Boomtown

The storytelling structure isn't just artiness for artiness' sake. Instead, it ingeniously reflects the fractured nature of investigations.

With Boomtown, you are likely to feel a much stronger emotional investment than with lesser crime dramas. In the final moments of the premiere, the drama reaches a level that is almost poetically tragic and terribly haunting...Ambitious, artful and sometimes ingenious, Boomtown is the best and least compromised new network drama series since "ER," and in its own way, just as much of a breakthrough. [28 Sept 2002, p.C01]

HBO shows aside, visceral Boomtown is the new exemplar of quality TV dramas on Sunday night... Boomtown engrosses. It's the season's strongest new drama, not just because it takes a chance on a novel format, but because it manages to tell stand-alone stories even as it develops the characters in its large ensemble. [27 Sept 2002, p.40]

Stylish and briskly paced, Boomtown clearly shows the impact of "Pulp Fiction" in its quirky dialogue. The impact of "Rashomon," Kurosawa's film about a murder recounted in different ways, is most obviously seen in the program's structure. [29 Sept 2002, p.J1]

Boomtown, created by Graham Yost, who wrote "Band of Brothers" and "Speed," has the potential to be NBC's best crime drama since "Homicide: Life on the Street." [27 Sept 2002]

Donnie Wahlberg stands out among this excellent cast, as a thoughtful, sharp detective with a secret sorrow eating up his home life. [27 Sept 2002, p.17]

In the first two episodes provided for preview, the formula gets the plot across with minimal confusion, although you wonder at times if all the time-shifting and multiple storytelling is really necessary...Well, maybe. Because if this show gave it to you straight, it would run the risk of becoming just another violent L.A. cop show.