Paging Mr. Smith

Last night I watched Smith (CBS Tuesdays at 10). Ray Liota leads a team of expert thieves to commit various heists as they juggle daily events in their complicated lives while a pair of detectives tries to track them down. Virginia Madsen plays his wife. Valerie Rae Miller and Shohreh Aghdashloo both play important supporting roles. But the surprise came when I realized that hot British dude was Johnny Lee Miller. Where the hell has he been?

God I hope this show doesn't get cancelled.

The blond surfer guy slept with a bridesmaid and wore her girlie bathrobe around the apartment after she went to work while he watched a yoga tape. In a separate scene he cooly put together a rifle and sniped two guys on a beach for trying to intimidate him. The leader of the crew has a wife and kids and a boring day job. The bitchy, seemingly coldhearted chick lets go a woman who could identify her at the scene of a crime. All characters with surprising quirks, not cliches.

Although it will probably have the heist-of-the-week format to keep it on par with the CBS mantra, the show focuses much more on the personal lives of the thieves. Bad guys as protagonists? Unexpected character quirks? Lots of action and sex fit for network standrds and practices? I'm there.

My only reservation is the death in the pilot. The guy who died was the least developed, least interesting, least convenient person in the crew. There would have been more conflict with him in the mix. Of course, these are still people in a heist crew who have to hold down day jobs and real lives, so there should be enough conflict left to go around.

This is the exact kind of show I want to write. I'm sure John Wells reads my blog, right? Hire me, dude.

Seriously people. Check this show out. It's gonna be good. If it doesn't get cancelled.