What it was: FOX strikes yet again. Proving that not all US remakes are created equal, Rake sought to ride the success of the award winning Australian series of the same name to eventual victory. With an offbeat premise and a self-destructive main character, one would think that Rake would have been welcomed to American television with open arms. It had charm, wit, and character - which are just a few of the attributes any promising show might seek to attain - but unfortunately felt almost out of place among the rest of FOX's programs. If we're honest, a dramedy about a criminal defense attorney might have fared better in a slot on any number of cable networks, where it would have been free from the constraints of broadcast television. Where it went wrong: Poor ratings and mediocre reviews ended up being the kiss of death for Rake, as is often the case with midseason entries, but we believe that such a swift sentence was ultimately an error on FOX's part. While the show had often been accused of playing it safe or failing to commit, there was nothing inherently horrendous about the procedural. Unfortunately, FOX has also had its problems with commitment in the past, and Rake was just another victim of circumstance.
