From Deseret News archives:
Join the 'Club'
"It's a wonderful show, but ... there is no backstory," Harmon said. "You don't know what's going on with those characters. So as an actor you became frustrated because there are muscles that you don't ever exercise.
"You never know why do we come to work in a bad mood? What happened at home that night? After a while, you start to hunger for that. You really want it."
She's got all that and more on ABC's new series "Women's Murder Club," premiereing tonight at 8 p.m. on Ch. 4. Based on the best-selling novels by James Patterson, it's about four women who work together to solve crimes.
And their personal lives play into the scripts as much as the crimes they're trying to solve.
Harmon takes the lead as San Francisco police detective Lindsay Boxer, who's obsessed with her job, which just got a little more complicated because her ex-husband is her new boss.
And she gets more than a little help from her friends. One, Claire Washburn (Paula Newsome), is a medical examiner who's got an interesting home life (revealed at the end of Episode 1).
And trying to break into the group is ambitious young newspaper reporter Cindy Thomas (Aubrey Dollar), who provides a bit of comic relief as she's raising the eyebrows of the others.
While there are murders to solve every week and one plotline about a serial killer that seems destined to span at least several episodes this is definitely not "Law & Order."
"All of these women (are) intelligent. They're witty. They're fantastic. They're talented. They're driven. They're all those things that you want your characters to be," Harmon gushed. "And then they're also completely flawed, and they have their personal lives. You know why they came to the crime scene that way or what happened to them the night before, and that's an actor's dream to be able to have both of those things visible to the audience that you can play."
As for her contention that it's a "perfect balance" between crime drama and personal drama, well, they're still working on that. The original pilot was scrapped in favor of tonight's episode, which plays up the personal side of the story a bit too much. In the two episodes provided to critics, the backstory overwhelms the main story at times.
"Women's Murder Club" isn't going for deep, social commentary, however. Much like a good mystery novel, it's escapist stuff that's designed to entertain.
It does that fairly well, if you're looking for light entertainment interspersed with grisly crimes.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com
Comments
- Utah Jazz have a problem at point 9:48 p.m.
- Where's 'Tag when Utah needs him? 9:45 p.m.
- 12 Utes return to Texas 9:43 p.m.
- Birthdays for Wednesday, Nov. 11 9:43 p.m.
- Vampires seem to be People's Choice 9:42 p.m.
- Developer looking to buy RSL share 9:42 p.m.
- Ex-Miss California: Sex tape mistake 9:39 p.m.
- The Number: Conflicted Islam? 9:38 p.m.
- Denzel is returning to N.Y. stage 9:36 p.m.
- SLC council OKs gay rights policies 9:33 p.m.
- Utah group finds homes for orphans
- Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges
- Y. tight ends talented tandem
- Jazz blow big lead, hang on
- Utes get extra motivation
- Senators want food tax restored
- Hair-pulling raises more questions
- BYU soccer incident still popular
- Lobo land like home for BYU lineman
- U. hopes to keep clicking
- House passes health care bill
260 - TCU showdown has big implications
188 - Lobo suspended
185 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
155 - Senators want food tax restored
147 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
131 - TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
119 - S.L. vote pending on gay protections
104 - No 'backlash' for pioneers, gays analogy
104 - RSL rallies to advance
103
As distressing as it was to see KUTV's longtime vice president/general...
Meghan McCain, the daughter of former presidential candidate John...
Be prepared to hear Utah Man early and often in Ft. Worth, Utah WILL win!
Utah hasn't played anyone this year. They will lose to TCU. BYU plays a much...
Hey I want some tickets if this goes through. Good luck to you and your famil.
Moritz from wasatch has alot more tackles than what it says he is not getting...
Even if other lives were already taken? The people who died in D.C. didn't...
Everyone commenting here is entitled to their own opinions. Thank goodness...
Hopefully our Texas players will rise to the occasion, and play well! We're...
Down With Millsap, Long Live Boozer!
these guys have proven to be excellent players. it surprises me that other...
I applaud the Church's stance on supporting the city council's decision not...




You can be the first to comment on this story.