City on a Hill
In early 90s Boston, an African-American District Attorney comes in from Brooklyn advocating change and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran invested in maintaining the status quo. Together they take on a family of armored car robbers from Charlestown in a case that grows to encompass and eventually upend Boston’s city-wide criminal justice system.
mazal@mazal
Wow. Really disappointing. I was excited for this series for two promised attractions: "The Boston Miracle" of 1990s fame; and Kevin Bacon. There is nothing at all related to the Harvard based research and problem-oriented policing project (also known as Operation Ceasefire or Boston Gun Project) that reduced group youth related gun homicides by as much as 40% in large cities across America in the 1990s—and cleaning up corruption.
While I can never completely hate Kevin Bacon, his wit and talent are wasted in **_City on a Hill_**—although not completely unwatchable. The Jackie Rohr role has Bacon riding the anti-hero wave of so-called "golden age of television," ushered in by **_Breaking Bad's_** Walter White (Bryan Cranston). Yet most characters in _**City**_ are witless rehashes of old era television stereotypes, making Bacon's charmingly charmless Rohr comes off merely as an _**SNL**_ish cartoon sketch.
Btw, who is Chuck MacLean (creator)—he doesn't even rate a wikipedia page? _**City on a Hill**_ has all the hallmarks of the worst of Ben Affleck (story/producer).. which is a shame because one out of every ten Affleck projects is really gorgeous for all the right reasons. The other nine come across like they were made on a bender between dry outs.
In the end _**City on a Hill**_ is a middling crime serial with dumbed down talent.
mazal@mazal
_**Not "The Boston Miracle"**_
Wow. Really disappointing. I was excited for this series for two promised attractions: "The Boston Miracle" of 1990s fame; and Kevin Bacon. There is nothing at all related to the Harvard based research and problem-oriented policing project, also known as Operation Ceasefire or Boston Gun Project, that reduced group youth related gun homicides by as much as 40% in large cities across America in the 1990s-and cleaning up corruption.
While I can never completely hate Kevin Bacon, in City on a Hill his wit and talent are wasted, although not completely unwatchable. The Jackie Rohr role has Bacon riding the anti-hero wave of so-called "golden age of television" ushered in by Breaking Bad's Walter White (Bryan Cranston). Yet most characters in City are witless rehashes of old era television stereotypes, making Bacon's charmingly charmless Rohr comes off merely as an SNLish cartoon sketch.
Btw, who is Chuck MacLean (creator)-he doesn't even rate a wikipedia page? City on a Hill has all the hallmarks of the worst of Ben Affleck (story/producer).. which is a shame because one out of every ten Affleck projects is really gorgeous for all the right reasons. The other nine come across like they were made on a bender between dry outs.
In the end City on a Hill is just a middling crime serial with dumbed down talent.