Memphis Beat

Jason Lee leads a new cable television drama, Memphis Beat, which premiered on Turner Network Television (TNT) earlier this week. Judging by next week’s episode, “Baby, Let’s Play House,” which I recently previewed, this one-hour series is middling but it has potential. Lee plays Dwight Hendricks, a police detective with roots in the city’s blues music scene, and he contends with a kid’s claim that his dad was kidnapped, a colorful partner, and an ex-girlfriend with whom he still has sex. It’s a lowdown affair. The problems mostly relate to a distinct lack of conflict and spotty directing of the talented cast. Juliette Lewis (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) guest stars as the kid’s mother and the episode I watched also features Celia Weston as Dwight’s mom in a thematically related subplot. The tie-in works well, thanks to series regular Alfre Woodard as the cop’s boss, but the show (created by West Virginia-native Joshua Harto) needs to punch up the crime, the stakes, and the performances (the ex-girlfriend character adds nothing). But the riff on Memphis as a convergence of interesting characters is in tune.