Chase is a Bruckheimer-to-the-bone project that follows a lady U.S. Marshall (played by Kelli Giddish, who you may have seen on Fox's Past Life for a split second) and her team as they nab fugitives in Texas. And how Texas they are. The show's opening action sequence shows Giddish and co. chasing a criminal through, literally, a cattle drive, ten gallon hats a-flyin' and statues of General Worth a-tumblin'. Later she catches another criminal by listening to Waylon Jennings, a suitable substitute for the man's thought process, apparently. Another scene focuses on a couple coming out of an honest to god honky-tonk, dressed like American flags and hopping into an F-150 to do what I can only assume is some lighthearted cow-tipping. And all this would be fine spread out across a season -- lord knows shows about New York, New Orleans and Miami incorporate their over-the-top environments -- but all that cartoony crap confined in one episode is just way too much to be able to take seriously.

The fugitive-hunting portion of the show, on the other hand, is a little boring, but serviceable. They're assigned a fugitive, they go to his mom's house, ask her some questions, find out where his girlfriend lives, ask her some questions, etc., etc., until they figure out where he's going and wrestle him into submission in a river. They delve into his psychology a little and they figure stuff out. Not earth-shattering, but it's straightforward, and it's what people expect.

Then there are my two favorite parts of shows like this. First, there is the silly "relatable" dialogue, wherein characters talk like flippant teenagers. "It's like hide and seek -- only with guns" is how rookie Jesse Metcalfe's new job is explained to him by a supervisor. "At work we get to use guns. At home we gotta, ya know, talk" is how Giddish's partner shrugs off his marital problems. Some shows do this well (Sons of Anarchy executes light dialogue like this perfectly, and often), some shows do it like Chase does -- like bad writers wrote it.

Second, there is the slow reveal of our wounded protagonist. Giddish meets two little girls in the pilot, both of whom have been through traumas, and she gives them pained looks and pointed comments like "I used to know a girl like you" and we know she comes from some incomparably messed up childhood that will inform her character from here on out. How original! A screwed up cop with likely daddy issues? Come on. You gotta do better than making fun of Texas and executing textbook procedural tropes to get my season pass if that's all you got, NBC.

Did you watch Chase? What did you think? And don't forget to check out our entire Fall preview!

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