3.5 stars
Wednesdays, 9-10 p.m., Fox
The players: Peter Facinelli, Bill Bellamy, Tiffani Thiessen. Produced and directed by McG (Charlie’s Angels)
What it’s about: An L.A. cop, Van Ray (Facinelli), teams with his dead partner’s brother, Deaqon Hayes (Bellamy), as part of a special undercover branch of the LAPD headed by a mysterious lieutenant (Thiessen).
What can I say: Charlie’s Angels introduced us to McG‘s high-octane, primary-color-driven visual style as well as his ability to mix levity with heavy action. He brings that same touch to the small screen with this action-packed series that plays with so many conventions, I’m not sure which to enjoy first.
The two leads are straight out of the interracial buddy-cop handbook, a couple of guys who are not so different other than one is East Coast and the other West Coast. Although they dislike each other from the get-go, they also have an inherently strong bond–their love for Hayes’ murdered brother Andre.
Then there’s the secret police division which recruits these two renegade cops. The twist there is that their leader is a woman (Tiffani’s Angels?) and that the operation is somewhat self-sufficient, supported by goods seized during the course of their work–so we can be sure there will be no shortage of fast cars and big houses.
And then there’s the softcore sex under blue light (Miami Vice for the new millennium). There isn’t too much nuance there; talk of ass waxing passes for foreplay.
All of this would be too hackneyed for its own good without writing that’s self-aware enough to insert a conversation about why black people don’t surf, a prison game involving Duran Duran trivia and a choreographed two-stepping sequence for every obvious Lethal Weapon cliché.
Facinelli is extremely likeable as the bold but sensitive Van Ray (if that’s not an action hero name, I don’t know what is), and Bellamy‘s Deaqon Hayes is far more interesting than the actor ever was as an MTV VJ.
Bottom line: To call Fastlane “real” would be an overstatement, but this is a series that goes out of its way to pull no punches and depict some range of character (all the way from smug to sullen), no matter how fanciful the situations. It’s got as much speed as The Fast and the Furious, as many flipped cars as The A-Team, and as much good humor and attitude as The Last Boy Scout. Up against The West Wing, that combination’s probably not going to win many older demographic converts; as a smart, hip alternative, it’ll no doubt carpool straight past the highway tolls to ratings success.
