Houdini & Doyle (2016)

Though lightly entertaining, the series needs a bit more character grounding. So far Weston and Mangan are quite good as the flamboyant famous characters, but the scripts will have to flesh them out more. That may never happen.

The drama is light-hearted, perfect-for-summer fare. It’s a procedural that relies on its setting--you can expect other historical figures such as Bram Stoker and Thomas Edison to make appearances--and comic banter between the three main characters to make it attractive to viewers.

While Houdini And Doyle is exactly as light as that sounds, and is a little uneven in its early episodes, it also wisely aspires to nothing greater than a good time.

As is often the case with buddy-cop shows, the quality of the mysteries on Houdini & Doyle varies considerably week to week—some not bad, some so strained that even the Gerber baby would spit them out in disgust. What keeps matters interesting is the byplay among the characters, so philosophically at odds that they're often working against one another.

While historians may struggle with these early-century equivalents to rock stars as busy sleuths, Houdini's unshakably scientific stance can be refreshing, and it's entirely possible that the real Houdini and Doyle would have loved this--while they were still friends.

It’s not necessarily bad, understand, just surprisingly underwhelming considering it’s called Houdini & Doyle. One expects fireworks; instead we get consternation.

Houdini & Doyle likely won’t set anyone’s heart aflutter or the ratings on fire. But it looks like a passable spring/summer diversion and also just a bit of a history lesson on what these two guys were all about.

The mysteries at the respective centers of the two episodes made available to critics are engaging enough, but it’s the interplay among Doyle, Houdini and Stratton that holds our interest.

Whatever their era, Houdini and Doyle are the show. More interesting than the cases they worked on in the two episodes I've seen, they start out more as frenemies than friends, but it's a relationship with promise.

Houdini & Doyle has some honing to do, but it’s sharpest when it honors its heroes: thrilling and chilling, with a dazzling sleight of hand.