Speechifying keeps ‘Shots’ from being better than it is
Shots Fired: Drama series. 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, on Fox.
Television can play a big and informative role in sorting out some of the turmoil of modern times. To do that effectively, though, TV shows have to deliver a point of view within a credible dramatic setting. Otherwise, you may as well save it for the pulpit, or a CNN panel.
The creators of “Shots Fired,” the new 10-part event series premiering Wednesday, March 22, on Fox, are clearly sincere about making a statement about race and violence in our times as they explore what happens after a police shooting in a small North Carolina town. In this case, a black local cop, Joshua Beck (Mack Wilds), has shot a white teenager. The state’s governor (Helen Hunt) immediately calls in the feds to handle the case, in hopes of keeping a lid on any local unrest.
By-the-book Preston Terry (Stephan James) is paired with rule-breaking investigator Ashe Akino (Sanaa Lathan) to run the case. Other cast members include Stephen Moyer as Lt. Calvert Breeland, Will Patton as the town sheriff, Aisha Hinds as a rising, iconoclastic pastor, Jill Hennessy as the mother of the slain teen, DeWanda Wise as the mother of a black teen whose death was all but ignored, and Richard Dreyfuss as Arlen, a real estate mogul, a character who feels patched together from Big Daddy in “Long Hot Summer” and J.R. Ewing.
The writers throw in backstories that often feel tacked on, such as Ashe’s despair over possibly losing custody of her young daughter. The performances are mostly great, and Dreyfuss channels Burl Ives well enough.
The script is problematic, though, especially in the early episodes. The backstories eventually find a toehold in credibility, but there’s way too much speechifying, too many times one of the characters seems to be knocking at the storied fourth wall, desperate to speak directly to the viewers about the need to stop the violence and racial intolerance.
Few would argue with the content of the oratory, but it holds the drama back. The show was created by Gina PrinceBythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood. It does get better after the bloviating pilot, but if it wants to be on the same level as ABC’s “American Crime,” it needs better writing to match the quality of the performances.