Monthly Archives: September 2010

It was a huge disappointment to hear that Lone Star struggled in its first week on the air. Despite critical raves and a prime post-House timeslot, it seemed that viewers were just not as pulled in to the con man drama as they were The Event and Dancing With the Stars. Either way, I was excited to see where the story was going to go following a pilot that served almost as a stand alone story than it did a series pilot.

Well, the good news is that the series second episode, “One in Every Family” delivered, with a powerful hour of television that slowly built to a conclusion that once again pulled the rug out from under us. Robert/Bob’s secrets (still trying to figure out a good name for him) have come close to boiling out from under the lid both weeks, and it seems like, only two episodes in, things are going to fall apart any minute.

In Midland, he and Lindsay have returned from their honeymoon, sharing the news with parents, which draws a lot of ire. With his memory of his marriage to Cat in mind, Robert convinces her to have a formal wedding. He runs into two problems though, first when Lindsay discovers his yearbook that doesn’t have his name in it, and second, when her sister shows up and finds his lost Dallas phone. He avoids both unharmed, with solid lies giving him solid alibis. But there’s the first hint of suspicions in Midland, which certainly don’t bode well for Robert.

Meanwhile in Dallas, Bob has figured out how to get his plan into motion with his father’s help, using his brother-in-law Drew as a way to get Clint to expedite things. John is still very hesitant to go through with everything though, especially after uber-douche Trammell chews him out. Making matters worse, Clint relates Bob’s sob story about how his father abandoned him, which leads to John going ballistic on his son. After a rousing night out with Drew, John decides it’s time to take matters into his own hands and calls in some outside help, who we’ll presumably meet next week.

My favorite part of the episode (outside of hearing The National’s “Afraid of Everyone”) was that it was a slow build, much in the style of Mad Men and other cable shows. The episode was slow at first, a lot of talk about Bob and John’s plan with small seeds of doubt being placed in Lindsay’s mind. But in the last half hour, the show switched into overdrive and raised the stakes significantly. You have to wonder, after two episodes, can Bob really keep coming up with more lies about being in a yearbook or a colleague that calls everyone “son” to keep this ruse going?

But I do have to say that there’s no longer any doubt in my mind that Lone Star can work as a series as opposed to a movie premise packaged in one hour installments. There was enough in “One in Every Family” to keep the story self-contained while also intensifying the drama of the overall story significantly. It helps that there’s a fantastic cast that doesn’t miss a beat notching up the intensity.

The low ratings of the premier and Fox’s history of swift cancellations is bad news for Lone Star, which is also a bit of bad news for network dramas. While comedies have been able to flourish on the networks in recent years, the top dramas on television are now on basic and premium cable. If Fox sticks with the show, it would be a huge step towards changing that, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. For now, enjoy Lone Star for as long as you can, and then hope that a cable network gives it a fair chance.

Michael’s Score: 80
TUiW Grade: B+

One of the most talked about shows of the pilot season, I had high expectations for Lone Star. Having been burned by so many talked about pilots in years past, I remained cautiously optimistic throughout the entire episode, and it wasn’t until the credits rolled that I had genuinely decided my opinion.

My hesitance to form a full opinion was not that the episode was shaky, but because its based on a premise that, while entertaining, I’m not sure will last an entire season, let alone anything past that. At the center of our story is Bob Allen, a lifelong con man in Texas who’s partnered with his domineering father. The catch is that Bob is married to Cat, the daughter of a wealthy Dallas oil man whom Bob and his father plan to steal from, while as Robert, he is dating a girl in Midland, Lindsay, whose parents he conned previously. Robert/Bob (Bobert?) is torn between his two lives, in love with both women, and ignoring the actually sound advice of his father to cut things off with one of them.

You basically have a classic con man dilemma, yet Robert has other things on his mind than being in love with two women. His father pushes him closer to both women, as he encourages him to break things off with Lindsay to avoid getting caught, and to remember that he’s only married to Cat to extort money out of her powerful father. Naturally, there are suspicious parties on both ends, with Cat’s brother wanting him to stay out of the family business and Lindsay’s ex (who looks a hell of a lot like my favorite con man of all time) who wants him to stay away from his woman, but neither seem to have solid dirt on him just yet.

What stood out about Lone Star was the phenomenal acting. James Wolk is a newcomer that gives a hell of a performance, and he was fantastic opposite the antagonistic father played perfectly by David Keith. There wasn’t much of Adrianne Palicki as Cat or Eloise Mumford as Lindsay, but both used their small amounts of screen time well. I’m fairly convinced Jon Voight reads his scripts for the first time right before the camera rolls, but damn if he doesn’t own every scene he’s in.

The downside of the Pilot is that it occasionally was too on the nose. Sure, every pilot tends to be because of the necessity for exposition. But when Robert saw a father taking advantage of his son in a gas station, I cringed a little, the same with the scene of a woman trying to convince Robert it’s okay to sleep with her at a hotel. There’s a difference between exposition and bludgeoning your audience over the head with exposition.

But that being said, I loved this pilot. Top notch acting and an intriguing story more than made up for the brief moments where I was reminded that it was a pilot. As I said, I have no idea if Lone Star can properly function as a television series and not a film or miniseries, but I’m definitely won over me over. When I think of great pilots I think of the West Wing, Lost, and Friday Night Lights, and I’ll easily add Lone Star to that list. Here’s hoping every week can be this good.

Michael’s Score: 93
TUiW Grade: A