Count on it! (Numb3rs)

Name: TheChocolateLady

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Product:	Numb3rs
Date:	15.12.05 (770 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting and varied story lines, great actors

Disadvantages: Some people will think its boring because its about math - but they'll be wrong

"We all use numbers every day" is the tag-line of this show. Bet that's already setting some of your teeth on edge - you know who you are. You're the people out there who struggled with maths all your lives, aren't you? I bet not a one of you would want to watch a maths-based TV series. Of course you wouldn't. And I too wouldn't have thought that I could ever be interested in a drama show which is based on applied mathematics. But I've got to say that this show has totally swept me off my feet, and left me breathless for more. Yes, me - the girl who, to this day, says "What is X? Puh-leese! I really don't give a damn what X equals!".

Anyway, picture a high-up investigator for the FBI who has a little brother who is a math genius - I mean, Professor of Applied Mathematics, but still a genius. And imagine how the two of them could be a real team in figuring out crimes. The only problem is that they don't really understand each other all that well - despite having grown up together. Still, this ends up as part of the charm here. In addition, these ‘boys' are very close to their widower father, who seems to be the only one who understands them both. Finally, there's another Professor in the mix who personifies the stereotyped ‘geek-recluse-genius' for comic relief, and to accidentally hit the right note when someone is going off track - or not, as the case might be. This is Numb3rs.

I haven't convinced you yet, have I? Okay, let's try the actors. The main role of Donn Eppes is played by Rob Morrow, who I've had a crush on ever since I first saw him on the TV series "Northern Exposure". He's the FBI agent who is passionate about solving the puzzles he's been given. Morrow plays this part with just enough brooding to evoke the perfect amount of intensity, while allowing a touch of humour to keep him from seeming too stodgy. Plus, he's not the ‘everything bad happens to me' type of character that he was on "Northern Exposure" nor the tough bad-guy type of character that he was in "Quiz Show". No, here he's a smart, cool but edgy type of guy with a soft-center that seems to pull together all of Morrow's talents into perfect harmony.

His brother Charlie Eppes is played by David Krumholtz. Bet the name doesn't ring any bells for you. Didn't for me, either, nor did his looks. But a quick look at IMDb showed me that his first role was as a chubby, smarmy, full-of-himself child-star in the Michael J. Fox movie "Life with Mikey" (which was not as good as his Back to the Future films, but still a very cute movie - especially if you're a Michael J. Fox fan, like I am). He also played the chubby, not-cool, scheming kid who has all the ideas to set everything in motion in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You" (whose most famous line is "I have a dick on my face, don't I?"). Yeah, that's the guy, but I had no idea from watching this show. He's grown up and slimmed down since these two parts and is now a handsome young (27) fellow who has kept his ability to show a character's enthusiasm for what he's doing. And although he's good looking, he doesn't seem to know it, and still gives us the type of performance so that his good looks don't get in the way of our believing that he's a true to life, numbers genius and geek!

In the more minor roles, we start with the part of their widower father, Alan Eppes, who is played by Judd Hirsch. Now there's an actor/comedian with a long list of hits behind him. Probably my favourite of which was his portrayal of Alex in the TV series "Taxi". Hirsch has a unique style and this role allows him to include this into the role while being both dramatic and funny without seeming to be either the comic of the cast, nor the character of too much tragedy. There are also a couple of other FBI agents taking billings just after Hirsch, who seem to do quite a good job. They are Alimi Ballard playing the part of David Sinclair, Sabrina Lloyd playing the part of Terry Lake (including a semi-love interest with Donn).

On the intellectual side we have Navi Rawat who plays Amita Ramanujan, a doctoral student of Charlie's (and there's also a small love-interest there). More importantly there is the highly eccentric, slightly psychotic, people-fearing, mega-intelligent Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, Professor of Physics and close colleague of Charlie's. And who better to play such a part than Peter MacNicol, whose trademark of ultra-strangeness achieved icon status when he played the part of John Cage on the tv series "Ally McBeal". Okay, so he was typecast here. And he's even stranger here than he was on "Ally McBeal". Still, it adds a nice light touch to the seriousness of the series which keeps the show from being too much like an ‘almost reality' crime show such as Law & Order and the like.

One thing I've noticed so far about the show is that the cast seem to work very well together as a team. They have a very good chemistry about them and you get the feeling that despite the seriousness of the show, they're enjoying what they're doing. Moreover, there's enough lightness here to keep the characters from seeming too edgy and stiff. Finally, there are some very good relationship studies here which make all of the characters seem very human, if not vulnerable, but not too much so that they seem like wimps.

With math being central to the story, I've yet to feel that even once the writers were trying to dumb down the series to make us math-numbskulls feel better about not understanding something. My husband said to me the other day that what really boggles the mind is thinking about just how smart the creators of this program must be - and yes, it certainly shows through. This is a smart show, with very smart characters, but nothing is presented in too smart a manner so that the average audience will feel overwhelmed or stupid. Of course, it helps that there are times on the series where Charlie realizes that no one is listening to him or interested in hearing him explain about his equation, since it's over their heads. Balance is the one word I'd use to describe this, and this show is definitely very balanced.

I also enjoy some of the special effects they've used on the shows. For instance, there are some very interesting mind-warp type bits which they use to point up some of Charlie's thought processes. This is often combined with some electronic background music usually signals that Charlie is thinking about something. There are also some nice transitions from the actors speaking the dialogue to screens where the math is being worked out - especially when Charlie is trying to simplify his equations for those less mathematically inclined. This could easily have been distracting, but instead it ends up being a set of transitions which blend nicely with the action. I also appreciate that the camera action isn't that choppy, fake "hand-camera" type of stuff, that some crime dramas use – which can sometimes give me a headache. Mind you, I've noticed that there is a need for many quick cuts between angle shots, but they've kept this smooth enough to keep you from feeling like you're blinking every micro-second.

I should note that this series is produced by the brothers Tony and Ridley Scott. Now I'm not all that familiar with Tony Scott's work, but Ridley Scott is a name that I know quite well. He's probably best known for the movie "Gladiator" (which I hated, nay despised) and only slightly less well known for two films I loved - "Thelma & Louise" and "Matchstick Men". I'm glad to see that he's doing the type of job that got him a best director nomination for an Oscar for "Thelma & Louise", and not the type of schlock job that I felt "Gladiator" was. I do hope that this series lasts long enough for the Scott brothers to get some awards for it - since to my mind, it's won my heart, and that's quite an achievement. Still, I'm sure a little statue of one kind or another would be more appreciated by them, don't you think?

By the way, some detractors have mentioned that the math was a bit forced into the episodes - well I guess my math is so poor that I wouldn't notice that. Show me a calculation on a chalkboard and it looks like math to me. And the CBS website does state that they base the episodes on real FBI cases, and use an expert Mathematics consultant to make sure that the math is proper in the series. Works for me!

But that aside, apparently this series is being sponsored by Texas Instruments (that big calculator company) to help promote math education and better understanding of math in the USA. Think about it - a "cool" TV show that proves just how useful math is in our every day life? This can be nothing BUT a good thing, if you ask me. Hey, if I was a teenager again watching this, I'd be more interested in math with those two hotties to watch on the tube. Well, I hope it works, and I truly hope that this series stays on the air for many, many seasons. (Problem is, in the UK I see they're airing it at 11pm - not a good hour for school kids to be awake and watching TV, is it? Too bad, that.)

Bottom line - watch the show, I think you'll enjoy it, even if you're like me and you hated math in school! Still, I'll only give it 4 stars since I'm not sure how the series will pan out.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © December, 2005
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Technical Stuff:
No, as of this posting, this isn't available yet on DVD or video. The official site of the series can be found at http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/index.shtml

This series began airing in the UK on ITV on Monday, November 21, according to www.itv.com
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Summary: An FBI Crime Drama Series where Math solves the crimes - totally fascinating!