It's premature to judge a series based on its pilot. As it's the episode made specifically to sell the series, you can have a ton of exposition that sets up the episodes to follow, or a lot of flash to get viewers hooked. This week, I've seen one pilot for each of these.
Hawaii 5-0 is the expositional one, as the hour delved into the creation of the 5-0 team and set up the back stories for each of the characters while trying to solve the murder of Navy officer Steve McGarrett's father. I didn't expect quite so much background from a series revival, but I think it was done because(a) current viewers under 40 have likely never seen an episode of the original, and (b) to differentiate the new version from the old for those of us who have seen it.
Getting past all of the set-up, the pilot did have a fair amount of action and more violence than expected, which I suppose gives the show a push towards the spectacle area. This, as well as the broad charge the governor of Hawaii (played by Jean Smart) gives McGarrett, makes me fear that this will be less a cop show and more a tropical riff on 24. Even so, I'm still going to give it a chance, and based on the ratings (the pilot won its time slot, and will likely be the most-watched new show of the first week), I'm not alone. Maybe we're all just happy they didn't mess with the theme song all that much.
Undercovers falls more squarely in the latter category. A married pair of retired spies is goaded back into service by a CIA handler (Gerald McRainey) to find a former colleague who has gone missing. In the course of the hour, the newly reinstated spies travel to three countries, con their way into a bank to see ATM camera footage, crash a wedding to steal information off of a cell phone, skydive, get involved in a rooftop fight and handle crises related to a wedding reception (the pair entered catering after leaving the Company). It's slickly done, has attractive leads with good chemistry, and promises a dashing mix of spy work and domestic semi-tranquility.
And yet I do not plan to watch it again. I just never quite engaged with the show. It was too light to take seriously, and just a bit too serious to completely lose any expectation of reality. When someone who devotedly watched Lost through all of the time travel, glowing island hearts and polar bears starts to think that a show is implausible, you may have a problem.
I'll also admit to feeling like I'm going to get burned again. The pilot to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was also energetic, featured attractive leads with good chemistry, and moved at a pace that made an hour seem like it was five minutes. And then the whole thing caved in on itself and got cancelled. One bitten twice shy, I suppose. I'll happily wait for whatever JJ Abrahms has cooked up for Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn.
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