There’s a new show on the teev called Numb3rs (I feel lame typing that 3) and it’s about using maths to solve crimes. The NX fan in me likes seeing Rob Morrow as an FBI agent, though it is a bit weird to see Fleischman in a bullet-proof vest.
I’m favourably disposed toward the geekyness of the maths premise. I do have doubts about the followthrough. I read an article about Angel alumnus Tim Minear and his new series The Insider. Before he took it over, it was a Jump Street ripoff, but Minear has re-vamped it, saying that the cop undercover in high school is fine for an episode, but it’s hard to draw out to a series. I’m feeling this way about the maths thing in Numbers (screw your 3, damn you). Even by the second episode, they’re already discarding some of the cool theory that they set up in the pilot. It’s rapidly descending into a formula – crime occurs, scribble on blackboard and use words like "equation" and "variable" and Bingo! Answer produced. They should have just called it ‘magic’ – it would have saved them the fee for the maths consultant.
Anyway, the other notable thing about this show is the credits. They’re bad. Really really really bad. Channel-changing bad. Insipid and distracting and…well, BAD.
Buffy – great show, great credits. CSIs – bad shows, excellent credits (so loving The Who). Lost – meh show, short credits (short is almost as good as good). Scrubs – great show, quinella credits – good and short!
Suspecting there’s no pattern here. I wonder if I took the variables and put them into an equation on my blackboard, I’d discover the formula for great TV. Must acquire blackboard.
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