"All in all, another fine start to a series from the network that “knows drama,” which is almost ironic since it’s probably the funniest show on the network"
It's been awhile since we've seen Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanaugh on the small screen, in leading roles that is. It's been nearly three years since McCormack's hit series Will & Grace went off the air, and nearly 5 years since Cavanaugh's Ed went off the air, but guess what? They're both back, better than ever and together in Trust Me, a fast-paced new series set in the fast-paced world of advertising.
First of all, no, this is not circa 1950s Mad Men style. This is a contemporary look at the modern ad agency, the eclectic group of people who work there and the consumerific trends of the American public. They just simply couldn't have gotten two better people to lead this show than Eric McCormack and Tom Kavanaugh, who riff off each other in ways I haven't seen on the small screen since Peter Krause and Josh Charles in the brilliant Aaron Sorkin series, Sports Night. McCormack stars as Mason, an art director, and Cavanaugh stars as Connor, his copywriting partner who have been creating campaigns for the past seven years together at the Chicago ad firm Rothman Greene and Mohr. Mason is the more responsible of the duo and Connor is the free-wheeling spirit, and such. But when their tenaciously high-strung boss Stu Hoffman drops dead unexpectedly, things take another unexpected turn when Mason is promoted to creative director in Stu's absence, which doesn't sit well at all with Connor, who will now be working under him. To make matters worse, the creative group (one of eight in the same firm... which was a little confusing at first), led by Tony Mink (Griffin Dunne) is in danger of losing their biggest client, the cell-phone provider Arc Mobile and they all need to pull together - along with the junior creative team of Hector Culligan and Tom Fuller (Geoffrey Arend and Mike Damus) and this new copywriter with a slew of Clio's (the ad world's Oscar) to her name, Sarah Krajicek-Hunter (Monica Potter) - to keep their biggest account.
While I did enjoy the script by creators Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny - who have 20 years of real-world advertising experience under their belt, and a past writing gig with TNT's The Closer to boot - I think they tried to infuse too much of the drama that TNT is known for. With the constant rapid-fire banter between McCormack's Mason and Cavanaugh's Connor, and a slew of other great comedic characters and actors, it almost seems that the drama here, mainly between Mason and Connor, is too forced or contrived. While the comedy seems to come natural to Baldwin and Coveny, their dramatic story points don't feel that natural to me, although I did dig their wonderful ending to the pilot that does show they have potential to deftly blend the humor and drama together. The story here does what every good pilot should, which is give us some introductions to the main characters, set the tone of the show and, most importantly, propel the series forward into the rest of the season. I have noticed in previous pilots that I've watched, the tendency to kind of throw everything into the pot and the second episode really shows what the series will be made of. While, sadly, I only received the pilot, I am more than intrigued enough to give this a shot and see what they have up their sleeves for this first season, mainly because this show is a rare one that shows so many powerful egos all clashing together and also has the distinction of being a workplace show that shows us right away that people are starting to grasp the notion that there are more important things outside of their job.
Acting-wise, I was pretty much hooked from minute one - with a wonderful exchange between a hungover Mason and Connor in Los Angeles, as they're coaxed back to Chicago with the promise of creating a Super Bowl campaign... which doesn't turn out to be the case. McCormack and Cavanaugh are both in tip-top form, especially Cavanaugh who just truly embraces this outlandish character and seems to be totally immersed in the world of Connor in wonderfully quirky ways. While the way both McCormack and Cavanaugh play off each other in terrific ways will be a main selling point for the show, there's plenty more to enjoy here. Griffin Dunne, who it's honestly awesome to see back in a major role again, is wonderfully delirious in a much different way than Connor, Monica Potter is a joy to watch as the egocentric Sarah Krajicek-Hunter, who never thinks she's wrong and always thinks guys are hitting on her and the junior creative team of Geoffrey Arend (the guy who ate all the drugs at the beginning of Super Troopers) and Mike Damus don't have hugely pivotal roles in the pilot, but they certainly look to be a lot of fun to watch as the series progresses. While we only see her for one brief moment at the end, also look for Sarah Clarke (24) as Mason's wife and there is a wonderful cameo from Adam Scott as Sarah Krajicek-Hunter's old boss, although I don't know how they'd work him in to future episodes, sadly.
All in all, another fine start to a series from the network that "knows drama," which is almost ironic since it's probably the funniest show on the network.
You can see for yourself when this series premiere of Trust Me hits the TNT airwaves on Monday, January 26.
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