 Snoops (ABC) I'm not a fan of any of his shows, though I'm no anti-fan either. I can take 'em or leave 'em. But Snoops … woof. Snoops revolves around a private detective agency owned by Glenn Hall. No, not the legendary hockey goaltender, Glenn Hall. That would have been much more interesting. This Glenn Hall, rather, is played by Gina Gershon. Didn't expect "Glenn" to be a "woman," did you??! Glenn has a couple employees, the oldies-music-loving Manny (Danny Nucci) and Roberta (Paula Jai Parker), who may as well have "Token Black" tattooed on her forehead. Also in the mix is Dana (Paula Marshall), a homicide detective with the Santa Monica Police Department who's contemplating a new job. Quickly following the intro, the show morphs into pure Ally McBeal, as all three women instantly get very catty, jabbing at each other with impossibly witty remarks. Then, to shake things up, they continue to get catty for the rest of the show. The suspension of disbelief factor is extremely high. Glenn has an unbelievable array of gadgets at her disposal, like tracking systems and computers built into the cars, a little remote which Manny uses on a security patrol car to set off its sirens, and a tranquilizer gun, which Manny uses a total of three times in this episode. Her computer abilities are positively unbelievable, and how she could possibly get away with all the laws she breaks is absolutely beyond me. Even VIP would be preferable, because at least that one has some fabulousness. Snoops should just be Gershon & Marshall in skimpy clothes using hi-tech gadgets to fight crime by breaking laws to get the really bad guys. Instead, it's just a boring mess. And I couldn't spot a whit of clever writing from Kelley (who is capable of it, I'm told). It sucks. It can't be a good sign when the best thing I can say about the show is that the score is by Wendy & Lisa … can it?
Review by Mario Speedwagon © 1999 |