Wild Cards

It's pretty much Hudson and Rex, swap out Rex for Max. Instead of a police dog, an attractive troublemaking potential love interest. A Murtaugh/ Riggs type buddy cop show with a fish out of water twist. She's an experienced con-artist, who got in hot water with the police... major crimes... and the police are letting her work off her jail sentence by solving crimes. On a trial basis. He's on thin ice with his job/ superiors also, could get back in good grace by solving crimes with his wisecracking criminal partner. It's not even vaguely realistic, it's totally over the top... imagine Hannah Montana solving crimes with Thomas Magnum. In Canada. Harmless/ mindless fun.

I loved the escapist fantasy of buddy cop tv in the early 00s from Castle to Psych to White Collar. No one was as cool as Neil, as well dressed as Neil, as slick as Neil, as well versed in the arts as Neil, or as smooth a con artist as Neil.

Enter Max, basically the secret love child of White Collar's Neil caffrey and his sleek landlady June, with a Robin Hood twist. Max is sleek, well-dressed, and uber confident. She unabashedly uses her criminal connections and upper level friends to benefit both herself and her less fortunate friends.

Vanessa Morgan SPARKLES as Max from her charisma to her walk to her accents. Max is clearly the smartest, hottest, most cunning person in the room and that's okay.

This show features the hottest most established cast with Vanessa Morgan from Riverdale, THE original Daddy Jason Priestley, Jessica Jones' Terry Chen, and Schmigadoon's Karin Konoval. And, yes, Giacomo Gianniotti looks like a young David Gandy. I feel the producers demanded anyone incredibly hot who starred in super trendsetting shows in the past 5 years.

This show is a throwback to old school CW when it represented everything young, hot and sexy with smart, funny scripts and awesome casts to match.

I cannot talk enough about the positives of this pilot episode. CW set a super high bar. I hope it continues to support such a great show with an awesomely diverse cast. I absolutely LOVED The pilot episode. The cast meshed SO WELL. The writing was so smooth. The locations were amazing.

Honestly, it is light-hearted action fun but with that grown n sexy vibe that White collar did so well.

Update: After having watched three more episodes, the budget has drastically reduced since the pilot. It is now less White Collar's sexy adult crime territory and more in Psych's quirky crime solving territory. Although I have no idea why they'd use a high class con artist to solve local murders a la Jessica Fletcher, it is still a ton of fun.

I think this show is really rather good I mean granted it's pretty just like most of the other little cop shows and trying to figure out things. However, with that being said, think she's quite spunky, I like her style I'd like the fact that she's a woman that has a thought process other than what generally people think we should think. I give this rating a nine only because of fear of given 10. Great show definitely would recommend. I think that the character of the male is a little bit too harsh. I think he needs to understand that with his new partner he has somebody he can trust. He's needing to learn that it's OK if it's a little bit on the gray side as long as it doesn't tip over his anxiety is about his brother. That's his issue he needs to get over it. I kinda like that but again I feel that her character is a lot better more needed more med and I like her father.

This series pairs a police detective with an unusual partner, like many other shows before it. In this instance, the detective has been working an undesirable beat and needs to get back in the chief's good graces. His partner is a con artist who is street smart, clever, and possesses unique skills. Giacomo Gianniotti plays the cop, Cole Ellis, who is ordered to team up with grifter Max Mitchell (Vanessa Morgan) after circumstances throw them together and the results are good.

What makes this show is the writing. Max is witty and quick on her feet. Morgan does an excellent job of delivering the lines that drive the humor. She is also beautiful, which contributes to the potential chemistry between the two unlikely partners. Gianniotti plays the straight man---a reluctant recipient of her barbs and her ingenious methods, which sometimes break the rules.

"Castle" had a similar vibe. The characters in "Wild Cards" are affable and very watchable. And there is a synergy from teaming the two.

The cases they work on are interesting and the action can be fast-moving as they decipher clues and solve crimes.

I value how a show leaves me feeling at the end of it -- and this one romps it in as feel-good, so only low-stress vs nail-biting suspense, a crime so some whodunnit-like mystery, not too complex, and of course never forgetting a bit of sweet romantic push-pull and tension! Add in some hints here and there of other interesting components that provide food for thought ... like ... about what integrity and character really "look like," no matter what the law technically says ... what privilege really is, and perhaps equally, its lack, and how such questions can come up for deeper consideration if desired (but not required, just that there is a possibility available to delve into the realms of philosophy if you want).

But mainly, it is a fun program to watch! Entertaining! It is a good hour of TV and a very agreeable interlude I look forward to each week, what I prefer given life already holds so much dark and nasty stuff so I can do without also seeing that played out again, and worse, on my TV. There is a new story and combo of things happening each time here that keeps it fresh. And this is notwithstanding the two main characters' dynamics together that are, yes, formulaic. The show capitalizes on the 'tried and true' of the genre, because it works. And as a result, and like most of my TV, I don't mind some of the stretches thus required of me, that indeed every now and again (just like the basic premise altogether, let's just admit) some details to continue propelling the show forward may of course contradict "how that really works" outside the bounds of the fiction this show is.

I am a fan, in short! That includes not just the show at large, but the leads' for their often stellar performances, and how I respect significant parts of some shows especially for the writing, as well as really admire so much of the camera work. I hope enough others do too, so that season 2 will be approved without delay.