Kidnapped

By Josh Lasser on August 11, 2006 • ( 2 )

Faithful Reader, I know that I usually take Fridays off but today I can’t, today I feel the need to tell you about what happened to me last night.

Last night part of me, my imagination, was taken hostage. It was stolen, and money was asked for in exchange for it’s safe return. That’s right, last night I got Kidnapped. Timothy Hutton, Dana Delany, Jeremy Sisto, Mykelti Williamson, & Delroy Lindo (by now you know that I have a weak spot for Hutton), and numerous others, it’s a pretty solid cast.

Frankly, I’m torn. I have now seen two pilots fort he upcoming season, this and The Nine. While that thrills me more than anything, it hurts that both these programs air at the same time. NBC-Universal’s current plans for Kidnapped seem to include it’s being double-run on a sister network, which may make my choice easier, but that will most likely be just a short term solution.

Kidnapped is certainly a far more conventional show than The Nine, at least in the construction of its plot. The both do revolve, seemingly, around one specific moment in time, for Kidnapped it is the actual kidnapping, and for The Nine it is the bank holdup. There are antecedents and results as well, but these events are truly the impetus for the storylines. In Kidnapped we actually get to see, at the outset, the event unfold, The Nine keeps it hidden from us. Surely there will be flashbacks in Kidnapped to the event, and new angles will be revealed, but in The Nine the mystery is what exactly happened and that is not the case in Kidnapped.

Both shows also have solid casts, with wonderful character actors in several different roles. While some of my personal favorites are in Kidnapped, I’d have to give an edge to The Nine for quality of cast, but that may only be because there are so many more parts available.

There is absolutely room for two or three successful shows in a single time period, and I certainly hope that both of these shows survive. They are both intriguingly plotted, well designed, with good writing (some may quibble with Kidnapped’s writing, but I thought it well done and certainly sustainable for a season) and acting. I just wish that they didn’t have to air opposite one another. Excluding putting one on Friday nights (which save for Las Vegas I don’t TiVo shows on and don’t actually think either would survive on), I’d happily trade either Veronica Mars or Grey’s Anatomy from my planned fall schedule for either of these programs.

Ah, would that either of these shows had Eric Balfour.