On the Happiness is a Warm TV blog, staff writer Adrienne Johnson Martin previews FX's new series "Terriers," which airs at 10 p.m. Wednesdays.
"Terriers" was created and executive-produced by Ted Griffin, the man who wrote "Ocean's Eleven," and executive-produced by Shawn Ryan, the man who created and produced "The Shield."
In just two episodes you can tell "Terriers" is a perfect mix of what you'd expect of those two men. It has snappy, funny, realistic, salty dialogue. It has some grittiness, focusing on two damaged anti-heroes, and you root for them. The world they inhabit is corrupt, but deceptively sunny and bright. And it's packed with great characters.
Donal Logue plays Hank Dolworth, a former cop and recovering alcoholic who has become a low-rent, makeshift P.I., partnering with Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James), a former petty thief with a girlfriend Katie (Laura Allen) who is studying to be a vet. Hank is still in love with his wife, Gretchen (Kimberly Quinn); she still cares about him, but she has moved on. Dolworth and Pollack get legal help from pregnant, blunt Maggie (Jamie Denbo), a lawyer who also gets them work at times. Their antics typically put them in contact with Detective Mark Gustafson (Rockmond Dunbar), Hank's former partner, who hasn't forgotten how Hank has disappointed him.
I was waiting to flinch at the violence, because of Ryan's association. But it's a much lighter show than "The Shield." It has nice dramatic moments, such as when Hank is shaken by the death of a friend or when he deals with news from his ex-wife. I laughed out loud at a scene in the second episode in which Hank and Britt try to capture a fugitive.
