TV Review: FOX’s Derivative ‘The Finder’ Loses Its Personality

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CHICAGO – Every once in awhile there’s a show that feels so derivative of other programs that it kind of just disappears while you’re watching it. A show that gets sucked into the fabric of TV history because it never develops a personality of its own. There have been countless failed procedurals, comedies, and dramas that tried to walk a well-trod road only to find that they couldn’t make it. We can add “The Finder” to that list.

Television Rating: 2.0/5.0

Hart Hanson, the creator of “Bones,” delivers a series that feels the most like the laid-back hits of the ’80s like “Simon & Simon” and “Magnum P.I.” but also seems clearly inspired by the success of buddy comedy procedurals on USA like “Psych” and “Burn Notice.” It’s not as good as any of those shows. The cast is decent, the writing is decent, the mystery in the premiere is decent — but who has time for a merely-decent procedural nowadays with all the competition? There’s nowhere near the personality needed here to stand out in a very crowded marketplace. Especially when people are doing it better not just back in the days when men mimicked Tom Selleck’s mustache but this week.

The Finder
Photo credit: FOX

Iraq war veteran Walter Sherman (Geoff Stults of “Happy Town”) is the title character, a guy who can find what you need, whether it be John Fogerty’s guitar or a missing soldier. After an IED exploded on Sherman in country, he woke up with severe brain damage and an uncommon ability to find things. He can track anything down for a price, although it helps to have a personal connection or moral motivation as well.

The Finder Photo credit: FOX

Just as it does with Donovan on “Burn Notice” or the guys on “White Collar,” a lot of the dramatic weight of “The Finder” falls on the title character. We have to really like Walter Sherman. Stults isn’t a bad actor but the character is dull. Certainly too boring to carry a show like this one. It’s like “Bones” with one of the supporting characters given a chance in the spotlight. You’ll miss Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, underrated actors who provide much-needed personality to the core of their show. And that’s what’s missing from “The Finder.”

There are attempts to add that missing life from the center on the fringe of “The Finder,” particularly in the role of Leo Knox (Michael Clarke Duncan), Sherman’s right-hand man. Sherman saved his life and turned him around after the deaths of his wife and children. Leo opens the Ends of the Earth Bar in Looking Glass Key, FL and serves as muscle and support for Sherman’s operation. Knox handles the details. Sherman does the finding. He’s the “Sam” of the show for “Burn Notice” fans, providing comic relief to the action. Other supporting characters include an unruly teenager named Willa (Maddie Hasson) who Leo & Walter take under their wing and a love interest in the role of Deputy U.S. Marshal Isabel Zambada (the beautiful Mercedes Masohn).

Decent cast, decent writing, decent production values….zzzzzzz. I hate to be overly mean to a show like “The Finder” as there’s nothing offensively bad about it but it is a program that one forgets before the weather on the news that airs after it.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com