“Dresden Files” Premiers on Sci-Fi Channel

A few years back, Jim Butcher wrote some novels about a wizard named Harry. He has no doubt spent an inordinate amount of time explaining that his is the Other Wizard Named Harry. Imagine Sam Spade with a wand, or “X-Files” meets J.K. Rowling. The Sci Fi Channel launched the “Dresden Files” last night, and the series is promising not only for the quality of Mr. Butcher’s imagination, but also for the quality of the production and acting in the first episode.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden doesn’t go to boarding school, but rather works for Chicago’s Police Department as a paid consultant. In the first episode, a kid shows up at Dresden’s door terrified of monsters that he sees. The wizard gives him the brush off at first, but a ghost who works for Harry (he gets paid in romance novels) by the name of Bob (surely there are supernatural creatures with supernormal names), convinces him to take up the case. Before it’s all over, the child has been kidnapped by the Ravenmen, his teacher killed by a “skinwalker” (a sort of shapeshifter with a penchant for skinning its victims – rather “Silence of the Lambs”), and Dresden winds up tortured by the monster. Ultimately, the monster is undone (no reason to spoil the surprise), and the formula is set.

Paul Blackthorne plays Harry Dresden as a reluctant hero who can crack wise with the best of them. Whether this is Mr. Blackstone’s big break in TV is hard to say (it is a Sci Fi Channel show, after all, and not “American Idol”), but he’s quite believable as the only wizard listed in the Chicago yellow pages. Valerie Cruz (formerly of “Nip/Tuck”) plays Lieutenant Murphy, Dresden’s not quite partner, not quite side-kick, in a role that harkens back to Sybil Shepard’s in “Moonlighting.” Terrence Man as Bob threatens to steal each and every scene, and one only hopes he gets the chance regularly.

The show’s executive producers include Robert Hewitt Wolfe (“The 4400”) and David Simkins (“Dark Angel”). They have a bit of a challenge ahead of them, as do the writers. The Dresden books follow a formula, which is not to say they aren’t a good read and time well spent, but there are fewer than a dozen of them. The first series is going to go stale if the entire show consists of: here’s the monster, here’s the victim, Harry gets involved, he mucks it up, the day is saved.” A story arc tying them together in a broader context is needed. Allusions to Harry’s uncle and flashbacks to his father (a stage magician not a wizard) may give the series what it needs

The “Dresden Files” is exactly the sort of programming that the major networks have avoided since Rod Serling passed away. Despite the detective format and the romantic conventions among the characters, this is neither fish nor fowl. It makes for an entertaining hour of TV, but it is hard to market because it doesn’t follow the cop-show formula. If anything, it reminds one of Darren McGavin’s late series “Kolchak: The Nightstalker,” which lasted on ABC for only one year. One hopes for better from cable TV.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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