Deseret News (Salt Lake City): Romance undermines 'Threat'

"Threat Matrix" is supposed to be the first network drama about the Homeland Security Agency and its efforts to prevent terrorist acts. So what's with this dopey bit with the ex-husband and ex-wife who still love each other and work together against the Osama bin Ladens of the world?

The title of this new series, which premieres Thursday at 7 p.m. on ABC/Ch. 4, refers to the report the president of the United States receives each morning, detailing threats to the nation's security. And the stars of the show are members of an elite team whose job it is to thwart those threats.

The pilot involves a plot to send terrorists to the United States and commit mass murder. And there are various plots and counter- plots and derring-do and all of that.

It's actually pretty standard stuff, believe it or not.

But then there's that ongoing romance between the leader of the unit, Special Agent John Kilmer (James Denton) and his ex-wife, Special Agent Frankie Ellroy-Kilmer (Kelly Rutherford), which quickly devolves into cliche and makes the whole show seem sort of silly. Which is not what terrorist-fighting ought to be.

Oh, there are some commendable things about the show, particularly when it comes to casting. Not only is it multi-ethnic, but there's a deaf character (played by deaf actress Shoshanna Stern) -- and the fact that the character is deaf isn't relevant to the plot. And there's an Arab-American character (played by Arab-American actor Anthony Azziz) who's one of the good guys.

But this is not the show it wants to be. And not a show worth watching.

Not to worry, though. Scheduled opposite "Survivor" and "Friends," "Threat Matrix" isn't going to be around long enough to worry about, anyway.

LAS VEGAS (Monday, 8 p.m., NBC/Ch. 5): Well, you can pretty much see where this show is going in the first two minutes.

It opens with Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel of "All My Children") in bed getting busy with a beautiful blonde. Suddenly, the doors burst open and a security team, headed by Big Ed Deline (James Caan), enters the room. The blonde looks up and says, "Hi, Daddy."

Yes, indeed. Danny is having sex with his mentor's daughter in a Las Vegas hotel. Which is sort of appropriate, because both Danny and Big Ed are security experts at the fictional Montecito Resort & Casino.

There are elements of "CSI" in "Las Vegas" -- not just in the setting but in the high-tech detective work. But the show also plays out a lot like the '80s prime-time soap "Hotel," with various goings on around the, well, hotel. Like the woman who repeatedly has sex on the elevators. Or the couple celebrating a big anniversary. Or the guy who's cheating at blackjack and the efforts to figure out how he's doing it so he can be stopped.

Essentially, this is a big, glitzy but essentially empty hour of TV. Which shouldn't come as too big a surprise, given that its creator/executive producer/writer is Gary Scott Thompson, who's credited with writing the film "The Fast and the Furious." (I know, I know -- you didn't realize that movie actually had a script.)

It's great to see Caan in almost anything. Duhamal does fine with what he's given. And it's a good cast that includes Nikki Cox, James Lesure, Marsha Thomason and Vanessa Marcil.

But "Las Vegas" is as empty and phony as the city it portrays.

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com