Karen Sisco

If you're looking for the season's smartest, most comfy and engaging new thriller, 'Sisco' is it.

If Karen Sisco can keep its tart tone, heady pacing and scripts that continue to respect viewers' intelligence, there ought to be an audience for this. [1 Oct 2003, p.C5]

Karen Sisco, from the very first frame, is a stunner - and a keeper.

Sisco smolders but never flames up or burns out, played by Gugino with a steady, unflinching calm that reflects a character who never makes presumptions and who's willing to see the shades of gray in typically black and white situations, like any great Leonard hero or heroine. [1 Oct 2003, p.61]

Most crime dramas these days, from Law & Order to CSI, concentrate on procedure. Karen Sisco favors personality -- and what a wonderful change of pace it is. [1 Oct 2003, p.E1]

TV needs another cop drama like it needs another makeover show, but when the genre gets an injection of energy like this, attention must be paid. [1 Oct 2003, p.4]

With striking eyes and a seductive smile, she's pretty much the only thing you see when she's on the screen. But Gugino doesn't get by on looks alone. She impressively balances toughness with a sultry vulnerability and plays Karen with a well-modulated nonchalance that brings an air of mystery to the character. And through it all, she avoids coming across as a cartoonish action hero. [1 Oct 2003, p.D01]

One of the pluses of Karen Sisco is that, true to Leonard's fiction, the fugitives Karen tracks are more than generic baddies. [1 Oct 2003, p.G1]

A witty, mature drama that can hit both the chest and the heart.

Karen is more a character-driven drama with cops than a mystery, so don't expect the plot, well-developed though it may be, to fool you. You know Karen will get her man, one way or the other...What matters is the style and steam she brings to the chase.

Who knew that the mom in "Spy Kids" would get one of the best female character roles on TV and helm one of the season's biggest dramatic surprises.

Karen Sisco has action, heart, humor and sex appeal - four good reasons Law & Order should be looking over its shoulder this fall. [1 Oct 2003, p.6]

Karen Sisco [is] also blessed with the presence of superb character actor Bill Duke ("Red Dragon") as Karen's imposing, no-nonsense boss. [1 Oct 2003, p.1E]

The story of an intriguing woman who can shoot a gun but can't hit the target is a premise steeped with promise. Let's hope Karen Sisco does not find happiness anytime soon. [1 Oct 2003, p.55]

Promising ... Like [Out of Sight's Jennifer] Lopez, Gugino is a looker who can be tough, but she makes the character more open, more alive.

Is Karen Sisco art? No...Is Karen Sisco the best new show on ABC's schedule, a schedule that includes such gems as "Threat Matrix" and tonight's wince-fest, "It's All Relative"? Unquestionably. [1 Oct 2003, p.37]

If, while keeping its dialogue suggestive and surprising, Karen Sisco dramatizes the eccentricity, and the drinking problem, of its central character, rather than merely her sexiness or her skills, this show could thrive. But is Ms. Gugino up for it? With such a small cast -- only three characters are fixed at this point -- much will depend on Ms. Gugino's performance, on her drunken mistakes and on her cellular soliloquies.

A pretty good new series.

Karen Sisco isn't a great drama. For one thing, much of the dialogue is too tough-guy wooden to believe. [1 Oct 2003, p.1E]

This is no run-of-the-mill production, but it falls under the heading of "acquired taste." The main inducement to acquire it is to watch Gugino have her way with the title role.

The dreary, leaden dialogue is the real crime in this drama. Around every Miami corner in the early episodes, you catch the writers in the act of assaulting viewers with self-importance and stilted banter. [1 Oct 2003, p.E9]

Karen Sisco is a cool cocktail. It's not my taste, but it might be yours. [1 Oct 2003, p.E-1]

It loses some luster under closer scrutiny when the jagged edges of the formula start to cut through the attractive veneer. [1 Oct 2003, p.E01]

Aside from the snappier editing and Sisco's greater sexual aggressiveness - like "Sex and the City's" Samantha, she gets the men on her most-wanted list - this could almost be a "Police Woman" episode from 30 years ago. [1 Oct 2003, p.B23]

The inclusion of these improbable, quasi-romantic story lines robs the series of credibility it desperately needs. It's hard enough to believe that petite and fine featured Carla Gugino is a no nonsense, kick-butt law officer. And it's that much harder when criminals take time out from their fleeing to hit on her. [1 Oct 2003]