I'm on vacation, but I did get a look at the "Leverage" season premiere before I left. The show still doesn't feel like it's living up to the potential of the premise and the cast, but I think it's found an equilibrium where I like the characters enough to enjoy it as a summer diversion, if nothing else.

That said, the new opening title sequence is very cool. What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Quick spoilers for the "Leverage" first season finale coming up just as soon as I say hi to my mummy...

I would call "The First David Job" the more satisfying half of this two-part finale, simply because the ideas of Sterling setting up a Bizarro World version of Leverage, and of our heroes having to reverse roles to save the day, was more clever than anything either side pulled off last night. Still, it was fun to watch Kevin Tighe's panic level build throughout the hour -- that's one of the staples of the heroic con artist genre, made especially pleasurable when you have a glowering wonder of an actor like Tighe playing those notes -- and to see Nate's ex-wife more thoroughly integrated into the team.

So here's my question: I think we can all agree that "Leverage," while entertaining, didn't quite live up to the potential of its premise or its cast, so what improvements would you like to see made for season two? Similarly high-concept genre shows like "Chuck" and "Burn Notice" are demonstrating that it only takes a few tweaks between seasons to go from entertaining diversion to can't-miss, so what can the "Leverage" producers do to make a similar leap? Do you want Kari Matchett to stick around? More cases where a member of the team has a personal stake? Less of those? Something else entirely? Click here to read the full post

Spoilers for part one of the two-part "Leverage" season finale just as soon as I figure out what Fienberg would do in this situation...

That was fun, wasn't it?

"The First David Job" is the sort of thing any good genre show should be capable of doing by the end of its first season if it has any kind of ambition and/or learning curve. It builds on what we know about the characters and the way they work, sometimes by undercutting that knowledge (Elliot runs into a guy almost as tough as he is), sometimes by flipping it around (Sophie temporarily becomes Parker, Elliot becomes Hardison), and it raises the stakes significantly. We have the return of Mark Sheppard as Sterling, the introduction of both Kari Matchett as Nate's ex and the great Kevin Tighe (who can play a role like this in his sleep) as the man Nate holds responsible for his son's death, the team taking its first real beating, and even the destruction of Leverage Consulting & Associates headquarters (though not before Hardison was able to salvage the wonderful painting of Harlan Leverage III).

A very well-executed episode, and next week's "The Second David Job" is just as entertaining. I think "Leverage" as a whole has been uneven this season, but if this is a sign of the level they're aiming for going into year two, then I'm definitely on board.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

TNT announced today that they've ordered a second season of "Leverage."

I'm kinda, sorta still watching, but it's now been demoted to "watch while I sort the laundry" status, and/or "it's the last unwatched thing on the DVR hard drive" status. I still like Timothy Hutton and Aldis Hodge, and Beth Riesgraf is growing on me, but the show's too thin to really hold my attention for long.

When I blogged a few of the episodes in December, the reaction seemed to be that people liked it just enough to watch then, but doubted they'd stick with it once the networks got back in business in January. So is anybody else sticking with it? And, if so, what do you think? Click here to read the full post

Quick thoughts on Tuesday night's "Leverage" coming up just as soon as I do things by the book...

Not that I ever had super-high expectations for this show -- as I said in my review a few weeks back, it seems like an entertaining trifle at best right now -- but to have to resort to the bank robbery hostage crisis cliche in the fifth episode? That's not a good sign for what kind of stories they have lined up soon.

(Then again, I look at shows like "Chuck" and "Burn Notice" and how they spun their wheels for most of their first seasons before figuring things out in year two and try to hope that this is just growing pains.)

Still, the idea of doing a "Leverage" version of the old staple -- what happens when thieves are stuck in the bank with the robbers? -- wasn't a bad one, and it allowed Hardison, my favorite character by a long stretch, an opportunity to shine. But the denouement didn't make any sense -- Wouldn't the local cops notice that one of the FBI agents was now dressed like a hostage? And how was Parker simultaneously posing as a hostage and driving Hardison away as an FBI agent? And even if the other hostages all agree to screw the evil judge, won't their stories contradict enough to prevent a conviction? -- and I'm really starting to think that including Elliot in the mix was a poor idea.

All due respect to Christian Kane, but there's a reason caper shows and movies don't generally include an ass-kicker on the team, and it's because the fun of the genre is watching the team outwit their opponents. If you introduce a character whose primary purpose is to beat people up -- and who, it's been established, will come out on top of any kind of fight, no matter how long the odds -- that takes a lot of the fun out of the mix. Yes, they still primarily saved the day and nailed the judge through brainpower, but there's at least one problem per episode that Elliot has to take care of through brute force (in much the same way that every "Superfriends" mission always had an underwater component so Aquaman could seem useful), and it always feels lame and tacked-on.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

After all the grousing in today's thread about how there's no new programming on TV during Christmas week, I should probably be grateful there's an original episode of "Leverage" and go hog-wild reviewing it. But even if I wasn't preparing to see friends and family, I wouldn't have a lot to say about this, the last and easily the weakest of the four episodes I've seen. Gina Bellman's identical-sounding accents are a particular problem here, and the solution to the miracle problem seemed far too simple.

But talk about it if you want to, and I look forward to having something new to watch a week from tonight. Click here to read the full post

I'm a little too swamped right now to go into any real detail about tonight's "Leverage," except to say that, while the job itself really didn't interest me, seeing the crew have to work around the insurance investigator played by Mark Sheppard was a lot of fun. Fire away with your own thoughts. Click here to read the full post

Quick spoilers for last night's timeslot premiere of "Leverage" coming up just as soon as I put one in the hopper...

That was another solid, albeit lightweight, episode, I thought. The pilot was more of a traditional caper story, where here we get our first extended look at how Leverage Consulting & Associates (founded by the late, great Harlan Leverage III, of course) does their Robin Hood thing.

I like how some parts of the plan are almost epic in scale (getting an appropriations bill rewritten to make the congressman look bad) while others are almost elegant in their simplicity (blowing open the container next door and counting on the bad guys not to notice).

There are still some flaws, notably the failed attempts to sell Christian Kane's bad-assery (other than maybe "Mission: Impossible," I'm having a hard time thinking of another caper series or movie that featured a muscle man in a key role), but it's been fun so far.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

I shared most of my thoughts about the "Leverage" pilot in Friday's column, but feel free to share your own thoughts here. Click here to read the full post

In today's column, I review TNT's "Leverage," a fun little caper show with some room for improvement. As I've seen the first four episodes (one airs this Sunday, then the show airs Tuesdays at 10), I'll probably work it into the rotation in some form at least through the end of the month. Click here to read the full post