The first of the 2014 Fall Premieres has arrived in the form of Debra Messing and NBC’s The Mysteries of Laura.  Messing is as charming, funny, serious and believable as always.  Which is good because without her this show would be firmly in Taxi Brooklyn territory.  What?  Exactly.

She plays a homicide detective raising twins with Omen-like behavioural issues.  It’s unclear whether that stems from the mansplaining frat boy of a father Laura keeps trying to get to finalize a divorce who also happens to be a Captain to her Detective.  Or if it’s that their mother resorts to giving them cough syrup to keep them calm.  Which is messed up on many levels.

Her partner is Laz Alonso who was great as a cop in last year’s Deception and the underrated summer show Breakout Kings, though judging from his current run on ill-fated crime dramas I don’t know if this will be the breakout vehicle he deserves.

I loved seeing Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars), though SPOILER ALERT, he won’t be showing up anymore.  But he is a fantastic actor and is currently starring in the Canadian medical-family-comudrama Remedy which aside from it’s genre confusion is fantastic and filled with a stellar cast of Canucks.

Overall the pilot didn’t seem to find it’s “thing”.  Unless maybe the “thing” is working Mom?  At times it’s a bit crime show parody, at others it’s full Law & Order.  I’m not sure it will make it stacked up against NBCs other slate of heavy hitters (The Blacklist, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, SVU, Parenthood, Grimm… talk about must see TV!).  So let me make a few other suggestions you should watch…

If you want a full on half hour comedy cop show with heart look no further than FOX’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

If you’re looking for an hour long procedural with a comedic edge that doesn’t encroach on their ability to be serious it’s ABC’s Castle all the way.

And if you’re looking for the fun but heart wrenching stories of a single mother and her loveable but crazy family try NBC’s Parenthood.

As for what’s new on the slate I’ll be looking out for the premiere of NBC’s other story of a redhead in charge Bad Judge which starts October 2nd.