'Common Law' has got off to what looks to be a slightly inauspicious start on US television this week, with critics not overly impressed by the cop drama. The premise of the show is simple enough, in that it follows two lead characters in the LAPD's robbery division, examining their relationship with one another as they generally go and try kick some burgling posterior.
Debuting this weekend though, it's not massively hit it off with the critics. "It is nowhere near as smart as 'White Collar' or as strangely touching as 'Necessary Roughness,'" writes the Los Angeles Times, adding "and seems content to hit well-worn marks, though more than occasionally with welcome style." The New York Times meanwhile comments "The show around them [the actors], at this point, looks too flat and schematically plotted to succeed as the type of lightweight summer fun we've come to expect from USA."
Things get even worse with Variety's appraisal, which argues "The problem is by thrusting the duo almost immediately into what amounts to a highly straightforward procedural, the dynamic meant to distinguish Common Law from every other copshow--including several existing ones in the basic-cable universe - feels flimsy at best." It does, however, have a fan in Newsday, who praises the network and says "One thing you can say for USA: It knows what it's doing. It's got its shtick, and it's sticking to it."