Three series with the exact premises - the life and work of thieves; all premiered in 2006; all cancelled.
Which one made the best use of the basic premise ?
Which one had the better characters?
Which one had better development?
Which one was more compulsive?
I haven't seen Heist, I saw Thief and Smith and thought that both were good. I kind of liked Thief a little better because it had that "harder edge" that you get with FX. FX has become the best channel on tv in terms of television shows-The Shield, Nip Tuck, Rescue Me, Thief. I thought Smith was good but it was only on for about 3 weeks. Thief atleast lasted for about a full season.
To answer your questions I would say that Thief proabbly had the best premise ann characters, as well as the most compulsion for the viewer. I was dissapointed when it was cancelled.
What exactly was Heist?
"Heist" was a NBC/Sony production which premiered in March 2006. Produced by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), Starring Dougray Scott (MI:2), Michele Hicks (The Shield) and Steve Harris (The Practice). The plot was about the attempt to pull off the biggest 'heist' in history - three simultaneous jewel robberies on Rodeo Drive during the week of the Academy Awards. The show would follow this premise by following the preparation and setting up of this operation in 'real time' through 23 episodes before the actual robberies take place in the 2 hour season finale.
I haven't as yet seen it as unlike "Thief" and "Smith" it has yet to be shown in the UK, so I can't comment on it properly, although from what I've heard bad scheduling by NBC caused it's demise (it was placed opposite "Lost" and "American Idol", go figure).
Incidentally ABC/Touchstone has produced another variant on the theme of these three shows, this time in sitcom format: "Knights of Prosperity" (2007) with Donal Logue (Grounded for Life) and Kevin Michael Richardson (Family Guy), about a bunch of mismatched crooks who come up with the idea of robbing a celebrity, in the case of this first season, Mick Jagger.
That sounds like a good show. Thanks.
Sorry it took me so long to reply.
I never saw Heist, but Thief was much, much better than Smith. It was obvious from the start that Smith lacked direction and storytelling technique, it didn't matter how many stars it had, it just wasn't a good show. Thief, on the other hand, was excellent. FX made a bad call in getting rid of it.
Smith actually got WAY better in terms of storytelling during the final episodes. THe problem is those wernt shown on TV, you had to see it at the CBS website because by then the show had been cancelled. the story got more concise & focused. I feel like they had found their way.
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Thief and Smith were both really well-done.
I think Thief was better -- its tighter focus gave it an urgency and intensity that I haven't felt from TV in a long time.
Smith had that "so it's going to be a lot of episodes before the net closes" feeling, a traditional TV-season rhythm. Still, it had me hooked and I was disappointed when it got yanked.
Indeed, Smith was one more reminder that BROADCAST NETWORKS AREN'T TO BE TRUSTED WITH SERIAL DRAMA. I should have known better than to think a show like Smith could make it on one of the big four... but... Ray Liotta... and Amy Smart... and Amy Smart's legs... and Amy Smart acting the seductress... and Amy Smart's legs...
Sigh...
Smith should have been on HBO or Showtime.
Heist? Flat-out sucked. So dumb it felt twenty years too late. I half-expected KITT to make a guest appearance.
Thief was billed as a mini-series, it wasn't cancelled.
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Thief was billed as a mini-series, it wasn't cancelled.
"Thief was billed as a mini-series, it wasn't cancelled. "
Thief was definitely canceled. Well, technically they just decided against extending the series any further, despite the writers' wishes.
Yeah, Thief was cancelled by a no brain TV exec who has snorted too much of somthing...after it was cancelled it got nominated for awards and people started talking so they said it was a Mini-series to cover their gaff.
Heist was a comedy and apart from the similar theme, it doesn't have much to compare to Thief which was a serious show, Smith i dint see so cant comment.
There were a couple of other shows cancelled at around the same time that were on the verge of becoming great epic shows, 'CANE' and 'Journey Man", both extremely good shows that were just finding their groove, cancelled and replaced with garbage.
Yeah, I remember watching it when it was on, and FX promoted it as a series. Which made me surprised that the season was only 6 episodes, around half of what a season on cable is for a show (12 or 13 episodes). Always found that odd, maybe Katrina had something to do with that (it was shot on location in New Orleans).
1.Thief was the best show out the three.It had the tour de force in it lead Andre Braugher. It was more grounded and character driven. It had
2.Smith always felt like a imitation of Michael Mann crime world. The cast did solid work. The light CBS procedural format really hurt the show's pacing and character development.
3. Hiest was a comedy caper with some interesting episodic plots but needed a lot more time to develop it's world. At times it felt very much like imitation of Elmore Leonard capers.
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