UPN | 13 episodes | Drama
WHO'S IN IT? Jeff Yagher, Cheryl Pollak, Bruce McGill, Wanda De
Jesus, Hill Harper, Sam Anderson, et. al.
SYNOPSIS: "In the television news business, there's one hard and fast rule: you're
only as good as your next...LIVE SHOT"
Live Shot is a fast-paced ensemble drama focusing on the staff of a Los Angeles television newsroom. As the series opens, Alex Rydell is about to
begin his first day as KXZX Channel 3's news director. He's moved from
Boston to Los Angeles with his young son in tow, leaving behind a dissolving
marriage in the process.
In the first episode, the team uncover a police cover-up involving the
murder of a local socialite (which was followed over in a story-arc not
resolved by the end of the show), later on in the episode a bomb goes off in
the newsroom - nicknamed "the chopped liver bomb" - the origins of which
were also carried over into a later episode.
VERDICT: The ensemble cast is interesting,
although a little busy. The show has major network quality,
although very mid-90s: full-screen graphics of the show's title
in/out of each commercial break, and flashy jump cuts set to a pop music
soundtrack (The "Do be do be do do dos" from Annie Lennox's "No
More I Love You's" play through the episode, then later changing to her
1995 single "I Can't Get Next To You", and then the episode closing with
"Why" also by Lennox - I guess someone was a fan!). The storyline of
Alex and his son is a little boring, but the episode otherwise makes up
for it.
At the time of the show's launch, UPN was a fairly brand new network
and attempting to branch out into different genres - it's most
successful show at the time was Star Trek Voyager. In the case of Live
Shot, it's cancelation was more that viewers were not aware of the show,
rather than a testament to the quality of the show.
CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Yes! Deserved much better. Thankfully, all episodes are on YouTube.
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