Ah. This one hurts. Smith was a TV show that aired back in 2006, briefly. It was one that I genuinely looked forward to watching. As well as starring Virginia Madsen it had a few of my other favourite actors in it as well.
BUT – It seems I was pretty much in the minority on this one, it was cancelled after just three episodes had aired. It was the first of the new shows aired in 2006 to be cancelled in fact. No messing about there then… There were 7 episodes in total to go at and only 4 of those aired originally.
It followed a crew of Professional Thieves led by a chap known as Bobby Stevens (Ray Liotta). Bobby is married to Hope (Virginia) who mostly turns a blind eye to her husband’s exploits, but is getting weary of it all. Bobby is looking to end his criminal career after a few more big hits which would have set him up with the money he wanted to retire on.
Of course, it was never going to be as easy as all that.
Joining Bobby on his criminal shenanigans are Jeff Breen (Simon Baker), Tom (Jonny Lee Miller), Joe Garcia (Franky G) and Annie (Amy Smart).
Bobby is the brains of the bunch, he plots things out with an attention to detail rarely seen. Jeff is basically the guy that does the dirty work, a sociopath who won’t think twice about killing someone. Tom is a paroled convict looking to stay on the outside of prison going forward. Joe is the wheelman and general automotive king. Annie who while having brains, isn’t afraid to trade in on her looks.
All of the crew have respectable day jobs, they live their criminal lives in complete secrecy and minimise their exposure trying to ensure they never get caught. Obviously they all aren’t as clever as they think they are and the FBI are going after them whenever they get the chance.
And, that’s about all she wrote, or rather, he wrote. It ended before it could get going.
Virginia’s part in Smith is pretty much a supporting one, but she does get to show off her talents. She’s far from convinced by Bobby’s claims of going straight and we see her try to catch him out in his lies. Ironically, it’s her character Hope that is the one with the bigger “past” as we see her deal with parole and attending rehab classes.
It seems however that Virginia might not have been completely happy with her role, she has spoken of her disappointment with her role;
“Well I wasn’t that invested. In the beginning I was because it seemed like Ray and I would get to be Bonny and Clyde. That’s what they sold me and you know, that’s not what I got. What I got! I got a book club. That was the last script. I said “You’re joking. I have a book club!”. And they were like “Oh we swear to god” and I was like “But when do I get my gun?”
I’m a big fan of Johnny Lee Miller, Simon Baker, Amy Smart and of course Ray Liotta so in my eyes this one couldn’t fail when I first heard about it. And how wrong I was. Watching these episodes back I still can’t believe it did as badly as it did. Really is an odd one.
It, weirdly, has a decent rating and generally good reviews on iMDB, Rotten Tomatoes isn’t as kind with a middling rating but all things considered it’s not Hot to Trot bad. Still, at least I know I’m not on my own with liking the show.
Availability:
Well. I think it’s fair to say this isn’t the easiest of things to find. It never got a physical release. You can find downloads of it on YouTube, they aren’t the best (see the captures I’ve used) but they are better than nothing…
Gallery:
Trailer:
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