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Movies and television shows that include redemption for those unjustly accused are usually big hits. But they have to be carefully orchestrated. We have to know that a person’s motives for finding redemption are altrustic (The Fugitive, the movie; and television series). Even though the character might have flaws in other areas, redemption isn’t about getting revenge (Road to Perdition, The Shawshank Redemption). Revenge can often times be the flaw that won’t allow the character to be redeemed. There have been many stories told about the unsuspecting good guy being the target of the bad guy for something done to them in the past. Revenge, in that case, is not a redeeming quality - its called bloodlust.

This fall, NBC’s primetime schedule includes a new show called Life. Its the story of a police detective named Charles Crews (played by Damian Lewis, “Band of Brothers”) who has been in prison for 12 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He’s been proven innocent - new evidence has come forth - and now he’s back on the force to find out who actually did the crime and why/how they set him up.

Another good character asset is that his time in the slammer has made him a changed man. He sees things differently. He’s able to make judgments about the criminal mind because he’s lived with them for 12 years. We’ve seen this before and it works well in television.

Life sounds like a great story, except that the writers have introduced a whole new plot device that kind of takes the sting out of the redemption idea. Being wrongfully accused, Detective Crews was able to sue for 50 million dollars. Putting aside that it was probably the police department he sued (so why would he be working for them now?), having all that money at his disposal would seem to even the score on the wrongfully accused thing. Or, are we to believe that the money hasn’t effected him? He simply wants to get the criminals off the street no matter what, right? Maybe he’s like Batman; even though he’s riding to work in a car that costs as much as a house, its not about revenge? Or maybe revenge, but in a good way?

I think this series will be a hard sell. That’s probably why NBC decided to get a funny, quirky guy for the role. Charles Crew has to be someone you’d like to hang out with. We’ll see. I’m looking forward to it.

[tags]television, primetime, NBC, Life, The Fugitive, The Shawshank Redemption, Road to Perdition[/tags]