A 'Smith' goes to Hollywood

It's notoriously hard for a new TV show to grab the public's attention -- especially one with a humdrum name like "Smith," which debuts tonight on CBS.

But this new crime-thriller series has a few things going for it that the others don't. Foremost is producer/writer John Wells, a Carnegie Mellon University grad, who's executive producer and has credits as a writer for "The West Wing" and "ER."

The pilot was shot in Pittsburgh in March -- and features a gang of thieves snatching paintings from the Carnegie Museum of Art.

"We're in a very good time slot," Wells said on the phone from his office in L.A. "As a prognosticator of these things, I never get it right. I didn't think 'ER' was going to work, so what do I know?"

Wells seems to specialize in shows about subjects that conventional Hollywood wisdom has said would never work.

"On 'ER,' believe it or not, nobody thought a medical show with that many characters that actually showed people dying all the time, would work," Wells said. "With 'The West Wing,' everybody told us that a show about politics wouldn't work on TV."

"Smith" brings something rarely seen in crime shows -- the crooks' perspective. Yes, there's some risk in having your main characters be bad guys. But Wells maintains there's a long tradition in film, theater and novels of putting complicated antiheroes at the center of the story. Look no further than "Smith" star Ray Liotta's best-known role, as a gangster in "Goodfellas."

After Wells graduated from CMU, he worked with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and Pittsburgh Public Theater. Returning to Pittsburgh to shoot the pilot for "Smith" was fun, Wells said.

"The city was very cooperative when we blew things up, which is always a challenge in the post-9/11 era," he says. "We had a great time. You had a warm winter except for the weeks we were there. But the crew was great, and the city was terrific. The lights were turned on in both stadiums on the three rivers at night, so we could shoot as we went by on the river. Hard to beat that."

Although his "Executive Producer" title carries more clout, Wells considers himself a writer above all. He bases most of his characters on people he knows. Luckily, nobody has ever recognized themselves onscreen.

"I had somebody say to me one time -- after I took a line of dialogue verbatim from a conversation we had -- she came to me and said, 'Oh my God, that woman (on your show) last night. What a bitch!'"

Hopefully, CBS will give "Smith" enough time to connect with the public.

"I've had the great ignominy of having the first show pulled off the CBS schedule in 1991," says Wells. "One airing, and it was gone -- 'Angel Street.' A classic ... You try not to get suicidal about it. Usually you know beforehand that the show isn't quite working."

"Smith" will be competing tonight with "Law and Order: SVU," run by one of Wells' oldest friends, Neal Baer.

"We were both in Mrs. Ross' fourth-grade class," Wells said. "He was on the writing staff 'ER' at the beginning -- we've known each other for 40 years. I hope there's room for both shows succeeding at that time."

Meet the cast

"Smith" producer/writer John Wells introduces us to the characters:

Bobby: Ray Liotta ("Goodfellas," "Field of Dreams"). A family man with a secret life. "He's the leader...He also has a day job working at a paper cup manufacturing company. He's lying to his wife about what he really does," Wells said.

Hope: Virginia Madsen ("Sideways," "A Praire Home Companion"). Bobby's wife. "She's mother of their children, but has a very complicated, difficult and dark past that we uncover as the series unfolds."

Jeff: Simon Baker ("The Guardian," "Land of the Dead"). "A sociopath. He cares about no one but his friend Tom...Jeff is the muscle for the crew."

Tom: Jonny Lee Miller ("Trainspotting). "Tom is Jeff's closest friend and sort of keeper, and Bobby's right hand man. He's in love with Annie."

Annie: Amy Smart ("Just Friends," "Crank"). "She's the other sociopath in the group. She's trying to better her lot in life, but doesn't much care who she has to step over to do it."

Joe: Franky G. ("Saw II"). He's a good-natured mechanic, who's in charge of transportation for the crew.

Charlie: Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Sand and Fog"). The mysterious Charlie is the fence for the gang's stolen loot.

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Details

'Smith'

CBS, 10 p.m. Tues.

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