THE CATCH – “Pilot” –  (ABC/Richard Cartwright)
MIREILLE ENOS, ROSE ROLLINS, JAY HAYDEN, ELVY YOST

What is it? THE CATCH
From who? Jennifer Schuur and Josh Reims, who left the show for creative differences after the pilot [Allan Heinberg then stepped in and it is WAY different than it was when picked up to series]
When? Filling the gap in the TGIT schedule left by HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER’s finale last week Thursdays at 10/9c
Who? Mireille Enos (THE KILLING), Peter Krause (PARENTHOOD), Rose Rollins (THE L WORD), Jacky Ido (TAXI BROOKLYN), Sonya Walger (LOST), Jay Hayden, Elvy Yost

Full disclosure: After I viewed the revamped pilot with fellow TV guy TVShowPatrol last week in Chicago, I’ve been having trouble putting words together about THE CATCH other than “don’t catch it or let it catch you.” Read on for more info about what it is that I can’t warm up to:

Mireille Enos stars as fraud investigator Alice Vaughan, a woman who is apparently very good at her job and who, it would seem, has it all – great clothes, great apartment, gorgeous hair, a smile that she can’t wipe off her face (to a fault…she is ALWAYS smiling, perhaps happy to be out of that sad-sack life of Sarah Linden), money, a great job, best friends, you name it, up to and including the up-to-no-good but rakishly-handsome “Christopher Hall” (Peter Krause) who, it’s no surprise to type based on the spoilery promos about the whole show, wipes out her bank account and begins the wild goose chase that will become THE CATCH week after week.*  She has a smart team – partner Valerie (the consistently good Rose Rollins), distrusting second in command Danny (Jay Hayden) and newbie Sophie (Elvy Yost) – yet they can’t seem to track down the bad guy as the show sets up the cat and mouse game.

*I have to presume; only episode 1 was made available for review…

The show exists on the audience’s ability to suspend disbelief.  Where you have to convince yourself to believe that a coincidental head turn by Enos’ character and an inept PI team that gets caught up in dog leashes could lead this supposedly crack team to miss their guy like, a million times. That of COURSE both sides of the game would be hacking at the EXACT same time, and able to block each other correctly.  Where a businessman can steal a painting in broad daylight.  With that suspension of disbelief comes the slight twist on the classic story of a woman who has it together in the business world, but just cannot get her person life together – albeit through no real fault of her own, as her would-be-hubby kind of stole her whole life’s savings, but you get the point.

Enos is doing her hip-swingingest best (the way she walks….it seems like her hips might break) to get us to invest in the fast-paced world of this new drama.  She is pretty radiant as she’s clearly enjoying being free of sweaters and chapped lips and never let anyone say that Krause is anything less than the best thing on screen.  It just felt too absurd for me to buy in, left with far too many questions that I wasn’t willing to bend.  I’ll check back in a few weeks (if it makes it that far) to see if it’s calmed down, but it’s definitely not getting a season pass from me.

What say you – will you be watching THE CATCH?