Continuing on with my fascination in made-for-cable series, I feel I should explain why some shows are not going to be covered in my little mock battles. Although they are critically acclaimed and among the most-watched series in this vein, I do not particularly like The Closer, Monk or  Psych. This isn’t to say that I never watch them – The Closer, in particular, has a time slot that almost guarantees I’ll be watching since it’s usually followed by something I do enjoy like Raising the Bar or Saving Grace. The USA mainstays are just not my cup of tea, but since there is rarely anything better on TV on Friday nights – at least until Joss Whedon came roaring back with Dollhouse (thank you, thank you Joss!!) – I have seen the majority of both series.

Now that the explanations are out of the way – let’s get to the throwdown!!

Both In Plain Sight (IPS) and Leverage are rather quirky shows that rely heavily on their oddball cast of characters. IPS is the story of Mary Shannon, played by Mary McCormack, as WitSec U.S. Marshall – her job is to keep an eye on individuals enrolled in the Witness Protection Program. At the office, Mary has to contend with a few stand out characters – her trivia-minded, erudite partner Marshall Mann, played by Fred Weller; her nonsense, secret-softie boss Stan McQueen, played by Paul Ben-Victor; and the newest addition to the office, the wise-cracking tough gal office manager Eleanor Prince, played by Holly Maples. Mary’s life really gets crazy when she gets home, where she’s currently sharing space with her recovering-alcoholic mother Jinx, played by the wonderful Lesley Ann Warren; her wacky and trouble-prone sister Brandy, played by Nichole Hiltz; and Mary’s Dominican fiancee Raphael Ramirez, played by the yummy Christian de la Fuente. (I’ll admit up front that the only reason I started watching this show was that I had gotten hooked on Christian during his spin on Dancing with the Stars and was ecstatic to find out he was going to be in a show I could watch on a regular basis!)

 

Of the eclectic array on IPS, my personal favorites are Mary and Marshall. Forgive the bad movie reference, but there’s something about Mary that reminds me of myself – perhaps it’s the dismal luck she has having an organized and relaxed existence. More likely, it’s her quick-fire sarcasm and frustration with stupidity. But Marshall is the real gem of the show – even his name is a little off-the-wall (come on – Marshall Marshall Mann? :D). He is a geek in the best sense – quoting miscellaneous facts at random moments, having a far broader base of knowledge about sophisticated subjects like art and literature than is necessary for a U.S. Marshall and his tall gangly appearance make him a well-rounded, lovable character. However, while I love the two characters as partners and friends, I am entirely on the fence about this budding love interest aspect the writers have added to Mary and Marshall’s relationship. First of all, I adore Marshall and would snap him up in a hot second, so it’s pretty painful watching him moon after Mary who clearly prefers a little more beefcake in her squeeze – the tears in this season’s finale made ME cry!! But more importantly, I think the writers should have stuck with Brandy as the third point for a triangle between Mary and Raphael – more chemistry there and way more chance for tension and drama (hello, sisters living under the same roof, chasing after the same guy?!).

Leverage, on the other hand, is a show that focuses on a group of criminals who have joined forces to fight for the little guy, the average Joe citizen who can’t take on the powerful and elite. The honest man and leader of the group, Nathan Ford, is played by Timothy Hutton, who exhibits a real sense of fun in the role. The shadier members of the group are hand-to-hand combat expert Eliot Spencer, played by Angel alum Christian Kane (again I say YUMMY!!); super-tech guy Alec Hardison played by Aldis Hodge; con woman Sophie Devereaux played by Gina Bellman; and thief-extradordinaire Parker played by Beth Riesgraf. Now, while the premise of this show appealed to me a lot – I kind of think of it as a modern-day comedic twist on The Equalizer – the main reason I tuned in the first night was strictly physical. I am a Christian Kane fan since his first appearance on Angel – and to think, he nearly ended up as Riley on Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead! – so any chance to watch him is good, and to watch him get physical on a regular basis is even better.

While it appears that the writers are intent on focusing primarily on Nate and Sophie as the leads, I find the other three way more entertaining. So I’ve explained part of what I like about Eliot – but I also love his anti-gun thing and his soft spot for kids. Maybe it’s the cliche tough-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold character, but I love it! The real winners in the character contest on Leverage, however, are Parker and Hardison. Parker is creepy weird, yet oddly naive and lovable, while Hardison follows in the happy tradition of wise-cracking black guys like Chris Tucker – he smarts off about as often as I would with a group of goofy colleagues like his.

In the character department, Leverage puts up a good fight, but ultimately it’s IPS that gets the gold star – there’s more variety, more depth and generally more drama surrounding the people in Mary’s life, and that makes for good television.

In the realm of plot and storyline, Leverage seems to come out on top. I have a great love for any show that offers good twists that I can’t always figure out before the end of the show – this is a fairly rare achievement for any show or movie, so I enjoy it a LOT when I do find it. The basic formula for each episode is we set up who the group is working for and why, the development of the con, the implementation, the problem and the resolution. The show’s twists usually come between the problem and the resolution – just when it seems the gang is busted and the con is going to fail, they somehow pull through. The true bright spot is when they show what happened to change the outcome in our heroes’ favor – showing how they got themselves out of that tight spot when it looked like they were certain to lose.

IPS has a similar format for unfolding an episode – start with the crime that sent the witness into the program and their initial meeting with Mary and Marshall, then explain what’s gone wrong now in the witness’ life, wrapping up with the heroes saving the day in the end. The plots are a little more humdrum standard cop show fare, so it’s hard to get excited about them. What makes this show worth watching is the interspersing of Mary’s home life with her work life – just when things hit the fan at work, Mary comes home to another disaster at home, sure to make her blood pressure rise like a rocket. But for some, the domestic drama may be a little to soap-ish and melodramatic – personally, I like that sort of thing, especially when it makes me feel like my own personal life looks great by comparison! 😀

In the end, I have been inclined to declare In Plain Sight the winner by a nose, but given the startling announcement at the end of last Sunday’s season finale that new episodes would not air until NEXT SPRING (!!!!), I’m not sure if it can carry the winner’s title anymore. Leverage is definitely the smarter, more sophisticated choice, but it’s strange time slot (9:00 pm on Wednesdays?) makes it less likely to draw in an ideal audience.

Though tempted to declare this a draw, I’ll stick with my original thoughts and declare this round for In Plain Sight – only the executives at USA better wake up and realize that seven months is too long to make viewers wait for a show!!

Next up – Round 3: freshman medical dramas Royal Pains and Hawthorne face off!!