'K-Ville'? Try Not-OK-ville

Nowhere is it written that you cannot take a national tragedy and use it as a backdrop for a TV series. And that's a good thing -- what would television be without "MASH"? But if you do, it would be wise to pause and quietly reflect, to consider whether your characters, subject matter, perhaps even genre, are up to the task. As tempting as it might be, tearing your pathos straight from the headlines comes with a price: Your show will be judged not only on its own merits, but also on how it measures up against the significance of the event.

In other words, if you want to explore post-Katrina New Orleans in a dramatic and meaningful way, think of something more sophisticated than a mediocre cop show. Because although cultural and historical significance can make a good show great, it can also make a not-great show terrible.

Which brings us most unfortunately to Fox's "K-Ville."

As noble as his intentions may have been, creator Jonathan Lisco ("NYPD Blue," "The District") did not spend nearly enough time in the above-mentioned quiet reflection. Or even the editing room. Otherwise, he would have realized that his apparent desire to capture the grim if inspiring reality of those rebuilding the Big Easy was directly at odds with his other apparent desire: to make a shoot-'em-up, car-chase-friendly cop serial with, at least in the pilot, cases tied up as neatly as any "Columbo" episode.

So, perhaps Fox should have waited until all the moving documentaries had cycled through.

"K-ville" opens in the midst of Katrina's devastation as police Officer Marlin Boulet (Anthony Anderson) vainly tries to help the wounded and displaced while attempting to talk his partner Chuck through a mental breakdown. In this he fails and Chuck takes off, abandoning Marlin to the water and the anguish. Cut to two years later; Marlin is one determined and angry cop: determined to rebuild his city, in particular his neighborhood, the Ninth Ward, and angry at everyone, including his wife, who would rather leave.

"Look around," his wife tells him. "Half this city still reeks of mold and toxic sludge. The schools are even worse, and the crime. Baby, it's not the same place and it's never going to be."

"It will be if we fight for it," is Marlin's reply. And that's as deep as it gets.