Law and disorder: Ambitious 'Feds' doesn't live up to its promise. 'EZ Streets' returns.

"Feds," an ambitious new legal drama making its debut tonight
on CBS, is bound to draw comparisons to "Law & Order" on NBC, since
both series are about prosecutors and bear the unmistakable marks of
the same producer, Dick Wolf.
Unfortunately for "Feds" - promising as it may be - it's no
"Law & Order."
Blair Brown ("The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd") plays U.S.
Attorney Erica Stanton, the lead Manhattan federal prosecutor. She
leads an all-star office of enforcers: Regina Taylor ("I'll Fly
Away"), blessedly back on TV; chisel-jawed Dylan Baker ("Murder
One"), looking extremely federal; and the versatile John Slattery as
Michael Mancini, head of the organized crime unit.
Mancini's wife and children were wiped out by the mob, and this
crystallizing event forms the heart of the show, in both senses of
the word: It is the central story of the early episodes of "Feds,"
and the loss that Mancini carries around with him injects some
much-needed humanity into this show.
"Feds" has some clever plot twists - sometimes too clever - and
a decent sense of humor, but it sorely lacks imagination with its
characters' personal lives. When Sandra Broome (Taylor) gets mixed up
with a creepy French diplomat, her colleague Gaffney (Baker)
intervenes by introducing the Frenchman to Mr. Fist.
Likewise, after Gaffney starts seeing a new love interest,
Mancini figures out she's a mob informant using a trick he must've
copied out of an old Encyclopedia Brown mystery.
These would be forgivable sins in a more forgiving TV climate,
but "Feds" has only six weeks (or less) to establish itself, giving
it little room for error.
At one point, head Fed Stanton makes a passing reference to her
colleague in the New York district attorney's office - none other
than Adam Schiff of "Law & Order. " But that's another Wolf show on
another network, and it can't do "Feds" a whole lot of good way
over there.
Tough assignment
Following "Feds" at 9 p.m. on CBS is "EZ Streets," considered
by many to be the most outstanding new program in years.
Tonight's broadcast is the fourth chapter in the unfolding saga
of Detective Quinn (Ken Olin of "Thirtysomething" fame); local thug
Jimmy Murtha (Joe Pantoliano); and the young man trapped in the
middle, Danny Rooney (Jason Gedrick).
Graciously, NBC has smoothed the way for "EZ Streets" by
whisking away the show that forced it into early hiatus last fall -
none other than "Law & Order. " Instead, "EZ Streets" will face
"Dateline NBC" tonight and then, for four weeks, "Prince Street,"
a show about undercover cops that so far has done a good job of
staying undercover itself.
CBS restarted "EZ Streets" on Monday with Chapter 3, rather
than replay the first two episodes, broadcast in October.
But that's not to say that "EZ Streets" can't be enjoyed
without a libretto. Far from it: This is a very elegantly written
show, and the conversations between the principals stand on their
own, even if you're not always sure what's going on. I deliberately
watched the episodes out of order and was able to follow the story,
more or less.
Even so the plot apparently was too thick for some viewers Monday
night. The broadcast lost nearly one-third of its audience over the
course of the hour.
The philosophy of this show is nicely summed up in one exchange
between Danny and Jimmy's highly compromised lawyer Theresa (Debrah
Farentino), who is offering Danny protection. Danny has already spent
three years in jail covering for Jimmy, but he declines her offer.
"You're making a big mistake, Danny," Theresa says.
"Well, you make enough of them, you get good at it," Danny says
with a shrug.
"EZ Streets" is a show about hard times and the hard choices
made by people with few options left in life. It makes us see good in
evil people and vice versa, and does so with high purpose. It also
happens to be terrific adult entertainment.
If CBS had any nerve, it would give "EZ Streets" the two things
it richly deserves: a TV-M rating and carte blanche on Wednesday
nights.