The Mysteries of Laura: Episode 1- "Pilot"

The Mysteries of Laura: Episode 1- "Pilot"

Talk about an identity crisis. This show doesn't know if it's trying to be a serious cop drama or a dysfunctional family sitcom. Personally, I think it failed at both.

The best part of this episode for me was seeing Enrico Colantoni guest starring. I have watched this guy on Veronica Mars, Flashpoint and Just Shoot Me. Keeping him would have been the only way I would have watched more episodes of this series. He's fantastic.

The worst part of this episode is pretty much everything else. I don't believe Debra Messing to be a cop. A slobby scatterbrained mother sure, but a not a cop. I not sure how long they it took them to cast the children, but they should have kept looking. They could go down as some of the most annoying child characters on TV. Don't even get me started on the stereotypical father (Jake) who always praises himself while finding a way to belittle his wife (Laura). He doesn't believe in punishing the children when they do wrong, he just laughs and shrugs it off like boys will be boys and leaves her to just "figure it out". 

Jake says that Laura is "detached from reality" which is very ironic because that's how I would describe this show. Every scene in this show is so far-fetched and unbelievable. Laura taking down her cop mentor with a single punch, not likely. Laura slurping her soup while standing over a dead body in the morgue, doubtful. Laura aiming so accurately at a suspect that she only takes off his earlobe, COME ON!

The worst is the switching between the police scenes and the family scenes which becomes very sudden and jarring. One second it's a serious drama and the next it's a "funny" kids moment all dictated by the background music. Now I'm not sure if they think the audience is stupid or if the writers found the back and forth jarring as well and added different music to each scene as if to tell us how to feel. I don't need a constant change of happy/sad/serious/scary background music to tell me how and when I am supposed to feel what. 

Unfortunately for NBC, this is one mystery that I'm not interested enough to solve.

Grade: D+

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