Set at a security company whose specialty is testing the strength of other people's security systems, Breaking In has a premise that could easily work for a few seasons, with each episode involving the cast in some overly elaborate plan that often goes wrong. Unfortunately, while I've only seen the pilot, it looks like the show has already miscalculated by focusing too much on character interactions and too little on the actual faux-crimes. Sure, we got to see a toy helicopter fly around green lasers, but when that's the most exciting thing being driven during a break-in into an Italian car dealership, something is wrong.

And speaking of characters, they all have their own skills, so that no matter how eccentric they all are, it is clear they stay employed because of something rational. The sort of primary or "normal" character is Cameron, played by Bret Harrison of Reaper, who's a skilled hacker who is blackmailed into working for the break-in company after being found out for having defrauded his college of tuition and fees for a decade. From there, you have the rest of the team: the sexy lock-picker (Odette Annable), the nerdy tech dude (Alphonso McAuley), the horny master of disguise (Trevor Moore), and the Christian Slater. Each of the specialists could become interesting and fleshed-out characters with some subtle dialogue, but right now the show seems more interested in broad gags. This means that everyone on the show will be ever so delicately on the cusp of total unlikability for the foreseeable future.

The biggest question I came to this show with was the same one all of America probably has: Why give Christian Slater another show? However, after watching the show it's clear that he isn't really the star here. Instead, he gets to have a few scenes where he plays a sort of amoral but honest businessman with a father complex, and that's it. He has toys and annoying catch phrases, but that's all part of him being the closest to a cool dad any of the other characters would want. So long as his character doesn't get more attention than he had in the pilot, he might actually stay tolerable. Of course, this might all just be a rationalization after having watched Heathers too recently.

Breaking In has a lot of growing up to do, but there is potential. If the writers make sure to actually provide some conflict and the director can keep Slater down to a slow simmer, then Fox might have found a show to help cushion the blow when every one of its other shows finally ends in a few years.

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