The Handler (CBS, Friday) is about an FBI undercover squad headed up by Joe Pantaliano (well, by the character Joe plays). Now Joe is a talented actor normally cast on the other side of the law; personal favorite performances include Risky Business where he played Guido, the Killer Pimp, and Bound, where he plays a money launderer who actually ends up washing money.
This show appears to be meant as an acting vehicle, more interested in giving characters emotive moments or chances to do impersonations than it is in having a plot that builds to interesting, unexpected, or revelatory things. (Perhaps I’m not seeing it fairly; there is one surprise built into the first episode, but it was spoiled by the CBS preview DVD.) However, the continuing characters really don’t have much character established in the first episode, so it’s hard to be won over by this. This show isn’t actively bad, but it is uninteresting.
