Most “Mid-Season” network TV series suck. But ABC’s “action comedy drama” (their description, not mine!), Whiskey Cavalier, provides some low-level entertainment during the dismal Winter weeks. Here’s ABC’s official representation of Whiskey Cavalier: “Whiskey Cavalier follows the adventures of FBI agent Will Chase (codename: Whiskey Cavalier) who, following an emotional break-up with his girl friend, is assigned to work with CIA operative, Francesca ‘Frankie’ Trowbridge (codename: Fiery Tribune). Together, they lead an inter-agency team of spies who periodically save the world (and each other) while navigating the rocky roads of friendship, romance, and office politics.”
Think of Whiskey Cavalier as a mashup of Remington Steele and Mission Impossible. An FBI agent (Scott Foley) working with a CIA operative (Lauren Cohan) is a situation bound to cause conflict (it does). In addition, the “Team” includes a FBI profiler (Anna Ortiz played by Shannon Sampson), a computer hacker (Tyler James Williams played by Edgar Standish), and a fixer (Vir Das played by Jai Datta).
There’s so little on network TV worth watching that Whiskey Cavalier scores an 85% on ROTTEN TOMATOES. If you set the bar low, you might enjoy this fluffy series. GRADE: C+
Network TV sucks. I watched the first episode of this and didn’t much care for it. All the good shows are on cable or streaming services these days.
Steve, I agree with you. Network TV is a vast wasteland. We’re watching WHISKEY CAVALIER because it tries to capture the action-comedy formula…but it doesn’t.
You should tell whoever wrote that blurb to consult Dreyer’s English! The comma in …”CIA Operative, Francesca ‘Frankie’ Trowbridge…” is incorrect!
Bob, that blurb is directly from the ABC TV web site. I agree with you on the comma. But ABC thinks otherwise.
I see it all the time. Somehow the idea that a proper name should be preceded by a comma is rampant!
This could be—in fact, this is—the basic premise of many romantic-suspense novels. I suspect the producers will try to play out an “unresolved sexual tension” element for a while. No thanks—I’ll stick to Suzanne Brockman.
Deb, I’m guessing this mid-Season series is just a “fill-in.” ABC’s web site doesn’t say how many episodes they ordered of WHISKEY CAVALIER. I’m guessing 10. And then ABC will cancel it.
I liked Lauren Cohan from the early seasons of TWD before I gave up on it, but not enough to watch this thing. Anything on the networks that’s worth seeing will eventually make it to the streaming services anyway. The only series I currently watch on “regular” tv is Pamela Adlon’s wonderful “Better Things” on cable channel FX.
Michael, I’m waiting for LEGION to return to FX.
You have the supporting characters and the actors names backwards. Ana Ortiz is the actor, not the character,
That said, I sort of agree, The first episode setup was bad but the second episode was a lot better, I thought. The third, not so good. Yes, Deb is right about the obvious attempt at sexual tension. Tonight’s episode, for instance, has the two of them forced to pretend to be a happily married couple. (And, as an aside, Suzanne Brockman is one of Jackie’s favorites, Deb. Remind me to tell you when we met her.) Needless to say, probably, but Jackie loves the show.
But if you think this is a C+, don’t even think of trying NBC’s THE ENEMY WITHIN with Morris Chestnut. Appallingly awful. If there is lower than an F, this would get it.
Jeff, I have heard nothing but bad reviews of THE ENEMY WITHIN.
I’m trying to think of a in-production broadcast series I make an effort to catch right now aside from THE GOOD PLACE, the rather flagging as well as ending GOTHAM and several public broadcasting series (PBS, smaller networks and syndicated), and am not getting too far. Will watch a SIMPSONS when its handy, BROOKLYN NINE-NINE isn’t bad. I will be watching iZOMBIE when it returns, and BLACK LIGHTNING isn’t too shabby. MAGNUM PI reboot is also easy to take, and considerably better than the HAWAII FIVE-O revival. My most frequent indulgence in broadcast of late are WKRP repeats on MeTV, THE GOOD WIFE on Start (also an occasional THE DIVISION), NYPD BLUE on H&I. They are reviving NYPD BLUE, btw, with Sipowicz murdered, and Dennis Franz’s son playing Theo, an infant and just older in the old series, now a rookie cop seeking to sole his father’s murder…Seems Unlikely.
Todd, unfortunately, the ratings for Network and cable TV programs continue to erode despite their “quality” or stars. The long term prognosis isn’t good.
The ratings slip, but they are such concentrations of ad dollars still that I won’t read them out yet. Or course, that didn’t save the big magazines. But it took decades.