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Television Pick: Terriers

I’ve written in this space before about my love of FX, which has consistently put out either high quality entertainment (The Americans) or campy, odd entertainment (American Horror Story) over the past few years. As successful as the station has been, there have inevitably been a few shows that simply failed to reach a wide audience, with one of those shows – perhaps a victim of bad marketing more than anything else – being Terriers.

Originally broadcast in 2010, Terriers is a comedy-drama crime show that was produced by Shawn Ryan, creator of another excellent FX crime show, The Shield. A little less serious than the adventures of Vic Mackey, Ryan’s short-lived show follows two low-rent private detectives in Hank Dolworth (Donal Logue) and Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James). There’s more than the cases to be worried about, however, as Dolworth and Pollack always seem on the verge of screwing up their shaky personal lives before any real work can be handled.

The biggest hook of Terriers is the easy chemistry between Logue and James, which is so breezy and effortless, it feels like they have been friends forever, despite the fact they first got to know each other on the set of Life (which, wait a second, was another show I have recommended). The two just click together and have so many enjoyable little bits and interactions with each other throughout the show’s 13 episode run. And although I have been a fan of Logue since seeing him as Quinn in Blade, James is just as excellent.

Of course, all of the excellent acting in the world would be for nothing if the storylines themselves weren’t up to par. Luckily, creator Ted Griffin was more than up to the task, as Terriers not only has enjoyable weekly cases, but an intriguing over-arching case helps keeps things moving along. The show is basically both a procedural and a serial, which much like fellow FX program Justified, works for me.

Writing and reflecting on Terriers once again has reminded me of how mad I was when it got canceled. I understood why, as the ratings were terrible even for cable, but I couldn’t (and still can’t) wrap my head around why it never found an audience. It’s a straightforward premise that comes from an established talent and yet, it just couldn’t perform up to expectations. And while FX continues to put out intriguing new programs regardless of the result, this small crime show is just another example of how cruel the television landscape can be.