The Catch

Like other Rhimes shows, including "Scandal" and "Grey's Anatomy," it filters a lot of nuttiness through good actors who can make compelling what otherwise might seem absurd.

Despite the presence of Krause, Enos and Walger--all of whom have been standouts in modern TV classics--The Catch is barely worth investigating.

In many regards, The Catch certainly achieves its goals, but when the lives of every person on-screen revolve around one character and viewers are left wondering how a private investigation firm can afford a huge futuristic office with an enormous staff, it takes away from some of the fantasy.

Fans of USA's White Collar might enjoy the cat-and-mouse game that ensues, though I'd argue that the relationship between its con artist, Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer), and FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) was (in a totally bro way) a more compelling romance than this one.... Krause, who looks the way he always does, even when his character's trying to look different, isn't all that convincing a con man, but maybe that's exactly what's required of a con man.

Forget the incongruity of the premise--we’re asked to believe that Alice and Valerie’s company is both the best private investigation firm around and the most incompetent--and instead just be dismayed at the prospect of having to spend more time with Alice and Ben. They, like everyone else in this series, have a “Stepford Wives” blandness to them.

Alice has been betrayed and bankrupted, but the character is given no time to let the emotional impact land because the show needs to get her into another fancy dress for some Mission: Impossible-type sting. An equally troubling issue, particularly for a show that clearly wants to plant its flag in the Shondaland "sexy" territory, is that the two stars generate precious little onscreen heat.

Formulaic but fashionable.

[The Catch] mostly just feels tired, like a TNT caper show that futilely seeks to derive energy from visual gimmicks, like split screens and slo-mo. Based strictly on the premiere, the show is hardly a disaster, but nor does it offer much incentive to see what maze-like corners this cat-and-mouse game will explore.

The Catch, unfortunately, reads as an attempt to combine many of the elements of the previous shows into something new and fun without infusing enough originality into it.

The most interesting thing about the premiere of The Catch is the camera-work and the editing--including some very clever split screens. But the characters ought to be the most interesting thing, and they're not.

Though it’s crisp-looking and well-cast like its predecessors, The Catch is mostly a flashy lot of nothing.

The show’s cast is great, and they work hard to elevate subpar material. But whether the series can catch viewers with what has become an overused formula (and one that--as has happened with Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder--can flame out very quickly) remains to be seen.