PILOT REVIEW: 9-1-1: Lone Star

9-1-1: LONE STAR

Starring: Rob Lowe, Liv Tyler, Ronen Rubinstein, Sierra McClain, Jim Parrack, Natacha Karam, Brian Michael Smith, Rafael Silva, Julian Works

Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk & Tim Minear
Written by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk & Tim Minear, Directed by Bradley Buecker

I've had very mixed feeling about Ryan Murphy's shows over the years. Plenty of them are too preachy, too erratic or too weird for me. But one of his that I actually do like is 9-1-1. I love it for its mix of ridiculous situations and strong characters. It puts a little bit of a Ryan Murphy spin on a traditional procedural and it surprisingly works. Like any good procedural, we have a "more of the same" spinoff which sort of dilutes the freshness that 9-1-1 brought to the genre.

9-1-1: Lone Star has a little bit of a different feel than the mothership while also having elements that remind us of the original 9-1-1. As opposed to meeting a group already working together, Lone Star builds the station from the ground up with their leader, Captain Owen Strand (Rob Lowe) coming from New York City to rebuild the station after a tragedy wipes out all but one of them (Jim Parrack). Strand is also tasked with making the station more diverse (and at least the show sort of acknowledges they are putting Lowe in "white savior" mode so that is what it is).

One of the things 9-1-1 did well was letting us get to know the characters first before learning about all their troubles. Over the course of its run to date, they have done backstories on almost every character and we've learned a whole lot more about them. But they didn't start that way. That's one area where I think 9-1-1: Lone Star stumbled. We already know about so many issues in the firefighters personal lives: cancer, drug overdoses, PTSD, loss of a loved one, acceptance of a trans firefighter, etc. These are all fine areas to explore but I would have preferred to get to know the firefighters more first. As a result, Lone Star felt a little more heavy handed than the original, which has always done a nice job of infusing humor. I also feel like the whole cancer storyline is overdone. How many shows have started by giving the lead cancer in the first episode? It's a tired plot.

Where 9-1-1: Lone Star succeeds is having a strong cast. Lowe is strong in anything he's in and always manages to be captivating whether he's playing a ridiculous character like he did in Parks and Recreation or a more down-to-earth character like here or The West Wing. If this show runs for years though, will Lowe leave at some point? He never seems to be with a show for its entire run. The rest of the cast has potential too although I wasn't totally on board with Liv Tyler in the pilot. If they can get past the personality stereotypes the show insisted on giving them to start things off, I think they could be a strong group together. I'm not sure if we needed this show, but we have it now so let's hope it can become as strong as the show it spun off from.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Yes. I'm a loyal viewer of 9-1-1 so this one is going to get a fair chance from me.