Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 21% (Critics) / 29% (Audience)
Directed By: McG
Written By: Jeff Rake
Starring: Debra Messing, Josh Lucas, Janina Gavankar and Laz Alonso
Channel: NBC

Synopsis:A single mom NYPD homicide detective cracks case after case while raising wild twin boys and locking horns with her less than helpful police detective ex-husband. (Source)

The Good:
What could I possibly say that is positive about this show? I guess Debra Messing is a pleasant enough actress and she usually can come off as likable even when playing totally unlikable material (like she did for about the last 2 or 3 seasons of WILL & GRACE where it seemed like the writers of the show secretly hated her guts) even though her likability is stretched to it’s breaking point in this clunker.

The Bad:
As likable a presence as Messing may be, she is woefully miscast in this role. She doesn’t do tough very well, she damn sure is not good at playing a hard nosed police detective and she barely can pull off harried mother in the middle of a divorce. She is just not right for this show at all…not to say that anyone is right for this show because it is just a gigantic turd. It is directed in the most pedestrian way possible by McG who at one time was known for being somewhat of a visually stimulating director.

The Ugly:
The script seems to have been written by a roomful of monkeys whose previous careers were as crash helmet testers. There is not one cliche that this show failed to shove at the viewer in this pilot. This show seems hellbent on insulting the intelligence of it’s viewers with everything from Laura’s interaction with school officials to her dubious detective skills. It is like this show is one of those over-the-top movies within a movie that uses every TV cop show trope to make fun of TV cop shows. If only THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA was self aware enough to be taking the piss and not just a shining example of bad television.

Final Verdict: This show makes me question the sanity of people who are tasked with selecting what shows make it onto the schedule. What in God’s name could have been worse than THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA that this dreck got a favored slot on NBC’s fall schedule? I shudder to even think of what could have been worse. Suffice to say this is one of the most horrific shows I have ever watched and a quick cancellation would be the most merciful thing that could happen to everyone involved in THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA just so they can get this show’s stench of awfulness off of them and move on to anything else.

Rating: D-