The Mysteries Of Laura - General Discussion

[David T. Cole]

Looking forward to this one?

[Lisin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkN7P08_oYM

[Lisin]

Josh Lucas!

[Lisin]

Debra Messing!

[aradia22]

"Looking forward to" is a little strong. I think Debra Messing has all of the life that was sucked out of her for Smash. Maybe Outside Mullingar gave her a boost of energy. The show doesn't look great but she is selling the less than stellar writing so I'm cautiously in?

[Kromm]

Wow, this is totally WTF-able.  Is Greg Berlanti nuts?

 

I hope this show proves my (bad) gut instinct wrong.  I guess I'll watch the pilot and cross my fingers.  I mean Berlanti has done both great stuff and truly awful stuff.

[Lebanna]

Everybody knows this is a remake, right? 

 

The original show is cute, and probably about as ridiculous as this one will be, although possibly in a different way. It's hard to tell at this point. Messing is, of course far more glamorous and less Mom-esque than the original Spanish actress. And the character of Laura seems a bit more hard bitten in the trailer here than the original. It will be interesting to see how much has changed in the conversion.

 

Anyway, if you're interested and want to practice your Spanish skills, it's an ok show.

[Stinger97]

I think it looks kinda cute, which is pretty much all I was expecting out of it. I've given up on the myriad CBS/NBC procedurals that feature nothing but story after story of rapes, murders, and burglaries. From the trailer, it appears very reminiscent of the 80s procedurals that were a bit more lighthearted and less about playing stories ripped from the headlines. So long as the pilot is decent, I could see myself DVR-ing it. 

[anghara2001]

I'm spanish so I've seen the original series. I hope they keep the same entourage as here: meddlesome and nosy mom, her ex-husband who is her boss and support her even in her most craziest ideas about cases, her coworkers... Crossing fingers waiting till september. In youtube you can find a lot of full chapters of the three seasons.

[Just Here]

Everybody knows this is a remake, right?

Thanks, I was all set for a WTF reaction, but now I'll give it a second chance (though Messing is not a must-see actor for me).

 

But, hopefully the show embraces "the crazy" and doesn't try to take itself too seriously, so perhaps something in the vein of ABC's short-lived "The Unsuals."

[Tara Ariano]

In the series premiere of this comedy-drama, a talented New York City homicide detective struggles to balance her demanding job with her hectic home life, which includes rambunctious twin boys and a husband who's reluctant to sign divorce papers.

[Primetimer]

It won't take long, if this pilot is any indication.

Read the story

[Misanthrope]

Is that Photoshop masterpiece at the beginning of this article from the network?

Even The Shiva cannot save this show.

[Trini]

I didn't even realize until this week that Laz Alonso was in this. Now I feel bad for him. I want him to be in a good show!

[mspaul]

It's too bad - I was looking forward to COPMOM MOMCOP (https://soundcloud.com/linda-holmes-4/copmom-momcop) becoming the next I'll Be There For You.

[John Ramos]

@Misanthrope Oh yeah. It makes poor Janina look out of her mind.

[StatMom]

They just can't stop themselves from putting Debra Messing in stuff, can they?

[Elemte]

Having seen some episodes from the original series (I am from Spain) I can't understand this remake. I mean, the original has its charm specially when compared with the dubious quality of Spanish TV fiction in general but it is far from good. And it suffers from a very extended Spanish idea by which any TV show should be enjoyed by everyone in the family. I can't see this doing well in the States even if it was much improved from the original.

[Actionmage]

Yay? I guessed who the Bad was from the ads; when Messing punches him in the face. Aw, now I am sad. I'll probably watch it tomorrow night because I must watch the finale of Extant tonight.

[prican58]

Basically your run of the mill cop show. But I am an unabashed fan of Debra Messing especially when comedy is involved. I'll watch for her. I didn't realize Enrico C wasn't going to be a regular because I love him, too. I hope it goes 13.

[TV Anonymous]

What kind of Pre-Kindergarten just expells children out instead of working on the problem together with the parents? Pre-Ks are just 4 year old kids. They simply do not know any better or they may have behavioral issues. And speaking of Pre-K, what kind of school doing house call interview?

 

At the end, what kind of organization lets a wife - that is not yet legally divorced - be under direct supervision of her own husband?

 

The show may be an okay filler before the premiere week, but next week Survivor will eat it alive and in October Arrow will finish what is left of it.

[Minneapple]

I watched roughly three minutes and wanted to strangle the husband. When is Arrow back?

[ali59]

I was looking forward to this show but lost interest just after the guy was murdered.  It seemed like they were trying too hard.  Can't wait for Survivor next week!

[Misanthrope]

@Minneapple: Arrow/Flash start up in Early October. Flash is the 7th, Arrow is on the 8th.

[Kromm]

The true MYSTERIES OF LAURA are:

1.) How did it get greenlit.

2.) Why didn't anyone sense the stench after seeing that Pilot?

[Whimsy]

This show made me irrationally angry.  Granted, I was dealing with an ios 8 FAIL (wiped entire ipad clean) at the time, but I think I would've been annoyed with this show regardless.  I stopped recording and cancelled the season pass about half-way in.

 

Debra Messing cannot pull off quirky detective full stop.  Let alone quirky detective that wears sweatpants to work, whose desk is a mess, doesn't follow procedures at all (which is ok with her boss!) but who is a GENIUS.  I just couldn't buy her character at all. 

 

Those kids- they were ridiculous.  I THINK they were going for funny with their scenes, but I did not find it funny at all.  I don't find obnoxious kids who get absolutely NO parenting funny.  Also, the scene with the paint was stupid.  These are tiny little 4-year olds.  How would they POSSIBLY have gotten paint up to the ceiling?  It would've been different if it was just splattered paint everywhere, but it was smeared all the way up. 

 

I stopped watching right after the scene at the mansion.  The fact that Laura went in, sat down and ate cheesecake and drank wine was irritating enough.  The SUPER clunky dialogue outside of the house about the wedding rings is what finally turned me off.  It's a shame, because I really love Enrico C.  He will ALWAYS have a super special place in my heart as Veronica's dad but I just can't watch this. 

 

Normally I give shows a couple of episodes before I give up, but they were just trying too hard to be "funny" that I don't think it's going to get any better.  Besides, I also watch Survivor and Arrow.  I know Arrow doesn't come back until October, but I don't mind freeing up the space on my Tivo now.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

Those kids weren't rambunctious, they were fucking hellions. It wasn't cute or funny in the least. 

[jester]

Wow, this was just tired and bad all the way through. I really think Enrico C. got script changes or something while shooting this pilot and was like "screw this, make me the bad guy and get me off this show."

[camom]

Sorry that Enrico isn't going to be back, I was watching mainly for him.  I can take or leave Debra Messing, but this was just bad.  Too many things had me thinking, "That could NEVER happen!"  And the 4 year olds looked a lot closer to 7 or 8 to me.  I can only suspend reality so much for a show.

[iMonrey]

I didn't think it was that bad, but it suffered from two seriously corny contrivances - the stagey reveal of the murderer, and Laura's ex-husband being appointed the new chief. Both those things were really groan-worthy, so I can understand why the critics turned their noses up at it. But I thought Messing was good and most of the comedy bits were pretty good too. It got pretty decent ratings too. (Of course, there's nothing else on right now.)

[shapeshifter]

I thought it was embarrassingly bad, given the name actors involved, but since it was a pillot, I'll watch one more just to see if it improves.

[chitowngirl]

What large city PD would ever let a husband be the direct supervisor of his wife?

In the last scene, when he asked her if she was sure about wanting the divorce, she said yes, and he agreed. Then the announcement was made about him being Captain. So he'll go ahead and sign the divorce papers, be her superior and hilarity will ensue.

[Madding crowd]

Is this supposed to be one of those half comedies/half dramas? Because it didn't seem entirely serious. Those kids were absolute terrors, and rather than being expelled they should be seen by a doctor. And it's supposed to be funny that a mom gives her kids cough syrup to put them asleep? I generally like Debra Messing but she is just miscast here. I think she could play the mother of a teenager or young adult, but just doesn't fit as the mother of preschoolers (and I know there are older mothers, I'm one of them). I just don't see her a police officer either. 

Edited September 19, 2014 by Madding crowd

[kaygeeret]

Good Lord!  And I say that with a modicum of respect as a non believer.....

 

I LOVE Enrico C., I like Debra, I don't know who her partner is but I liked him in this show - very difficult part in my opinion and he carried it off with panache!

 

The husband - yikes - what a douche - and that's the writers fault not the actor - who in their right mind thought that this character in this day and age would be viable!  Don't even get me started about a spouse/ex spouse supervising your spouse/ex spouse!

 

I was a hiring firing manager for 30 years starting in the 80's and we knew that was a lawsuit waiting to happen, and frankly absolutely no one I ever came across in my professional career even wanted to be anywhere near that position.

 

I had such high hopes.

 

The kids are stupidly written and reacted to.  No business, much less a police department wants 2 four yr olds hanging around - and I don't really care what your position is short of CEO/Police Commissioner - trust me those guys don't want any kids under the age of 21 anywhere near them.  So, just no, 2 four year olds are not dumped at the work place.

 

Really, the now Captain(Lt.? , I don't remember his promotion title) father thinks it is really funny that his 4year old twins are urinating on each other in public?  Yikes.

 

I have a couple of four olds in my life and they would just not do that - I am sorry they would not - at least not in Central Park, or wherever they were -

 

Stupid story lines wasting what appears to be a solid cast.

 

I am in mourning that Enrico is not a regular - Damn It!

[kaygeeret]

Am not at all familiar with this actor, but what a stupidly written character!

 

I'm not sure anyone can pull this guy off.

 

Supervising his wife/ex wife!!!  Not a chance in hell.

 

Every show runner and writer ought to be fired for this character alone.

[briochetwist]

I've always had a huge crush on Josh Lucas.  This just killed it.

[Kromm]

Inevitably the notice of this show's cancellation will be here, but until then I bet there are some FUN reviews to link and quote.

[Kromm]

Is it possibly part of some NBC master plan to have a few pieces of deliberate cancellation bait, just so they can make a big deal of canceling them and pushing up other shows?

The reviews on this are (rightfully) viscous too. Rather than gunk up this topic though I made a Media thread where we can point to those reviews and gasp at them. Media and Reviews thread

 

Heh. I just went and pasted down some reviews there.  They're hilarious, even if the show they're reviewing is not.  

Edited September 19, 2014 by Kromm

[Kromm]

For example,

 

Hollywood Reporter: "Egregiously bad NBC series makes you wonder if anyone saw it before it got on the air."

 

A bit more from that (for the lazy who don't want to click through):

 

 

Periodically a television show comes along that makes you wonder if someone at the network declined to read the script and then, just to compound the issue, skipped watching the pilot but gave the green light anyway.
 

That's certainly a plausible solution to the mystery of how in the hell something as awful as The Mysteries of Laura got on the air. In 2014. On a broadcast network. Which employs people who should have never let it get this far. But hey, life is always trying to make you more of a cynic. Teaching you the hard lessons.

In this case, nobody had the guts to say, "This is a terrible script. It should be completely rewritten by someone who can write." Nor did they say, later, "We just pissed away millions of dollars on this crappy pilot. Can we just agree that we've made a horrible mistake, not pick this up and pretend it never happened?"

Instead, everybody must have ignored the blaring warning signs and stayed silent when given the chance to speak up. Who knows? Maybe a pig stood on a buzzer at some audience testing facility and here we are.

 

IGN: "The Mysteries of Laura is nothing. It's a "nothing" a show. Designed to do nothing. If you're a Debra Messing fan, then here she is."  

 

Vulture.com: "good lord, does the show fail in its execution. The mystery is bad, the police work is bad, the home-life stories are bad, everything is bad. This is a bad, bad show."

 

TV.com: "It's not cute. It's not charming. It's appalling and she must be stopped!"

[Kromm]

Hitfix (Alan Sepinwall): "NBC's 'The Mysteries of Laura' could be this fall's worst new show"

 

TVline: "Olivia Benson she’s not, but The Mysteries of Laura‘s titular homicide detective (played by Debra Messing) is still one bad mother."

 

Time Magazine: "This is a murder-of-the-week show, but it is blatantly, bludgeoningly concerned with a single mystery: Can you have it all? Yes, Mysteries of Laura, you can have it all! You can be a terrible cop show and a terrible parenting show. You can be a ridiculous drama and an unfunny comedy. You can try to glom on to the legitimate problems of working mothers yet insult them, and your audience in general, in the process."

[DeLurker]

I heard this was bad and decided to give it a view just for shits and giggles.  Sadly, it wasn't good bad (e.g., Ed Wood style bad I find amusing).  It was just bad bad.

 

I like Debra Messing and Josh Lucas, I love Enrico Colantani but not even their collective charms could salvage this.

[DeLurker]

E!"s has The Definitive Ranking of All the New Fall Shows—From Crazy Bad to Crazy Awesome and Mysteries of Laura is the worst of the worst.

[lorikauai]

I actually enjoyed it. I'm sure it helps that it was the first new show of the fall season that I watched, so I may be a little overly excited by the newness. Yes, the kids were way over the top and her ex husband becoming her boss was predictable but I see some potential. I have a special fondness for cop/mystery shows with humorous elements (Psych, Castle, Monk, etc) so I am giving this one a chance.

[Actionmage]

No; not a cool dad and now a worse ex-husband-to-be. He sounded like a nightmare husband (equally bad schedule if he was detective like Laura, no boundaries for *everyone!*, blows off whatever he feels like blowing off whenever).  That the script had him pull a pre-K in less than 24 hours  due to a fellow co-worker in his unit and uniforms ? Horked me so much on Laura's behalf! Where was this a day or two previously? Nowhere, or else Jake T. Jerk was intentionally holding back that he had stuff lined up just to watch Laura stew in worry. Neither is anywhere in the vicinity of cool.

 

Josh Lucas is cute. I've liked him in movies before. Too bad he's the designated ass in this mess.

[shapeshifter]

Are all of these bad reviews based on just the pilot, or have some also seen later episodes? I remember The Neighbors pilot was ghastly, but I loved the show.

[DXD526]

I think maybe this show will be lucky to make it to Halloween!

 

https://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/the-mysteries-of-laura-worst-moments-debra-messing-032431079.html

 

http://youwatchtoomuchtv.wordpress.com/

 

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/the_mysteries_of_laura_review_debra_messing_worst_show_nbc-2014-09

 

[Kromm]

Are all of these bad reviews based on just the pilot, or have some also seen later episodes? I remember The Neighbors pilot was ghastly, but I loved the show.

The Neighbors pilot wasn't that bad. Weak compared to what followed, but I didn't think anything in it was criminally bad.

 

This show though... even the name of the show made me cringe.  The concept felt wishy-washy at best and out of touch with reality with 2014 TV.  The previews made my eyes ache from rolling.  At the pilot lived down to all of that.  It's like some script monkey took a look at shows like Castle and the many cable light-procedural shows and totally misunderstood why they work, and at a really fundamental level too.  Sure, there can be stronger written episodes to follow, but the hole they've dug is VERY deep.  

 

Then again, what do we (or even reviewers) know.  Guess what?

 

RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Mysteries Of Laura’ Gets Strong Sampling, ‘Red Band Society’ Off To Slow Start, ‘Extant’ Rises In Finale

 

It's worth noting that Red Band Society is a critical darling--so the exact opposite of MoL.

[dr pepper]

I watch tv entirely online and i don't pay much attention to upcoming show announcements. So when i came upon this show, i didn't know what i was getting (albeit i might have read something and forgotten) so i started watching. And i really wanted to like it when i saw that Debra Messing was in it. Double that when i saw that Enrico C was there.

But no. I had to bail on it a little short of halfway through. Now that i've read the review i'm glad to discover that Colantini was the killer. That frees him to find something better. Hopefully, by November, Messing will be free as well.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

 I have a special fondness for cop/mystery shows with humorous elements (Psych, Castle, Monk, etc) so I am giving this one a chance.

This show will need some tweaking before it can be held to the standard of the shows you mentioned. Maybe it gets better after the first few episodes. 

[reggiejax]

I tried to focus on the positive aspects of this show, but really I can only come up with two: 1) Debra Messing isn't wearing a stupid hat, and 2) Josh Lucas retains his title as the actor with the most punchable face. 

 

Otherwise, this is a shit burger, served with a side of shit fries, and washed down with a shit shake. 

 

I think it says it all that when Debra Messing's Laura asks a character if they are going to shoot her, I was really hoping that they would.