Tom Berringer is no Jack Nicholson, but he plays Jack on TV.
USA Network made no secret that its new series, Peacemakers, was
derivative (think CSI: Crime Scene Investigation meets Gunsmoke), but we didn’t know quite
how derivative it would be.
In the two-hour pilot airing July 30, wealthy landowner Art Wannamaker is
killed. As town marshal, Berringer investigates with his newfangled
forensic-scientist sidekick. They discover that the victim was planning to give
away 10,000 acres of land, and that the land controlled all of the water to the
town and nearby mines. And that among the land he owned was ... Chinatown!!!
Yes, a big chunk of the plot was ripped off from 1974 classic mystery
Chinatown, which centers on the murder over land and water rights.
"What does Art Wannamaker have to do with Chinatown?" Berringer’s character
asks.
Apparently everything, but that’s pretty much where we hit the eject
button.
