CBS' 'Hack,' 'RHD' criminally inane

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Don't mock Hack's name. It's too easy.

Besides, calling this ridiculous crime drama hackwork is an insult to genuine TV hacks, who generally have the commercial sense to put some entertainment value into their derivative product.

If nothing else, CBS' Hack is an original — no other show has thought of casting a morose David Morse as a crime-fighting, ex-cop cabby.

There are so many things wrong with that idea that it's hard to know where to start.

Even if one assumes there is someone out there who wants to spend his Friday nights with Morse's melancholy loser of a character — a whiny cop dumped from the force for pocketing drug money — who could possibly buy this premise? Perhaps people in distress or under the influence do spill their problems to their cabbies, but do they really expect the driver to solve them?
Watching Hack, all you can do is wonder at a system that would waste an actor such as Andre Braugher in a small role in such an awful show. That is, when you're not wondering what possessed them to put Morse in a porkpie hat and shades and have him talk like some drugged-up beatnik from a late-'50s movie.

Ack.

Sizing up 'RHD':

Still, in its own way, Hack's CBS Friday crime show companion may be even more disappointing. Produced by Michael Mann and starring Tom Sizemore, the much-anticipated Robbery Homicide Division proves all style and no story.

For some, style might be enough. Set in Los Angeles, RHD is shot on high-definition tape using mostly handheld cameras, which gives it a distinctive look while allowing it to shoot in places seldom caught by other TV shows.

Unfortunately for RHD, TV has sound as well as pictures. The stories in the two episodes made available for preview were dull and ordinary — a problem not solved by Sizemore's oddly exaggerated delivery.

In a season crowded with crime shows, Hack and RHD are simply two too many. Chances are, though, not for long.