Peacemakers

This show is outstanding. It combines a little bit of "Law and Order", adds a dash of "CSI", and tops it all off with the flavor of "Gunsmoke." Don't let the whole western theme fool you or scare you. Whether you are a fan of westerns or not, if you like crime shows, this show is an excellent view each Wednesday.

It is so nice to encounter a drama in which no one sees the need for a breakneck pace and/or a half dozen separate threads in every episode. Episodes of Peacemakers don't whiz by and leave you breathless; they allow you time to fully digest what you're seeing and to appreciate the attention to detail, and to history, in the show. Given that Tom Berenger's a history buff and his wife is one of the producers, it comes as no surprise that the details are right. Peacemakers rings true.

Although the inevitable comparison will be to CSI, there's a little Columbo here, a smattering of Matt Dillon, and nods to any number of other detective and western offerings of the past. The acting is fine by all; there's a realism in the writing that allows you to forget you're watching actors on a set. And it's a real treat to see Berenger every week. Always a solid performer, we haven't seen nearly enough of him in recent years.

One has to wonder whether the innovations in forensics during this period in history will be sufficient to fuel Peacemakers beyond its initial 8-episode run. But I sure hope so. And even if they don't, perhaps the societal and cultural changes occurring during this period in American history can be interwoven into the stories to keep things going. The innovations in gallows design depicted in the second episode were fascinating, but so was the marshall's dilemma regarding the rights of a battered wife in episode three.

I love quality television that teaches as well as entertains, and Peacemakers, thus far, is a good example of quality television.

"Peacemakers" is not your run-of-the-mill oater. I was pleasantly surprised by the writing and the acting in the pilot for this new series. It takes westerns to a new level. It is fun to watch Tom Berenger's character as he tries cope with all the "new" crime-fighting tools available at the close of the 19th century (the telephone, fingerprints, blood pathology).

The ensemble is well cast. The actors work well together. The scenery is spectacular. It's a welcome change to the drivel on network television today.

When I was a small child it was the Age of Westerns. I remember many of the classics: Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Bonanza, Have Gun Will Travel, to name a few. In these days it is not exactly "cool" to admit you like the old shoot-em-ups, but I do.

Peacemakers satisfies that craving as well as my enjoyment of crime drama. The characters are interesting, the history is fascinating, and the atmosphere of the entire show invigorates and restores. It has been a long time since I found a series I never miss. There's been only one other in the last ten years.

The violence is not explicit (no blood packs exploding with gore everywhere), the situations realistically portrayed, the attitudes and prejudices of the times accurately shown, whether they are sympathetic to modern audiences or not. I recommend the show to everyone I know. It really is a fresh idea in a season where dullness abounds. Would I give it a ten? I wish the scale would go up to eleven!

I wasn't going to tune into this one, but then I found out it is filmed on the old Maple Ridge "Bordertown" set, so I decided to check it out for some nostalgic value.

It is pretty similar to Bordertown in its character setup: you have a crusty, old-fashioned US Marshal teaming up with a more refined guy who also solves crimes but finds the Western frontier pretty uncivilized, and does everything by-the-book. Then there is a lady in the mix, not the doctor in this case, but close enough.

The New Stuff is the forensic angle that has already earned it TV Guide's "Western version of CSI." That is a bad reputation, when your show is like, another already-existing show set in a different time and place. Then again, I guess the joke is on TV Guide, because it's more like "Updated version of Bordertown, including Town." I think the forensic stuff is interesting but will play out quickly. This show will need more than that, and soon. (After all, you don't have to watch Peacemakers to get CSI... You can just watch CSI.) Also I can

do without the high-speed action sequences. That was novel in "Gladiator," but is now about as original as playing that annoying "Woo Hoo" song when you're trying to plug your show. Oh wait, Peacemakers does that, too. (Hey, while we're at it, how about some "Matrix" effects?)

The moral of the story is that the under-appreciated "Bordertown" has inspired yet another similar kind of show (You know who you are, Dr. Quinn and Due South) that seems to be OK, but will need some tweaking if it plans on staying long. I will hang around for a while and hope this one grows on me or shapes up to meet its potential.