New cop dramas are a lighter shade of blue

‘Rizzoli & Isles,’ ‘Covert Affairs’ soften the law

July 12, 2010|Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff

‘The Closer,’’ which premiered five years ago, started a small revolution in summer TV. The TNT cop series starring Kyra Sedgwick was an instant basic-cable record-breaker, and, along with USA’s “Monk,’’ it drew droves of viewers hungry for fresh, non-reality, off-season programming. By 2006, summer ad-supported cable TV was winning twice the primetime viewership of the broadcast networks.

Naturally, TNT and USA have been trying to continue and build on that success by unrolling crime-oriented dramas every June and July that are geared to a light summer mood. What exactly is a summery show, when it doesn’t involve a waterslide? Dead bodies are allowed, but the downbeat realism of, say, “CSI’’ is discouraged. Attractive heroes with EZ-to-identify quirks — a Southern accent, an Elvis fixation — are definitely a plus. And the shows must fit into a somewhat dated formula — nothing challenging permitted.

This week brings two new basic-cable summer series, coupled with the returns of “The Closer’’ and USA’s “White Collar’’ and “Psych.’’ Tonight at 10, TNT is premiering “Rizzoli & Isles,’’ in which Angie Harmon is a Boston detective and Sasha Alexander is the coroner. And tomorrow at 10, USA is bringing us “Covert Affairs,’’ with Piper Perabo as a CIA trainee who’s plucked from the academy to work on a special case. Neither show is as good as “Burn Notice’’ or “The Closer,’’ but then neither is as mediocre as “Royal Pains.’’ They’re both take-’em-or-leave-’em ventures.

Based on fiction by Tess Gerritsen, “Rizzoli & Isles’’ is supposed to be a female buddy drama, but the premiere focuses on the buddy with the bigger fan base — Harmon. Since her days as A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael on “Law & Order,’’ Harmon has developed a following that TNT is banking on. She plays Detective Jane Rizzoli, a bit of a tomboy who shoots basketball with her brother (and gets yelled at by her mother, an irritatingly shrill Lorraine Bracco) when she’s not in detective mode. She’s not the smartest cookie in the bag, as she walks into an obvious trap tonight involving a serial killer; but she has grit and ambition and great hair.

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