Review: 'Hostages'

The biggest problem with TV shows that are built around one central premise is that if that premise doesn't make sense, the show is doomed. While I'm not going to argue that is the fate destined for the new CBS drama "Hostages," its success will be dependent on viewers glossing over one glaring problem with the show's premise.

The series stars Toni Collette as Dr. Ellen Sanders, a hot-shot surgeon who is set to perform surgery on the President (James Naughton). But the night before the surgery, a team of bad guys enter her family home, take her family hostage and demand that she kill the President in order to save the lives of herself and her family.

The team of hostage takers is led by Duncan Carlisle (Dylan McDermott), a man who was introduced early in the pilot as a hotshot FBI negotiator. His expertise is what makes the plan even remotely feasible and much is made of illustrating the many ways in which his team has planned for every contingency. They've bugged the house, infiltrated the local home security company and Carlisle knows all the family's dirty little secrets. He provides a vial of some unknown substance to Ellen and tells her that it won't show up in an autopsy. If she just cooperates, everyone will be fine.

During the pilot, we learn that Ellen's husband Morgan (Quinn Shepard) is having an affair, their daughter is secretly pregnant and their son is dealing pot. Of course, all these flaws make them vulnerable and allow Ellen to appear even more heroic in contrast to the rest of her family.

The acting is solid and there's plenty of action, but the core problem with "Hostages" is that the entire series is built around a premise that seems more suitable for a C-level Steven Seagal movie. By the end of the first episode we learn the conspiracy reaches very close to the President, which might explain some of the lax Secret Service planning. But I can't get past the fact that the "holding the family hostage so the doctor can kill the President" storyline is incredibly predictable. And yet, no one around the President seems to have made the slightest contingency for the possibility, an unlikely situation given that Ellen is not his regular surgeon.

So while "Hostages" has some other interesting twists, the problem is that a very basic bit of planning by the Secret Service would have made the premise of the series impossible to pull off. And that fact remained at the top of my mind as I watched the pilot.

Maybe it's not an inconsistency that will bother viewers and perhaps they're willing to buy into a season-long hostage stand-off. But I'm not sure I'm that forgiving, though I'll give the show a couple of more chances before I bid it "Adios." "Hostages" has a solid ensemble but acting ability alone isn't enough to life a show that is built on a basic flaw in the writing.

"Hostages" premieres on Friday, September 23rd at 10:00 p.m. ET.