Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Pop

While heist films have been successful (like “Ocean’s 13,” et al.), heist series, thus far, have not (remember Ray Liotta in “Smith” or Andre Braugher’s  “Thief”?)

I think TNT’s new series could be a contender for a successful TV series though.

“Leverage” stars Oscar winner Timothy Hutton as a former insurance investigator gone rogue-ish.

The first episode, “The Nigerian Job” premieres Sunday, Dec. 7, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

In it, a desperate aerospace CEO hires Nate Ford (Hutton) – to lead a team of expert thieves to recover stolen airplane designs from a rival company.

But after Nate’s team recovers the designs and turns them over to the CEO, they realize the property never belonged to him in the first place.

And they’re now on his hit list.

The crew must come up with a new plan to return the designs to their rightful owner and wrangle the money the CEO had promised them as payment.

The ensemble cast is great, and fans of British shows might notice Gina Bellman — from “Coupling” as — Sophie, one of Nate’s favorite con artists.

This series also does a great job replicating the fast, stylized nature of the successful heist films –  something the other heist series lacked.

Like “The Closer,” this is a good reason to watch TNT.

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