In Plain Sight: Season One

IN PLAIN SIGHT:SEASON ONE - DVD Movie

The array of offbeat characters that fall under Mary’s jurisdiction--everyone from innocent witnesses of terrible crimes to less scrupulous types like Dave Foley’s obnoxious mob squealer (“Trojan Horst”) to a diamond smuggler (Missi Pyle) with wedding fever (“Never the Bride”)--present less problems for her than her family, which includes her overly dramatic mom (Lesley Ann Warren) and troublemaking sister (Nichole Hiltz), who has designs on Mary's on-again-off-again boyfriend (Cristian de la Fuente). Frederick Weller (as her quirky partner) and Paul Ben-Victor as her boss offer solid support, but In Plain Sight is McCormack’s showcase, and she shines in both the comic moments and more serious elements, most notably a confessional monologue in “High Priced Spread.” One wishes the scripts lived up to the performances--too often, the program coasts on glib dialogue, or worse, heavy-handed voice-overs--but these are fixable problems in the face of considerable potential. Marshal working in the Albuquerque office of the Witness Protection Program. All 12 episodes of the first season are included in the three-disc set, as well as brief deleted scenes from each episode. An amusing blend of cop show action and dysfunctional family fireworks, the comedy-drama In Plain Sight benefits greatly from the charisma of its lead, Mary McCormack, as well as some promising episodes in this first-season set. --Paul Gaita TV and film vet McCormack (The West Wing, Murder One) finally gets a lead as Mary Shannon, a U.S.