The Mysteries Of Laura [NBC] **SPOILERS**

squonk

Seeing as I was suffering from a severe cold the past few days I had some time to catch up on some of the stuff I'd downloaded from the nes season that I hadn't gotten round to watching yet. Full disclaimer: I'd come to this show having read roundups of the Fall season shows mentioning that this was likely one to avoid and I'd had a look at some of the comments on IMDB a few days ago.

Holy Christ! This is BAD! The premise of the show is that Laura (Debra Messing) is a mom with two kids who's also an NYPD detective. Her husband, who she's trying very hard to divorce, is a kind of carefree, not involved type but doesn't want to divorce her really. Her two kids are brats. Not condoning corporal punishment but these two little a-holes could do with a really hard kick up the hole. It's all a bit overdone really on the kids front.

It's billed as a comedy so, because of that, we're meant to laugh at 'funny' incidents that should actually have Laura up in front of IA. Case in point, after the Satan Twins get expelled from school for being lilltle pricks (which is amousing to their parents - how droll), our brave Laura needs to get them into a new school so decides to check the records of various teachers at a new school threatening to charge a cheerleading coach with parking ticket offences unless she arranges an inverview for the brats. I know, Ha ha, hilarious isn't it! . Brace yourselves now because it gets even funnier. They head off to case a criminal and decide to put on swimsuits to blend in. All well and good except they flashed their badges to get in in the first place. Ah but that's just a bit of minor craic really. The humour turns savage when she decides to break into a suspect's car to obtain evidence to give probably cause to a theory they were working on. Since none of us watch Blue Bloods and have definitely never watched The Wire, sure we all find this absolutely roll on the floor hilarity of the highest order.

So, anyway, at the very end she figures out that it was actually her boss who committed the murder of the week and, rather than confront him directly decides, sorry, I'm still laughing here, to stand up at the funeral for the victim and name him publically. Then, guess what, sure doesn't her not ex-husband only become her new boss. Oh lord, the hilarity!

I'll try out a second episode just to be sure I'm giving the show the benefit of the doubt but they've a hell of a long climb to reach even the world of credible here. Brooklyn Nine Nine is also a comedy but manages to bring across the sense that the guys are good cops. This show is just insulting to the viewer's intelligence. Unless you're a real Debra Messing fan I'd find it hard to see what you might find to like in this show. It's one of those rare times that something clearly shouldn't have made it to pilot!

Go Harvey Go

According to the Huffington Post, the real mystery of Laura is whether or not the show is worthy of Debra's talent:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/mysteries-of-laura-debra-messing_n_5903022.html

squonk

I didn't take to Will & Grace back in the day but she never struck me as being 'particularly' talented. Good actress I'm sure but we're not talking 'The Wire'/Boardwalk Empire talented are we?

fisgon

This sounds like a US version of a Spanish detective show called Los Misterios de Laura (not joking). It is the very same set up, ex husband who works with her, two twins at home, her mother hanging around, ridiculous plots that get solved by Laura because she has "a nose" for the truth. In the Spanish show her surname is Lebrel, which means "hound", in other words someone who can sniff out the solution.

Every episode ends with Laura and her companions gathering the suspects around them and discussing the case, and then fingering the guilty party, a la Hercule Poirot. The Spanish version is at times slightly interesting, but in general nonsensical and hyperbolic and ridiculous. Can't believe the Americans picked it up.

squonk

+1, it actually did remind me of a Christie-esque show alright with the 'gathering and revelation ending' alright. It sounds like this show will not get better based on the source. I'll try epsiodes 2 & 3 and if it's not showing signs of improving then I'm definitely out.

mafaa

Renewed for Second Season

The second-season renewal is for 13 episodes and comes as the series will undergo a creative retooling with more of a procedural focus on the crime element and less on the mom story that made the show a critical punching bag.

JP Liz V1

No season 3 as cancelled

squonk

Not surprised but I'm still a little sad to see it go. It was good filler viewing for when I was travelling so it filled the requirement for no brainwork required TV and a bit of fun. It started dreadfully back in Season 1 but they cleared up a lot of the issues but Season 2 seemed a bit more all over the place.