What’s this show called … Body of Proof?

by Aryeh S.

Each week I review a show that's new to me. Good idea, or punishment (mine or yours)? You be the judge. But either way, if I had to watch it, the least you can do is read what I have to say....

Right off the bat, one of the things that sticks out about Body of Proof is that one of the series’ selling points is Megan Hunt’s (Dana Delany) work/life balance. Don’t most medical shows — nay, most shows — include both the personal and professional lives of their main characters? If Megan’s balancing act is meant to be a draw, it better be unusual, exceptional, and original. And I concede that that can only be evaluated with continued viewing … it’s just a thought I’m putting out there at this point.

That said, the topic definitely arose in the season two premiere, with Megan kicking herself for not being available for daughter Lacey (Mary Mouser) when Lacey got sick at school and needed to be picked up. That’s a reasonable part of the character, but haven’t we seen that a million times? What was funny about it occurred after Megan called Lacey on faking the illness. Lacey told her mom that she “doesn’t get science” and didn’t want to disappoint her neurosurgeon turned medical examiner mother by failing a science test. Cheesy, much?

Megan’s cop sidekicks are a great pairing: John Carroll Lynch (K-Ville) plays Bud Morris, while Sonja Sohn (The Wire) is Samantha Baker. I don’t know if the show set out to cast actors who had a police acting background, but I liked Bud and Samantha together … the little that we saw of them. I can’t help but think of shows like Castle and Law & Order: SVU, where the focus is on the cops and the ME is a great supporting character. Clearly it’s been done before, but I don’t know that the redundancy wouldn’t serve Body of Proof well.

Obviously this show’s angle is Megan, but she’s kind of the weakest link on the show, which is otherwise a decently average police procedural. Eleventh Hour did a good job of making a scientist its investigator, but that was the set-up; I kept waiting for someone to tell Megan to butt out and leave the police work to the police. Incidentally, I was reminded of Eleventh Hour’s Dr. Jacob Hood, brilliantly played by Rufus Sewell, every time Megan turned out to be an expert in yet another scientific or medicinal field; Hood somehow was, too.

What Megan — and buddies Ethan (Geoffrey Arend) and Peter (Nicholas Bishop) — aren’t yet experts in is reciting their lines with conviction. The medical jargon was rife with stumbling and bumbling, and the only thing the three seemed completely sure of was that they all stand on unsure footing when it comes to the vernacular of their pretend field.

Delany did have a cute wink at her old show, Desperate Housewives. After looking around the street that the murder victim lived on, Megan mentioned that she used to live on a cul-de-sac, and that things there are never as they seem. Cute, even given that I’ve never watched Body of Proof’s ABC sister show. But a second nod in one hour? Megan tells Ethan he couldn’t handle a desperate housewife … even with crossover fans, isn’t once enough?

Anyway, Body of Proof is certainly harmless enough good fun. I think Megan Hunt should be playing the typical supporting ME role on a police procedural, but it is what it is. Not every cop/medical show is right for everybody, I suppose.