Against the Wall

I loved this show and have been waiting to see the continuation of it. I hope it will be on again as my husband and I DVR'ed it and watched it religiously. The combination of a family story and police show and all the stories that go on around the lives of each makes it interesting and compelling. This is one of those rare shows that you don't want to fade away. Everyone in the show is well cast and I want to know which guy the daughter will pick. The main character has left the family route of police work and chosen Internal Affairs to the chagrin of her father and brothers. There is a great deal of tension between her and the rest of the family in her attempt to be herself, make her own choices and still belong to the family. Her father and brothers have turned their back on her for her choice but she stands her ground. I sure hope there is more to come because I would be sorely disappointed if it isn't slated for a new season.

Abby Kowalski (Rachael Carpani) comes from a long line of policemen. Her father (Treat Williams) and three brothers are all cops. She is frustrated with the lack of opportunities and takes a job in Internal Affairs which causes a rift in the family. She investigates police misconduct with partner Lina Flores (Marisa Ramirez).

Lifetime attempts do something here. Maybe the problem is that they didn't take on more risk. Or else they could have more than 13 episodes. The acting is good. There is some good family drama along with the standard police procedural. The two female police partners may be the pitch for Lifetime. This is a good show but I don't know how committed is the network. It just doesn't feel like a Lifetime show.

I like the way of acting. I also like the story line with the i.a. cases but also with the family matters. I disagree with another reviewer: sex is part of life and in this series it is good, beautiful and it belongs to the age and way of life of the main character. Especially the end of part 5 when mother and daughter are chatting to each other touches my heart. Good acting, good story lines, go on!!! The main character does a good job, but also her colleague who is pregnant, is a very good character. The role of the father is a special one. With such a daughter, who chooses her own path he has his problems, but I see he starts to understand and accept the way of life of his daughter. I hope this series will go on on the same level. Often this series become quickly mechanical. I hope that will not happen here.

I downloaded this mainly to see how homegrown gal Rachel Carpani is faring in the US - she does her best with the lousy scripts and their eye-rolling predictability, but has not so far shone. A shame, as she's a pretty good actress when given decent material. Sadly if this show is going to be her leg up into the US TV scene it won't lift her far. I haven't been surprised or even entertained to any great degree by an episode yet, but as I firmly believe 95% of TV series suffer first season growing and adjusting pains for both the actors and the script writers, I am prepared to give Season 2 a try. (A classic example of growing pains is The Shield - the first season reeked, but it ended up being one of the most excellent police dramas ever.)

Also, this show smacks of being an attempt at a female-oriented version of Blue Bloods, which is an infinitely better show. The premise of one member of a family of cops going into IA is full of potential, but regrettably, so far, Against the Wall fails to deliver, for me.

The only reason I decided to check out this program was because I saw the promos showing Chicago.

If you are from Chicago, you can clearly see this show is not filmed in Chicago. The only shots from Chicago are the transition scenes.

The actual scenes in the program don't even remotely resemble the Chicago area. Where's the green street lights, there are no wooden picnic benches in Chicago parks, they are not "Divisions" they are called districts.

If you are going to make a show based in Chicago, put some effort into making it look and feel real.

Showing the skyline, an 'L' train, the River, the Lake, etc. doesn't make it Chicago.

Show FAILS!