Previewing Mob City

After all the behind the scenes turmoil of his first foray into the small screen , you would think his time converting The Walking Dead to television would send Frank Darabont, the writer / director behind The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist, back to making major motion pictures. It is still unclear what exactly when on but is is widely believe to do with network meddling and budget issues. But Darabont was not completely scared off by creating television show because he quickly turned around and created Mob City for TNT which premieres tonight (just three days after The Walking Dead had its winter finale which many, including me, consider has been its best episodes yet).

Two actors who left The Walking Dead right after Darabont did pop up on Mob City. The new show is headlined by Jon Bernthal (Shane) as a police officer in Los Angeles in the forties who considers himself grey in a world of black and white hats. Then Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale who had worked on the three previously mentioned Darabont films and asked off The Walking Dead which was granted when his character was disemboweled by a couple zombies) as the head of the new LAPD mob squad. Andrew Rothenberg, who played the long forgotten Jim from the Atlanta days, also has a recurring role on the new show as yet another unmemorable character.

Rounding out the white hats is Neal McDonough, who after a long stretch as being the go to bad buy for film and television (just last year he played a sadistic mob boss son who had his arm cut off on Justified) is on the other side of the law as the chief of police who is determined to wipe out organized crime. There are out of site for the most part of the first episode but eventually Jeremy Luke (Jersey Shore Shark Attack) shows up as Micky Cohen with his hired guns Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes), Robert Knepper (who, unlike McDonough, does not play against type in his role as the guy who gets his hands very dirty), and Edward Burns (She's the One) as Bugsy Siegel.

Mob City is another adaptation for Darabont, this time from the critically acclaimed book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City (the show’s title was changed to delineate itself from the nineties movie; though the first name change to Lost Angels was a better one then they ended up on). And like any good noir story, this one also has a femme fatale, this time in the form of Alexa Davalos (The Mist) who boyfriend (Simon Pegg, The World's End) in a rare serious role. Well, he does play a middling stand-up comic.

For some reason the series starts in New York City during probation which brings to mind Boardwalk Empire, and even features three characters who have already been on that other period show. It then quickly switches coasts where we meet Bernthal who gets propositioned by Pegg with some after hours work. Like most works of noir, Mob City is a slow moving (though not quit as slow moving as the often criticized first season of The Walking Dead whose six episodes really could have been condensed into one) stylized show. And that slowly moving feel could be eased by the fact that TNT will air the six episodes first season over the course of three week with back to back episodes each week. With a short, sweet and condensed season, Mob City could just help you get through the pre-Christmas television doldrums for those that find The Sing-Off too fluffy.

Mob City airs Wednesdays at 9:00 on TNT. You will be able to download Mob City on iTunes.