Steal or No Steal?

I forgot to write about the first episode of NBC’s new series Heist last week, but since it was created by the Cullen brothers, who created the short-lived series Lucky for FX and several episodes, including last week’s pilot, are going to be directed by Doug Liman, I thought I would give it a try. For those of you who don’t know, Doug Liman directed The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And if you really like that first season of The OC, Doug Liman directed the first two episodes as well.

Anyway, I saw the pilot and although I thought it was way too cute and smug early on, by the end I was really enjoying it. The premise is about a gang of thieves that want to rob three Beverly Hills jewelry stores during Oscar week. In the crew we have the mastermind, his tough-talking black sidekick, the old codger, the young dude, and of course, the sassy female member. They are being followed by the equally sassy female detective (who seems to like a taste of the bad side), the plucky black detective trying to get ahead in the racist LAPD, and the racist Irish detective trying to keep his plucky black partner from doing his job.

While I don’t think it is recap worthy, the show does do a good job. There are so many shows involving savvy detectives using everything from forensics to chaos theory to solve crimes, it’s nice to see some savvy, likable criminals showing us that it takes more than Gary Sinise or Vincent D’Onofrio in a cheap suit to catch the bad guy. It may not be Clooney and Pitt, but If you like a good caper and are too lazy to change the channel after Law and Order, give Heist a try.