The Mysteries of Laura (NBC Wednesdays 8pm)

….the only real mystery is why the hell is Debra Messing doing this?

So, The Mysteries of Laura is another adaption, there’s a few this season, this time of the Spanish series “Los misterios de Laura” and deals with the day to day life of NYPD homicide detective Laura Diamond (Debra Messing) as she copes with her career, two kids, and a soon to be ex husband.

Don’t stop me if you’ve heard all this before – because you have. Many times. Many, many, MANY times.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I love the idea of more strong female characters on television, and yes they all need foibles and obstacles and all that stuff that makes for great drama and tension, but seriously Hollywood – have we not run the course of woman who “can’t quite have it all”? Wasn’t there something else we could have done with this?

The pilot, much like every episode is set to do, centers on a murder (duh!), but Law & Order this is not. It’s not even CSI: Hoboken. While it tries very hard to straddle the line of being both quirky and funny and a procedural drama it doesn’t manage to pull off either one convincingly. Debra Messing is a very talented actress, with great comedic timing – something this show does try to utilize, it just doesn’t use it enough or very well.

All in all Mysteries of Laura manages to be there. Nothing special, nothing interesting – just “I’ll have this on in the background while I fold the laundry” dull.

I know what you’re thinking, did I like anything about this show? Yes, of course. As I said, Debra Messing is a sweet, and impressionable person – so it all leads me back to my original question, why is she doing this show?

Perhaps it read better on paper. Perhaps there were a lot of changes to the script before production. Or perhaps she just needs some money.

My Prediction: Bag ’em, and tag ’em for November Sweeps.

What did you guys think? And how does it stand up to the original series – which I hear is very, very good.