramas as well, but a lot of this series is plot-driven, so really delving into the characters is something that is brushed over. Most characters are superficial and one-note.

It's actually boring because of which. It's difficult for me to even stay awake while watching. Later, episodes might get into it, but the children themselves are held for days in this house and we barely get to know them. There's barely any scenes with them there or much dialogue that would develop them or allow the audience to care about them. At three episodes into the show, the children are props. Because I don't care about them, I fall asleep.

Two Stars out of Five.
Rated TV-14-LVD.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Sundays at 10PM on NBC.