The thought of a Ryan Murphy-produced procedural is a confusing one. When 9-1-1 was first announced by Fox back in May, ordered straight to series with barely even a concept given at upfronts, Fox's decision was mildly puzzling, because the creator/director/writer/producer of such disparate fare as Glee, American Horror Story, The People vs. OJ Simpson, and Scream Queens hardly feels like the right choice to head a Dick Wolf-esque case-of-the-week drama following first responders. And even after the pilot of 9-1-1 has aired, those concerns linger.
It's not that 9-1-1 is a trainwreck, as one might expect from combining the Law & Order format with the guy who gave us witches with killer vagina (American Horror Story: Coven), a cappella choirs with seemingly magical powers (Glee), and syphilitic amputees created by a Nazi surgeon (AHS: Asylum). No, this is a fairly straightforward procedural but with the volume turned up. If you are a Murphy and Co. fan who really wanted some absurdity, you'll get snatches of it in 9-1-1. If you just like the familiarity and comfort of a mindless hour of episodic rather than serialized television, you'll get that, too. Murphy and co-creator Brad Falchuk, whose collaborations go back to Nip/Tuck, have created a slightly-off version of the type of cop/firefighter show you might see on any given weekend in marathons on ION or USA, albeit with a much higher-caliber cast than this sort of show might normally attract.
Murphy stalwarts Connie Britton (People vs. OJ, AHS: Murder House) and Angela Bassett (four seasons of AHS) are joined by Peter Krause, who hasn't spent more than a year off TV since 1998, in roles that even in one episode have a bit more meat than just "hardened detective" or "heroic fireman," so it's easy to understand why they are drawn to working with this creative team. Britton is Abby, the 9-1-1 operator who makes first contact with those experiencing emergencies. She's good at her job, especially since it may be easier than dealing with the mess she has waiting at home: a broken relationship and a mother with Alzheimer's. She's often then put in contact with Athena Grant (Bassett), a field sergeant with her own personal issues that are seeping into her professional life; or Bobby Nash (Krause), the fire captain who developed a drinking problem to cope with the hard realities of his job. For each, there is equal time spent establishing them as characters with lives outside of their work while still showing the sad, funny, insane situations they respond to every day.
The biggest flaw with 9-1-1 is that it has to ride this line of ridiculousness. Occasionally it veers into the "ridiculous bad" territory, such as when a rookie firefighter says with all seriousness, "Why can't I just punch it in the face?" about a giant snake choking its owner; then it also veers into "flat out ridiculous" territory, such as when a newborn is flushed down a toilet and must be retrieved from a line of sewage before it dies (Aisha Hinds gets to run around an apartment building screaming, "Do not flush your toilet!"); and then it also sometimes is "ridiculously campy," such as in an early scene when the same rookie fireman, Buck (Oliver Stark), steals a firetruck and joyrides through LA for a booty call before bragging about the size of his "fire hose." Each of these points can be enjoyable on their own (even "ridiculous bad" can be fun to watch and mock), but 9-1-1 gets a little whiplash-y over the course of its pilot, never quite finding a consistent tone. The situations range from overly serious and tense, like the final moments of a child trapped in a house being robbed while Abby tries to locate her, to utterly ridiculous, like a woman calling for help because McDonald's gypped her three nuggets. I'm sure it's true-to-life, but it's also exhausting to go from laugh-out-loud highs to emotional lows every other minute. This inconsistency extends to the characters, who are either buttoned up (Bobby, Athena) or loosey-goosey (Buck).
Still, it's a rather addictive show. The pilot flies through easily a half dozen response stories, and they're each thrilling and entertaining in their own ways. And even when the less-thrilling scenes of the characters' personal lives threaten to sink the script, the top-flight cast comes in to save it with above average performances of very average dialogue. When all is said and done, 9-1-1 is about as entertaining and inconsistent as the rest of Murphy's catalogue.
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