King & Maxwell

My last few posts on this blog have been highlighting some upcoming shows for the fall season.

Let's take a different path today and look at a new show that recently finished it's first "season" on TNT.  Cable shows run on a different schedule than the other networks, so that during the summer while all of that is on hiatus, cable hauls out it's best stuff.  Not a bad plan when you think about it.  Plus, it gives a person something new to watch during those summer months.  If this is all news to you, a typical "season" for a cable show is about 13 episodes.

One of TNT's new shows this summer, King & Maxwell, starring Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn, features two former Secret Service Agents, now private detectives in the D.C. area.  In the pilot, the case involved finding an autistic savant, Edgar, who was suspected of being a serial killer.  King & Maxwell disproved that theory and offered Edgar a job.  He becomes an integral part of their case-solving process due to his skill with hacking, as well as his ability to recognize the clue in numerical patterns and sequences.  The team also seeks help on a regular basis from Benni, one of Sean King's C.I.'s.  Her specialties range from forgery to knowing all the dirt on the criminal activity in the city.  King & Maxwell also "interact" with the FBI nearly every episode.  Agents Rigby and Butler have been tasked to any scene that involves these two.  It is a love/hate relationship, with the emphasis more on the hate.

This series is based on David Baldacci's novels.  Here is what he has to say about the show:


After watching that you probably have a better sense of the characters. Michelle Maxwell is the first one to manage the "take-down" of a suspect.  Sean usually doesn't have his gun.  Does it drive her crazy?  Yes.  Does he care?  No.

One of the things that I really liked in terms of the writing for this show is how they managed the story arc for the first season.  Edgar found an anomaly watching the video of the assassination of Sean's protectee (that led to his not being in the Secret Service any longer).  That thread gets pulled a little bit each show while these two solve all other crimes or mysteries each episode, with the season finale finally unraveling who was really responsible for the assassination.  I LOVE a story arc that umbrellas an entire season with the payoff coming at the end.  I hope that they find a way to do that every season.  We shall see...