- Network: USA
- Series Premiere Date: May 11, 2012
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Critic Reviews
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One thing you can say for USA: It knows what it's doing. It's got its shtick, and it's sticking to it.
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It never takes itself very seriously, yet there is serious chemistry between these guys.
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In the grand USA scheme of things, it's pretty much same old, same old. But that's still a workable recipe.
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Nobody will watch Common Law to watch crimes being solved. But viewers may be engaged by the characters and their chemistry, and that's what USA is counting on.
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This isn't ground-breaking TV, but if you're looking for a few good laughs and a lot of action without the commitment of marriage, Common Law the way to go.
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It is nowhere near as smart as "White Collar" or as strangely touching as "Necessary Roughness" and seems content to hit well-worn marks, though more than occasionally with welcome style.
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The result is distinctly forced, but a standout cast manages to put a breezy top spin on some leaden material.
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The bromance is over before it starts.
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Common Law, with its storylines moving forward in broad strokes and an airiness in its exposition, does not demand too much of you or of anyone, beyond its own efficient technicians and unshowily inventive actors.
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The show around them [the actors], at this point, looks too flat and schematically plotted to succeed as the type of lightweight summer fun we've come to expect from USA.
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A show about a hot gay couple who are both cops would have been a lot more interesting than the umpteenth light police procedural USA has delivered.
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The writing is light and somewhat predictable, without quite hitting the level of sassy repartee of the "grand old men" of the USA stable, Dulé Hill and James Rodale of the deservedly long-running "Psych."
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The framework [couples counseling] is cute but irrelevant: You don't need an analyst piecing together the relationship when that's the audience's job. [14 May 2012, p.44]
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The USA "Characters Welcome" machine strains mightily with this one. [11 May 2012, p.65]
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Even with the couples counseling gimmick, Common Law is ultimately too much like every other traditional cop show you've ever seen, even as it's also too much like every other USA show you've ever seen.
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Common Law, like "Fairly Legal" before it, isn't just formulaic--it's lazy.
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On its first pass, Common Law feels awkward.
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The problem is by thrusting the duo almost immediately into what amounts to a highly straightforward procedural, the dynamic meant to distinguish Common Law from every other copshow--including several existing ones in the basic-cable universe--feels flimsy at best.
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This isn't escapist TV; it's TV you need to escape.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 22 out of 24
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Mixed: 2 out of 24
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Negative: 0 out of 24
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Jan 17, 2014
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May 5, 2013
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Nov 10, 2012