Leverage: The First Season Release Date: July 14, 2009 Own it on DVD. Created by: Chris Downey, John Rogers Stars: Timothy Hutton, Christian Kane, Aldis Hodge, Gina Bellman, Beth Riesgraf MPAA Rating: Unrated HoboTrashcan’s Rating:

At times, Leverage feels like the love child of Ocean’s 11 and Robin Hood.

Leverage is the story of Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton), a former insurance fraud investigator for IYS Insurance, who left the company after they refused to pay for an experimental treatment that could have saved his eight-year-old son’s life. In the pilot episode, Ford is approached by a businessman who offers him an opportunity to stick it to his former employers by stealing back aeronautical plans the man claims were stolen from him.

Ford assembles a team of thieves to help him on this mission. The team consists of conwoman/art thief Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), computer expert Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), cat burgular/explosives expert Parker (Beth Riesgraf) and the muscle, Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane). They all agree to work together on one mission before going their separate ways, but when they are double-crossed by the client, they team up again to seek revenge.

Even though they are all used to working alone, somewhere along the way they discover that they make a good team and decide to join forces. Ford agrees to lead the team, but only if they are willing to use their powers for good. All of their clients must be honest people who have been screwed over by insurance companies or corporations and have no one else to turn to.

One of the nice things about the show is the depth of the main characters. Ford is an intriguing mix of a noble leader looking to help the little guy, a jaded alcoholic seeking revenge on those he blames for the death of his son and a once-honest man who is a little too comfortable breaking the law. Devereaux is a brilliant conwoman who seamlessly picks up dialects and mannerisms to create characters to fool her marks, yet she is also a failed actress who can’t seem to transfer those skills to the screen or stage. Hardison is a refreshing change of pace from the normal hackers seen on TV – instead of being a doughy pale white guy with thick glasses, he is a charming, wisecracking African American. Parker and Spencer are a bit more generic characters, but she has a quirky charm and he is quite bad ass, which makes them both likable.

Most of the season’s 13 episodes are self-contained stories that wrap up nicely in an hour, but there is a bit of an overarching plot to the whole season. For one thing, the team must contend with James Sterling (Mark A. Sheppard), Ford’s former business partner who pops up from time to time trying to shut their operation down. Also, as season one unfolds, we learn more about the death of Ford’s son and are introduced to the CEO of Ford’s former insurance company, Ian Blackpoole (Kevin Tighe), and Ford’s ex-wife, Maggie Collins (Kari Matchett). For those of you who enjoy love stories, there is also a bit of sexual tension between Ford and Devereaux and Hardison has an endearing crush on Parker.

Overall, I found Leverage: The First Season to be a delightful surprise. It’s a charming show that excels at devising clever endings that zag when you expect them to zig. For anyone who is a fan of heist shows and con jobs, it’s a lot of fun to watch. The show is intentionally a bit campy and fun; a bit of a throwback to the shows of the 70s and 80s.

The season one box set also several bonus features, including deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette and a breakdown of one of the show’s fight scenes. There are two bizarre bonus features as well – “The Cameras of Leverage,” which is literally a two-minute montage of the various cameras used to film the show and “Beth Riesgraf’s Crazy Actress Spoof,” which has Riesgraf acting like a diva as she pitches ideas to the writing staff (it’s a clever idea and it has a few funny moments, but overall it’s just strange).

I would definitely recommend watching “Leverage: Behind the Scenes” because it introduces you to Apollo Robbins, who is a technical adviser on the show. Robbins is a reformed criminal and expert pickpocket who is tasked with ensuring that the cons and criminal techniques used by Ford’s team are as realistic as possible. He is so intriguing that I actually wished they had done an entire featurette on him.

“Anatomy of a Stunt Fight” is also worth checking out, although Christian Kane’s insistence on comparing fight choreography to dancing does chip away at his tough guy persona just a little bit. I also really enjoyed watching “Leverage Gets Renewed,” which shows the moment the cast found out they would be returning for a second season.

If you are looking for a fun summer show to check out, I highly recommend picking up Leverage: The First Season. Season Two starts tonight at 9 p.m. on TNT, so it’s the perfect time to start watching.

Written by Joel Murphy. Leverage: The First Season is available now on DVD.

Joel Murphy

In April 2008, when Don Geronimo left the Don and Mike Show, I was quite heartbroken. The only silver lining was the fact that the rest of the crew was continuing on with the Mike O’Meara Show.

However, I was skeptical about the new show. Don was the person I related to the most and he had always been the glue that held the Don and Mike Show together. I wasn’t sure how things would work without his larger-than-life presence.

It took a while for everyone to settle into their new roles, but Mike O’Meara eventually became a formidable leader and both Buzz Burbank and Robb Spewak found a comfort zone with their increased air time.

Bringing back Beth Ann McBride as the show’s producer helped to secure big name celebrity interviews and it gave Mike an entertaining foil. The show’s dump button operator, Katie Powers, proved to be a charismatic on-air talent and a welcome addition to the show. Along the way, the gang even created a new game, The Power of 10, which swept the nation.

The Mike O’Meara Show had a completely different vibe from the Don and Mike Show. Don always brought an intensity and edginess to the show. He didn’t play well with others. Don would absolutely destroy callers who challenged him. He spewed venom on management and other DJs working for WJFK. Under his tenure, the show had quite a few memorable feuds with on-air personalities at the station, including Opie and Anthony and G. Gordon Liddy. It was riveting radio.

But when Mike took over, the show lost that venom. There was a much more positive energy to the new show. The crew made friends with Big O and Dukes, the midday show, and often invited them in for their BYOB Fridays. WJFK even did a cross-promotional gimmick where the Mike O’Meara crew, Big O and Dukes and the Junkies spent a whole day together on-air, broadcasting on each other’s shows. WJFK finally had what radio stations always strive for (but rarely achieve) – synergy.

So naturally, the powers-that-be went and fucked things up by announcing that WJFK was switching formats and becoming a sports talk station to compete with Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s cluster of local sports stations. The Junkies will revert back to being The Sports Junkies and Chad Dukes (minus Oscar Santana) will co-host a show with former Washington Redskin LaVar Arrington (presumably to rein in the former athlete in case he freelances as much on-air as he did on the football field). Management decided that the Mike O’Meara Show doesn’t fit with the new format, so the show has officially been canceled.

It’s the type of decision that makes sense on paper to a bunch of talentless suits, but in reality is a terrible idea. They believe there is more money to be made in sports talk radio since the shows are cheaper to produce. Also, going to sports talk allows them to stick it to Dan Snyder, who they’ve had a pissing match with ever since Snyder decided to purchase his own cluster of stations to broadcast Redskins games instead of keeping the deal he had in place with WJFK.

Never mind the fact that they had a good thing going with the current lineup. Never mind the fact that the Redskins are the only team in town worth talking about, which makes it tough to fill a day with nothing but sports (especially during the offseason). Never mind the fact that Don and Mike helped put WJFK on the map. Never mind the fact that you are alienating loyal listeners like myself who have been listening to Mike and Co. on your station for nearly 18 years. Apparently, all that matters is the bottom line.

Making matters worse, WJFK announced the format change while everyone from the show is on vacation, which means they are robbing them of the opportunity to do a farewell show. DCRTV is reporting that a pre-taped “special goodbye segment” may run on Friday, but that’s hardly the fitting farewell the show deserves.

This decision truly marks the end of an era. Radio has already become increasingly homogenized and boring over the years, but WJFK had always been a welcome oasis in a sea of mediocrity. They’ve destroyed that to become just another sports station. Even though I like sports, I can promise you I won’t be tuning in to listen to the new format. And it’s not out of spite or loyalty to the Mike O’Meara Show; it’s because I couldn’t possibly care less.

Last October, I was lucky enough to interview Buzz Burbank about his illustrious radio career and the transition from the Don and Mike Show to the Mike O’Meara Show. I asked him how long he thought he would continue to do the new show.

“Until Mike’s heart attack,” he joked. “Then we’ll call it something else.”

Then he gave a more serious answer.

“No, for as long as we’re having fun,” Buzz said. “Mike said this going in and I really liked this philosophy a lot. He said this to me off the air before we started the show. He said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go in there and we’re going to do our job and we’re going to have fun. Then we’re going to go home.’ He said, ‘We’re going to keep doing that for as long as it’s fun and is any kind of acceptable level of success.’ So I think that’s the plan and so far, so good because we’re having fun and the numbers indicate success, so I guess we’re going forward for as long as we can get away with it.”

Here’s hoping that the show gets picked up by another local station so that they can get away with it for just a little bit longer.

Joel Murphy is the creator of HoboTrashcan, which is probably why he has his own column. He loves pugs, hates Jimmy Fallon and has an irrational fear of robots. You can contact him at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.

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