This pilot is feature length and the writer, Richard L. Breen, seems to have packed about three half-hour stories into it. There are sub-plots about some French guy, a child molester, Russian visitors, Gannon's tooth and Gannon's temporary retirement, but the A story involves the kidnapping and probable murder of four attractive young women.
All these narrative threads lead Friday and Gannon on chases through such places as lonely hearts clubs, the home of a recent French immigrant proud to become an American, who has a nephew who sings "Suwanee River" in French (the killer should have nailed HIM), and a housing development in the pouring rain, where the climax takes place.
If you like the usual episodes in the series, you'll like this pilot too. Friday and Gannon are their reliable selves, with Gannon making confident pronouncements about the restorative properties of Pismo clams and Friday making witty ripostes.
But -- what with this being a reintroduction of the characters and their milieu -- the must be more action to keep the viewer watching. Friday pulls his gun twice but doesn't fire it. And see Friday climb the side of a muddy mountain and almost be buried in a landslide. See Friday get into an actual fist fight and wind up looking almost as bad as the other guy.
Otherwise the ethos and eidos are familiar. Friday wears his gray jacket and dark slacks. He walks without swinging his hands. The dialog is unembroidered, but Friday gets to make an angry speech to a child molester who uses the N word.
Plenty of fun to be had.
All these narrative threads lead Friday and Gannon on chases through such places as lonely hearts clubs, the home of a recent French immigrant proud to become an American, who has a nephew who sings "Suwanee River" in French (the killer should have nailed HIM), and a housing development in the pouring rain, where the climax takes place.
If you like the usual episodes in the series, you'll like this pilot too. Friday and Gannon are their reliable selves, with Gannon making confident pronouncements about the restorative properties of Pismo clams and Friday making witty ripostes.
But -- what with this being a reintroduction of the characters and their milieu -- the must be more action to keep the viewer watching. Friday pulls his gun twice but doesn't fire it. And see Friday climb the side of a muddy mountain and almost be buried in a landslide. See Friday get into an actual fist fight and wind up looking almost as bad as the other guy.
Otherwise the ethos and eidos are familiar. Friday wears his gray jacket and dark slacks. He walks without swinging his hands. The dialog is unembroidered, but Friday gets to make an angry speech to a child molester who uses the N word.
Plenty of fun to be had.