'Tis Lousy to Have Loved and Lost... : 2006-2007's TV Casualties Part 12

KIDNAPPED

Synopsis: The son of an affluent New Yorker is kidnapped, leading to a high-powered manhunt involving vast political conspiracies.

What Worked: Probably the most sly debut show of the season, this was underplayed and nearly underacted, avoiding the bombastic nature of most cop shows. This was one to which you reaaaaally had to pay attention, and for the few episodes that actually aired in its original Wednesday at 10 timeslot, it made the viewers feel like they were reading a damn good mystery novel. This was a full season commitment, much like HBO's "The Wire," which pretty much every reputable critic in America agrees is one of the greatest television shows of all time. "Kidnapped" is not "The Wire," not even close, but it shared the same intelligence.

I know that I've been gushing over the ensemble cast of most shows already in this article series, but "Kidnapped" boasted by far the greatest, bar none. I have been the biggest Jeremy Sisto fan ever since his role as Roberto in Lawrence Kasdan's tour de force "Grand Canyon" (like Paul Haggis's "Crash," only not lame) right through such works as "Clueless," "May" and his role as Billy Chenoweth on "Six Feet Under." As the hard-edged private eye with unorthodox tactics (yeah, aren't they always that way?), he was an itchy trigger finger antihero that seemed more at home in a cable show like "The Closer" or "The Shield."

The rest of the major cast included Bay Area guy Delroy Lindo ("Get Shorty") as Sisto's former partner and pointman of the investigation, Mykelti Williamson ("Forrest Gump") as the victim's bodyguard and Timothy Hutton ("Ordinary People") and Dana Delaney ("NYPD Blue") as the parents. In addition, the show was filmed in New York, so instead of those L.A. characters actors we see in several shows during the same year in guest roles, "Kidnapped" has its share of cult actors and theatre personalities, the two most noteworthy being Anthony Rapp ("Rent") and James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture on "The Venture Brothers").

What Didn't Work: This show got praised to high holy heaven by many print and online critics, but I always found it a bit too solemn for its own good, or for its very few viewers. I found the focus on the parents too depressing to work in comparison to the in-depth investigation, which is an admittedly sociopathic response entirely on my part but still nevertheless true.

I wish the show had remained a little more focused on the case at hand, really, and understanding more about the Sisto character and less about the victim (who we saw being kept in Mexico for no real reason), more like the other wealthy kidnapped person show this year, FOX's "Vanished." I actually enjoyed that show a great deal more, but in a very stupid I'm-watching-FOX way.

But it's very hard to pass judgement on this show, since it lasted no more than four episodes in its time slot, was put on hiatus, then asked by the producers to take the 22-episode arc and squeeze it into 13, then only aired those episodes scattered throughout the year, ultimately showing the final handful all together on a weekend.

Why Not Enough People Watched: The death of the serialized show not about superheroes or castaways continues. It's definitely a tough sell, and to put it into the slot occupied by TV mainstay "Law & Order" after more than a decade in the same spot probably seemed like blasphemy to NBC watchers. ("L&O" also suffered greatly from this change, a move that almost ended its legendary run entirely.)

I can't blame NBC for canceling it, though. Just look at that cast list. That's a whole lot of moolah to pony up, not to mention the fact that New York is an absolute killer of shows due to the monstrous sums of money it takes to film there.

It just wasn't happening. NBC was hemmhoraging money, and needed a surefire hit from the get-go. Let's see how Sisto does now that he's joined "L&O." (What a coinkydink.)

Overall Series: 6.5 (out of 10)

Final 2006-2007 Neilsen Rating: #106 (5.6 million viewers)

Fun Fact: NBC tried a bold new marketing strategy by placing the show's pilot on Netflix a month in advance to spread the good word. Suffice it to say, it didn't work. And look, what other show did they try this on? "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," another one that won't be making it to next season. It did work for "Heroes," but one out of three is very much bad.