The Company You Keep

Sadly I'm glad that ABC put this show out of its misery. This is a great cast who had all done stellar work in other series (Colony, This is US, Thirty Something --yes, I'm old:) and to their credit, continued to be engaging in this show. The problem is we never knew exactly what is this show supposed to be: it's way too light for a drama even a light drama because it's totally disconnected from reality and it's ridiculous (a beautiful henchwoman from Stanford leading a band of killers). So even if it's trying to imitate something like USA networks "Burn Notice" where the protagonists always outsmart everyone else and there are no real stakes, it ends up just being head scratching and monotonously time filing.

It's definitely not a romantic show either. Even though my Korean-born wife was a big fan of "This is us" so she loves watching Milo smooching a Korean beauty who just happens to work for the CIA and makes us wonder what does the CIA have to do with domestic crime that should be the sole province of the FBI and a handful of other domestic law enforcement agencies? But that's just one of a dozen questions that are never answered for us as the show treats us like morons.

Why is this Asian American family named "Hill?" That's something that needs to be explained. Also in the political arena why is a US Senate candidate for the state of Washington hanging out in Baltimore, MD or around the DC area when he needs to be back in the Pacific Northwest campaigning? And then when we get to what's supposed to be a blackmail scandal. The writers roll out something that's so weak and uninteresting even a third-rate political Blogger would not bother to mention it; something about an affair some washed up politician had three decades ago. Don't the writers know where we're at politically in this country right now? We are basically immune to scandal. This bombshell isn't even a firecracker.

Anyway to get back to the central plot and tone of the show the writers and producers should have made-up their mind to either go full fantasy like ABC 's "Once Upon a time" and have elves and Pixie dust included or grounded the show a little bit more in reality like Netflix "The Diplomat" which has some snappy dialogue and some real bureaucracy but at the same time giving us a lot of made-for-TV poetic license. Anyway all of these actors are top notch and this will just be a blip on their resumes, and we wish them the best in future projects which are hopefully a little bit better thought out and executed.

Con man Charlie Nicoletti (Milo Ventimiglia) comes from a family of cons. Birdie Nicoletti (Sarah Wayne Callies) is his bossy older sister. Fran (Polly Draper) and Leo (William Fichtner) are their parents. They con mobster Patrick Maguire and get conned in turn by Charlie's girlfriend. Daphne Finch (Felisha Terrell) is Maguire's brilliant criminal mastermind secret-daughter behind the throne. Maguire gets arrested and is demanding the Nicoletti family to repay him back and more. CIA agent Emma Hill (Catherine Haena Kim) comes from a political Korean family and finds her boyfriend cheating once again. At a hotel bar, Charlie and Emma hit it off over their mutual bad breakups. They have a fling while keeping their day jobs secret. It turns out that they both have the same enemy, Daphne Finch.

This show has potential. I like the premise. It has some of that Ventimiglia sexiness. I like all the characters. Maybe there are too many characters and too many sections of the show. It has criminal section. It has a family section for the Nicolettis. It has the CIA section. Finally, it has the Hill family section. The show should probably lose the Hill family section. It's juggling too many balls. Emma already has the CIA and she should spend more time there. The start is a bit complicated, but it quickly works itself out. Low viewership has the show canceled after only one half season.

I initially rated this an 8 a few episodes in, but wanted to wait for the season finale to review. Although the show is watchable and keeps you interested enough to want to watch the next episode, overall the entire season felt more underwhelming than exciting, and why I dropped my rating to a 7 from an 8. The actors weren't the issue, I felt all casting and performances were spot on. However the writing felt too loose and aloof, and the directing was too focused on relationship issues rather than the suspenseful drama. The sappy and borderline cringeworthy score/music that accompanied any romantic interactions took away from the dramatics that followed. This series had difficulty establishing a tone, and started to feel like I was watching a cliched basic cable television wannabe drama. Hopefully next season becomes more focused, serious and develops some attitude, with less sappiness, cliches and second-rate dramatics.

I wanted this show to be a great new show, but its just ok. It is missing something. Leads are great , don't particularly like his mother, she does not do Italian well at all, none of them do really but I think sister is a good character and actress. Niece is a cliché added on. Plots are sexy and intriguing at times but then also get a little goofy all of a sudden. Not sure what I am watching, it doesn't flow or come together for me but I can't put my finger on what is lacking . A mash up of Leverage, White collar and another show about a detective figuring out her lover is a con man she is hunting. Better than a lot of shows on, but Overall still on the disappointing side.

This reminds me of White Collar. A criminal helping the authorities while getting in and out of his own trouble.

The production quality is excellent, and Milo Ventimiglia, who some might remember from Heroes, has an awesome chemistry with Catherine Haena Kim.

The humor is subtle and well crafted. The drama is intense from the get go, and the acting is superb, even from supporting characters.

Would love to see Milo being "clever". For now, he is just playing an amazing thief, but would be great to see him use a bit of behavioral psychology and manipulation.

The family of con artists is a fun little opportunity for some family drama, but it is Milo and Cat that steals the show.