E-Ring Wednesdays, 8 PM on NBC
There are five rings that comprise the Pentagon, but the most important one is the outer one, the E-ring.
In this new series, created by David McKenna and Ken Robinson, and executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Benjamin Bratt portrays Major Jim Tinewski, new to the Pentagon, who brings fresh thinking and heart to the cold, calculating world of upper echelon military politics. His foils are Dennis Hopper as Col. McNulty and Aunjanue Ellis as Sgt Pierce. McNulty is, of course, crusty and has his own rebellious streak. Sgt Pierce is a humorless, uptight lifesaver who knows all the bureaucratic hoops and procedures that need to be met. Naturally, as it just so happens, Maj Tinewski's main squeeze works for the CIA and is able to unofficially give him feedback and advice, totally off the record and against her better judgment. Joe Morton (Terminator 2) shows up as Steven Algazi, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Ops.
The pilot “Snatch and Grab” features a Chinese operative on the run, apparently with some very important intelligence. She's trying to escape the authorities, but her CIA handlers don't know if they can get her safely out. The problem involves a US Navy rescue mission being detected by the Chinese and possibly being interpreted as a first strike.
Episode two suffers from the usual problems of having a big dilemma with potentially deadly stakes, some huge hurdles to climb over in order to get permission to implement the plan and finally a neatly packaged resolution with a little of the good guys' bloodshed for a little extra drama. The Major tasks his old unit - ready to head home - to stick around for a couple of more days to snatch an Arab terrorist planner. Totally predictable. E-Ring is like a Tom Clancy movie squished into an hour. The gee-whiz high-tech graphics and secret military infrastructure only carry the show so far, which is not far at all, actually. The dialogue in this episode is once again incredibly cheesy and patriotic. This is the kind of media that Team America: World Police spoofs.
Article comments
1 - Tommy K
the ratings must really stink for this show to sink so fast and so soon with such a henious plot as "Delta Does Detroit". Do they think this improbable "twist" will endear them to anyone?
Sad to say, I did like Hopper in this, but can't watch a show that has jumped the shark in the 1st half of its 1st season....
2 - Triniman
The problem with this show, again, is that they have preposterous stories that get neatly wrapped up, all nice and predictable. This is television for elementary school kids. Very dumb episode.
3 - visualsimplicity
I have to defend the 2-parter that aired the previous 2 weeks where his "main squeezed" got whacked as being pretty compelling tv though. Other than that I can see what you're talking about. I still find it some what enjoyable though.
4 - Triniman
I haven't seen all the episodes, so I missed that two-parter. I would be much more interested if they could make it an ongoing story. I suspect it will just get cancelled soon.