New Year’s Resolutions: Lincoln Rhyme needs to stand out

Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bounty Collector premiered on Friday. It has potential, but there’s something it can do to succeed better.

Friday night saw the premiere of Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bounty Hunter. Series premieres are always hard considering they have to wow the networks and draw audiences in at the same time. Usually, the second episode is made for us.

That being said there are things that could make the show better. While all episodes have been written and filmed, it doesn’t stop us from breaking down a few problems with the series premiere for today’s New Year’s Resolutions post.

The show: Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector

The resolution: Step away from too many cliches and stilted dialogue.

Why it needs to be made: I’m being unfair, really. There are (sort of) two resolutions for a show that we’ve only seen one episode of. However, this is a series that I’m desperate to see succeed. As a fan of the books, of the movie, and of the stars, I want to see more Lincoln Rhyme on our screens. The only way to do that is to draw people in.

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Sadly, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector‘s first episode included a lot of cliches and stilted dialogue. I think some of the cliches come from the stilted dialogue and vice versa, which is why I’m putting in two resolutions to one post. They’re one and the same in a way.

My biggest issues were with Amelia Sachs. Arielle Kebbel tried hard to make the character interesting. She’s the one that drew me into this series first. But the dialogue made it hard to see the smart detective that she is. I’m hoping that the writers were able to channel her a little better in the later episodes to help flesh out the character.

We knew there would be some cliches. There are plenty in the books. What we’ve got to remember is The Bone Collector was published in 1997. A lot of things have changed in the last 13 years. Cliches aren’t cute on TV. They get tiresome.

Plus, this is supposed to be an adaptation of the books. The show is just based on them and isn’t telling the full story.

My hope is that the writers recognize when cliches work and when they don’t. Because this was written for the network execs, the multiple cliches do make sense. Network execs tend to rely on some cliches to get a sense of the show, but the second episode is where the writers could step up their game and branch out. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.

What did you think of the Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector series premiere? What would you like to see in the new series? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Lincoln Rhyme airs Fridays at 8/7c on NBC.