Falcone

Falcone is as well cast as it’s well made.

It's grittily atmospheric, sharply scripted and acted with a depth that becomes more apparent as the series goes on. It will leave you on the edge of your seat. [4 Apr 2000]

Falcone is not instantly involving - it takes a little while to sort out who's who - but gets better with each episode.

This gangster saga works best when its hero is in peril. The whackings and the miserably boring lives of thugs - who appear to do nothing but hang around a dumpy pool room bar when they aren't killing each other - are old stuff by now. The double life with the Pistone family adds a different diversion, and there are occasional attempts at humor. [4 Apr 2000]

The show is good but not great. It feels redundant because it is - two times over, if you count the movie. There's no denying that's a huge drawback, no matter how brooding Gedrick and Welliver get. And, from a pure entertainment stand point, it's less satisfying to see Falcone's wife and family implode than it is to see what's happening with Tony Soprano's home life. Sorry, but it's true.

Worth watching. ... The domestic drama isn't quite so compelling as the cops-and-robbers stuff but takes some of the edge off of its intensity. [4 Apr 2000]

"Falcone" essentially is "Donnie Brasco" lite--tightly plotted and mostly absorbing, but watered down in terms of acting and storytelling (not to mention dialogue). Still, it's sharper than most of the typical network fare. [4 Apr 2000]

On its own, this series ... might not have seemed so bad. But it can't hold a note compared with "The Sopranos." [4 Apr 2000]