Review: Rainn Wilson amuses in 'Backstrom'

We've come a long way from Dudley Do-Right. The eponymous cop in Fox's entertaining new series Backstrom is a cynical, slovenly, booze-guzzling misanthrope. And as you probably already deduced from that description, he's a brilliant detective.

Yes, he has a bad habit of reaching conclusions based on very few clues, but, more often than not, his theories bear out.

Rainn Wilson (The Office) plays Backstrom, the tactless, borderline boorish bozo who was recently appointed head of the special crimes unit in Portland, Ore., where he lives and stews on a rusty dredging scow.

Backstrom, which belongs in the portmanteau genre known as crimedy, is, in the early going, smartly written and sharply produced.

What makes the show pop on screen isn't Dwight Schrute but a crackerjack supporting cast including Dennis ("You're in good hands . . .") Haysbert, Kristoffer Polaha (Life Unexpected, another good Portland-set show), Genevieve Angelson (House of Lies), Paige Kennedy (Weeds), and Beatrice Rosen as Backstrom's squad. And Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as his boat mate and (possibly) son. It's a kicky role for Dekker, much like Jordan Gavaris' Felix character on Orphan Black.

People will probably compare Wilson's warts-and-all investigator to USA's defective detective Monk, but he's actually more like Walter, the quirky sleuth on the Bones spin-off The Finder. Like those two Fox series, Backstrom was created by Hart Hanson.

What this eccentric crime-solver does not resemble is his literary precedent. Backstrom, the Stockholm police detective in Leif G.W. Persson's books, is a nasty, humorless troglodyte. This Backstrom is a lovable curmudgeon. In fact, he's far more relatable than Wilson's Schrute.

Maybe Americans will accept a crusty demeanor as long as we sense there's a gooey center underneath. The Scandinavians are far more comfortable with dark and despicable all the way through. But why would you buy the rights to a fiction franchise only to reshape the protagonist so drastically? All you're really buying is the name. Why not just call him Baxter and save yourself a bundle?

This series is notably dependent on its writing, specifically the crafting of its mystery plots. Because of that, Backstrom will probably turn out to be variably enjoyable from week to week. But at least it has the potential to be excellent.

Backstrom

Premieres at 9 p.m. Thursday on Fox29.

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