Don’t forget about the premiere of The Librarian 3: Curse of the Judas Chalice on TNT tonight at 8PM. If you’re not sure if you should watch, check out my early look at the movie. I loved it. Fans of the previous Librarian movies will definitely dig it and anyone who likes Indiana Jones knock-offs with a bit of cheese to them are bound to enjoy it as well. And, if you didn’t watch the first two Librarian movies or you want to watch them again, TNT is re-running the first and second movies today starting at 4PM.

And stick around after the movie ends for the premiere of TNT’s new drama series, Leverage, at 10PM. This is a special premiere date for the show which will move to it’s regular home of Tuesday nights at 10PM starting this week. Kind of awesome in a way since it means you don’t have to wait long to see the second episode of the show.

Thanks to TNT, I got an early look of the show. As of right now, I’ve seen the first four episodes of the show and I’m still loving it as much as I did when I first saw the pilot this past summer. In fact, I’ve been impatiently waiting for it to premiere as I was more excited about it than almost all the other new shows this Fall.

I should preface this review by acknowledging that I love Robin Hood-esque stories. I have inexplicable obsession with thieves who use their skills for good. In a way this show reminds me of The A-Team as it’s got that same “ragtag team works outside the law to help people” premise and also mixes fun action with humor. Since I adored The A-Team, that’s definitely a plus in my eyes.

The show is about a group of thieves, hackers, specialists, and grifters who agree to put aside their differences and work together on a big job only to unite again when they realized they’ve been double-crossed. At the heart of the show is Nate Ford, played by Timothy Hutton, a former insurance investigator who has been drowning in his grief and anger at his old employer’s role in his son’s death by denying his insurance claims. Nate’s the one who assembles the team consisting of Parker (Beth Riesgraf), an expert thief; Alec (Aldis Hodge), a skilled hacker; and Eliot (Christian Kane), a “retrieval specialist;” and Sophie (Gina Bellman), a talented grifter. He’s also the one that convinces them their combined knowledge can be used to target the richest, greediest, and most unjust. Working together, they can give the powerless leverage.

Like I said, I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve seen of this show so far. I like Hutton as the damaged do-gooder who has found out the hard way sometimes the only way to make something right is to fix it the wrong way. Early in the pilot, we find out that Ford and Sophie have history. Hutton and Bellman have palpable chemistry and I’m already dying to know more about their previous interactions.

It goes without saying the Angel fan in me is squealing with glee at having Christian Kane on my screen again. Especially since there’s a tiny bit of Lindsay in the character of Eliot. At least the Lindsay we saw in season five. Eliot’s definitely the deadliest of the team though you’d never know it to look at him. Chrstian’s long hair bugged me a little in the pilot. I’m not a fan of long hair on a man but I’m really not a fan of greasy-looking long hair on anyone. Luckily, it didn’t bother as much in the other three episodes so either I’m getting used to it or Christian’s hotness otherwise is balancing it out (or, you know, hair and makeup is doing a better job with his hair… whatever!).

I like Sophie but, of the two female characters, I definitely prefer Parker. I think we all know about my love for female characters who get to be girly but also kick ass. Parker definitely fits that description. She’s also got a little “batshit crazy” mixed in there too. She’s kind of awesome. It doesn’t hurt that she’s the true thief among them. With that combo, can you really blame the guys for never seeming very sure they can trust her?

My favorite character, though, is easily Alec Hardison. I love that they got Aldis Hodge for this role because he’s not your stereotypical computer geek. But let me just say, Alec can come outfit my house with electronics any time he wants. Wait until you see what the office he puts together for the team in the second episode. It’s SWEEET! Also, he’s funny. I don’t know if it’s because it’s geeky stuff coming from Hodge’s mouth or because he gets the funnier lines but Alec cracks me up the most.

Which leads me into the humor and action on the show. I wouldn’t say the show is action-packed. They certainly do their fair share of stunts in the pilot but that’s been toned down now that we’ve gotten into the regular week to week episodes. Still, there’s enough suspense to keep me engaged and I suspect the rest of the season will keep up the pace. I’ve seen other people say they thought the humor in the show was too predictable or not funny enough but I haven’t had that problem at all. I’ve laughed out loud several times during every episode I’ve watched and that’s good enough for me. The humor’s definitely in the tongue-in-cheek vein but it’s never the show making fun of itself like, say, Chuck does. Leverage is a much more rooted in reality and as such the jokes are more toned down than the ones you get on show like Chuck.

At this point, none of the “cases” of the week have stood out to me much. It doesn’t bother me, though, as I think the show is more about the characters and how they work together. They’re used to working solo and it’s a struggle for them to count and trust each other so the real story is how the case of the week puts that tentative trust at risk and what continues to keep them together. Since I’ve quickly grown attached to each of the characters, it’s a story that I’m definitely interested in watch develop.

So, as you can tell, I think the Leverage premiere is definitely worth checking out tonight and then again on Tuesday at 10PM when it moves to its regular timeslot with an all new episode. I’ll leave you with why Timothy Hutton thinks you should watch and some promotional pictures from the show.

Why do you think people should take their time to tune in and watch Leverage?

Timothy Hutton: Well, I think if they watch Leverage, they’ll see – there’s great satisfaction in seeing somebody who’s had something taken from or denied – something’s been denied – there’s great satisfaction in seeing this team that we have come in and right or wrong – someone who’s been taken advantage of, we get to the heart of it and figure out how it’s happened and figure out how we can seek revenge and also provide justice.

So I think that’s where audiences will connect. Some of it is very timely. There’s one show we did having to do with wrongful foreclosures, where people were duped into thinking they had one sort of set of mortgage payments, when actually they were duped into paying more than they – it made them go break.

And a lien was put on their home and their home was taken away. So we do a show where we go after a contractor who’s taken over people’s homes, post-Katrina. I think people really get into this idea of getting even. I like the tag, “Get ready to get even.”

[View with PicLens]

 
Watch Leverage, tonight, @ 10PM on TNT.