I've watched the first 3 episodes, and so far its held my interest. The use a lot of sub titles whenever the characters speak in their native languages (Albanian, Spanish, Russian, etc.), so be prepared for that, however; I kind of like it, as it makes it feel more authentic, to the melting-pot that NYC is. This is a pretty likely picture of how NYC will look if Bill de Blasio continues to be its Mayor, haha!
136 Reviews
Bad at so many levels, yet entertaining
in-imdb-118 July 2020
Directing, cinematography, editing, music, dialogues, acting, locations and story are all terrible. It does look like a parody but apparently it is not. The show is shot in NYC (the city never looked so bad in a show), most actors look like they never spent a day there before. Nothing is done properly, everything looks cheap or worse. Zero credibility. Yet, I am watching this out of curiosity because, one thing for sure, 'Big Dogs' is unpredictable. This is like watching a natural disaster. You know it makes a lot of damage, hurts a lot of people, yet you keep watching to know how this ends.
A roller coaster of mixed feelings
proxximaa16 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I think the title sums this up quite good. Since the series was released by Amazon I would have thought that the studios put a bit more energy into this title.
I gotta say the story is quite good but also kind of an up and down. The setting New York + alternative reality gives the producers quite much space to play with all though sadly they didn't do. You have to watch it to understand those points, because you can't really explain it what this show wants to achieve.
Yet you can talk about the bad sfx used for driving and shooting. Bullet impacts look like some middle school student started sfx and just put some base impact visuals somewhere in after effects. Especially the driving gets annoying. I get that it might not be possible to drive around NY and film all the scenes while driving, all though they should def do that because sadly you can clearly see the color change due to them sitting in front of screens fake driving. There are some driving scenes which look real also the chase scene but in total it's kind of a mess.
I guess it's okay for Aurelian to have a not so perfect quality due to it being their first production but for Choice Films well, they aren't known for good ones anyways so yes.
What is positive is the character selection. The actors fit their position quite good. The ex SO not talking that much because he was injured. Manny Perez also fits his role quite good. About the others honestly I am not sure. Brett Cullen seems a good choice actually for the Captain. The others like I said I am quite unsure if they actually fit their roles good enough. Well the 2 other detectives fit it quite well actually since their appearance just fits in this like a**hole like detective role.
I would say its a good mix of story and characters but the overall production needs to be improved. Especially the sfx.. Thats why I only give a 6. I am down for another season of it, only if they improve the production quality tho. Since its already released through amazon, maybe hit them up and get a bit of support production quality wise.
I gotta say the story is quite good but also kind of an up and down. The setting New York + alternative reality gives the producers quite much space to play with all though sadly they didn't do. You have to watch it to understand those points, because you can't really explain it what this show wants to achieve.
Yet you can talk about the bad sfx used for driving and shooting. Bullet impacts look like some middle school student started sfx and just put some base impact visuals somewhere in after effects. Especially the driving gets annoying. I get that it might not be possible to drive around NY and film all the scenes while driving, all though they should def do that because sadly you can clearly see the color change due to them sitting in front of screens fake driving. There are some driving scenes which look real also the chase scene but in total it's kind of a mess.
I guess it's okay for Aurelian to have a not so perfect quality due to it being their first production but for Choice Films well, they aren't known for good ones anyways so yes.
What is positive is the character selection. The actors fit their position quite good. The ex SO not talking that much because he was injured. Manny Perez also fits his role quite good. About the others honestly I am not sure. Brett Cullen seems a good choice actually for the Captain. The others like I said I am quite unsure if they actually fit their roles good enough. Well the 2 other detectives fit it quite well actually since their appearance just fits in this like a**hole like detective role.
I would say its a good mix of story and characters but the overall production needs to be improved. Especially the sfx.. Thats why I only give a 6. I am down for another season of it, only if they improve the production quality tho. Since its already released through amazon, maybe hit them up and get a bit of support production quality wise.
ABSORBING!
vindoc7255 July 2020
I watched all eight epsiodes and can honestly say that each episode builds, one after another. All the characters operate in shades of gray. Great performances by all of the entire cast. Very nice filmwork. As you follow each episode you get drawn into a dark side that could easily been NYC's future after the market crash in the late 2000's. Well done!
Bombs Away
Xavier_Stone14 July 2020
This new show tries super hard to be edgy and gritty, but just continually crashes.
The opening monologue of a police captain describing the current affairs and sets the tone. He talks while stuffing his face with a sub sandwich and continually licks his fingers noisily and going through several sexual innuendos. Not your average cop show, setting the bar low.
Scatterbrained and disorganized the pilot introduces 40+ characters in scene after scene without oversight or direction. Simple acting, lame dialogue and several cut scenes under a minute long because why not. Somehow trumpet solos are blended in and everyone is too cool and trying too hard.
The opening monologue of a police captain describing the current affairs and sets the tone. He talks while stuffing his face with a sub sandwich and continually licks his fingers noisily and going through several sexual innuendos. Not your average cop show, setting the bar low.
Scatterbrained and disorganized the pilot introduces 40+ characters in scene after scene without oversight or direction. Simple acting, lame dialogue and several cut scenes under a minute long because why not. Somehow trumpet solos are blended in and everyone is too cool and trying too hard.
Great Watch!
drichards-6804228 February 2021
Underdeveloped and scattered
kaceecooke6 July 2020
There are various storylines that (are supposed) intersect, however none are developed consistently or quickly or fully enough to identify, care about, or empathize with any of the characters. The sound is very imbalanced, the dialogue tries to hard to be clever and shows inconsistent characterization or is cliche, the production design is half-baked at best, the shots cut very abruptly, and the show tries too hard to be edgy and gritty without actually accomplishing it to the point of being farcical.
Its all about the writing and the acting
cxramirez-694324 April 2021
The writers have a marvelous plot to write on and I have noticed that the episodes are maturing in their complexity. This is a show that demands all of your attention. You cannot test and do other things while watching or you will miss all of little nuances that make it so special.
Oddly entertaining in a way, yet boring and amateurish
horst6919 July 2020
The series just never delivers, despite a few good scenes .
It's an ordinary cop show, trying to be edgy and unique, and fails to be that.
The story, the screenplay, and an abysmal cast and acting performance make it a bit of a pain to watch . In the end it's not worth the effort .
The story, the screenplay, and an abysmal cast and acting performance make it a bit of a pain to watch . In the end it's not worth the effort .
Not what you expect.
txgreen-2931030 March 2021
On TV now you see the same old shows, all with the similar plot lines recycled over and over again. We may all love the old CSIs but nevertheless but no-one can claim their originality. However I think Big Dogs managed to find a new realm to fit into. A rather movie-esque show, it succeeded in squeezing a whole different aspect into an already crowded market. I believe the way it did it was perfect - the characters were ideal, the execution just sublime. The whole plot makes you think about it, and how the whole show works; and I think this is definitely not a show to be missed. Truly unique for a TV show of its kind, I for one am excited to see how it progresses.
An entertaining hot mess
sgmiller59314 December 2020
They seemed to take a good plot outline and turn it into a piecemeal, underdeveloped story that lacked focus.
There were a ton of scenes that did nothing for the storyline placed seemingly at random throughout. If they had used that time to actually develop the plot, I think the show could have been very good. Unfortunately the multiple plotlines never coherently merge so you're left wondering if there was a moral/viewpoint at all.
The last episode is especially horrible. The sudden addition of some sci-fi, a random proverb dotting the culminating action scene, and a story that goes nowhere ruined what I did enjoy of the season.
That said, most of the season was entertaining and some of the dialogue was pretty humorous in a crude way (not sure if that's what they were going for).
There were a ton of scenes that did nothing for the storyline placed seemingly at random throughout. If they had used that time to actually develop the plot, I think the show could have been very good. Unfortunately the multiple plotlines never coherently merge so you're left wondering if there was a moral/viewpoint at all.
The last episode is especially horrible. The sudden addition of some sci-fi, a random proverb dotting the culminating action scene, and a story that goes nowhere ruined what I did enjoy of the season.
That said, most of the season was entertaining and some of the dialogue was pretty humorous in a crude way (not sure if that's what they were going for).
Great
sodavis-4860016 March 2021
Just terrible
valleysportschevy31 July 2020
Everything about this show is terrible. The acting as awful, the 2 "tough" cops are just terrible and I laugh evrytime they try to be badass'. The story is garbage just like the incredibly bad editing. I still watched all the episodes because the show made me laugh at how bad it is.
Very suspicious ratings
pandsgpy19 November 2020
I'm not sure if the creators themselves are spamming reviews or something similarly shady, but these reviews seem a little fishy. Anyone who has actually watched any amount of this show could surely tell you it is far from perfect, or possibly far from good? The whole thing seems amateurish and stiff.
One of the best on TV
mxtaylor-6413729 March 2021
Complicated Mess
Otte122 July 2020
It can be interesting and intriguing, but this series has too many plots and subplots and is really really hard to follow or even care what's going on.
Plus, and maybe this was part of plan, everyone is unlikable including the main protagonist, played by Manny Perez who graduated from the Kneau Reeves/Kristin Stewart Acting Graduate schhol. He has two faces, one crouched angry face and one mouth open disillusionment(which he has 60%of the time). Definitely wrong person to be cast as lead actor.
For those old enough, it wants to be a 2020 version of Southland Tales and unfortunately...it succeeds.
Plus, and maybe this was part of plan, everyone is unlikable including the main protagonist, played by Manny Perez who graduated from the Kneau Reeves/Kristin Stewart Acting Graduate schhol. He has two faces, one crouched angry face and one mouth open disillusionment(which he has 60%of the time). Definitely wrong person to be cast as lead actor.
For those old enough, it wants to be a 2020 version of Southland Tales and unfortunately...it succeeds.
Just keep watching.
scottrol12 April 2021
When I first started watching this series I wasn't taking it seriously, I confess. It was fun and all watching an alternative reality in the first episodes but they were not really leading to a particular direction. But, as the series progressed my mind was blown! I have a tendency to be pleased and overwhelmed when a bigger picture shows up, something that transcends our day-to-day life, something that transcends us as humans and, oh boy, that's exactly what Big Dogs does.
Storyline
waridi-9940118 October 2020
Amazing!
belindab-0712719 April 2021
I admire it for trying to tackle a large scale independlty, but it unfortunately falls flat.
IonicBreezeMachine17 August 2021
Set in an alternate timeline where New York City was far more devastated from the 2008 financial collapse and never recovered, a surging crime wave and an emerging underworld economy of illegal nightclubs linked by a web of taxicabs is thriving. Multiple characters are followed including Renny (Micheál Richardson aka Micheál Neeson) a young fashion photographer moving drugs through the taxi network for the party circuit, Reza (Tony Naumovski), the local front man for an international crime syndicate that's looking to take over the city, and CAB partners Santiago and More (Manny Perez and Michael Rabe respectively) who are part of an experimental department within the strained and undermanned NYPD using undercover Taxicabs to tackle the out of control criminal element.
Quietly released in 2020 on Tubi and Amazon Prime, Big Dogs is the quasi-speculative fiction crime drama series created by Adam Dunn, based on his series of books following the character of Everett More, with the first season based on the first book in the series, Rivers of Gold. Adam Dunn had made it known a TV adaptation of his books was a major priority, and in 2017 it was announced active development had begun on a series. Now with Big Dogs, this is not your ordinary series. While it features many actors, producers, and directors who've worked on shows ranging from Law & Order to Homeland, this was produced independently by Adam Dunn for the purpose of being sold to a network with a second season already in pre-production per a press release by the New York film commission. While the show may get another season produced, I can't imagine it being long for this world as a series because it seems to have very little presence or traffic, and what buzz there is has been mostly skewing negative with only a small handful of positives talking less about the show itself and more making snide parallels to real world events. While the show has some individual elements that I can give credit to, it's unfortunately not all that well made.
When Big Dogs opens with an opening monologue by Brett Cullen as Captain McKeutchen it's an introduction that falls rather flat because rather than drawing us into the world Big Dogs is trying to create, it goes into a dump on Noricum Ripense that tries to draw parallels between the current situation in this show's New York City and this event from Ancient Rome, but unless you're well entrenched in Roman History you'll be hopelessly lost around 10% in as McKeutchen continues on before shoehorning in some other esoteric references that it's expecting the audience to know. Once we're past the clunky introductory speech things don't get much clearer with details of this world taken for granted as you wonder why cops are driving taxicabs or underground nightclubs with flashing neon lights and scantily clad women are playing what sounds like 1920s Jazz. If you were to periodically switch shake your head around while watching two different TV sets with one playing John Wick and the other playing The Shield, that would only begin to approach the level of jarring "huh?" this show throws at you because it doesn't take time for exposition and viewer immersion instead cramming in more characters and locales without taking the time to make sure its audience is on the same page as the characters. In many ways Big Dogs has many problems I notice when an author attempts adapting their own work, such as Adam Dunn has done here, where they've transferred scenarios and characters from the book in such a way where it feels like it was still written for a book and not written for TV, and that's important because the rules for TV and books are massively different so you need someone detached from the source so it can be adapted in a digestible way for the audience.
Outside of its clumsy story things aren't much better on the technical side with the show feeling rather cheap and flimsy with its reach far exceeding its grasp in creating a dystopian New York City. You don't see a lot of independently produced crime dramas let alone one's with an alternate timeline approach and there's a reason for that, because it's very very expensive and if you don't have the resources to pull it off, it will show. As I said the show does have directorial alumni from other shows of this ilk such as Blacklist, Homeland, or Law & Order, and while visually speaking there are superficial notes to the filmmaking that you can point to, everything feels a little off because it doesn't have the resources to add the extra polish needed to mimic the style of its influences. Even the color grading of some shots looks off, such as a scene where Renny visits his mother suffering from dementia, and the gamma is turned up to an almost painful degree with the whites in the scene becoming almost painful to look at.
The show's cast feels like they're trying to bring life to this material, but it often feels like it's weighing them down. The one standout in the cast in my opinion was Manny Perez playing officer Santiago who gives some good energy to what's an admittedly standard "green cop" character but the performance elevates it to a respectable level. Other performances are more mixed. Micheál Richardson, whose father is Liam Neeson, has a major part in the show but he's still very green and doesn't fit all that comfortably into a leading role. Richardson looks like a leading man in that he has his father's rugged good looks, but he doesn't carry any weight or authority in his performance and often feels unsure and reserved. Other actors are basically just filling archetypes with Brett Cullen filling the role of burnt out police captain and Michael Rabe playing an overly reserved stiff whose just a charisma void.
Big Dogs tries to make an epic crime show without network or streamer resources and the results are unfortunately not great. While some performances in the cast are decent and the show can sometimes capture that gritty look associated with the genre, the confused storytelling that erects a wall between the audience and narrative with a lot of insular information we're not privy to as well as a noticeable cheapness to the production design illustrate the show probably needed more polish before it was committed. The Jury's still out on whether independently produced TV shows of this scale can work, but this isn't exactly compelling evidence in its favor.
Quietly released in 2020 on Tubi and Amazon Prime, Big Dogs is the quasi-speculative fiction crime drama series created by Adam Dunn, based on his series of books following the character of Everett More, with the first season based on the first book in the series, Rivers of Gold. Adam Dunn had made it known a TV adaptation of his books was a major priority, and in 2017 it was announced active development had begun on a series. Now with Big Dogs, this is not your ordinary series. While it features many actors, producers, and directors who've worked on shows ranging from Law & Order to Homeland, this was produced independently by Adam Dunn for the purpose of being sold to a network with a second season already in pre-production per a press release by the New York film commission. While the show may get another season produced, I can't imagine it being long for this world as a series because it seems to have very little presence or traffic, and what buzz there is has been mostly skewing negative with only a small handful of positives talking less about the show itself and more making snide parallels to real world events. While the show has some individual elements that I can give credit to, it's unfortunately not all that well made.
When Big Dogs opens with an opening monologue by Brett Cullen as Captain McKeutchen it's an introduction that falls rather flat because rather than drawing us into the world Big Dogs is trying to create, it goes into a dump on Noricum Ripense that tries to draw parallels between the current situation in this show's New York City and this event from Ancient Rome, but unless you're well entrenched in Roman History you'll be hopelessly lost around 10% in as McKeutchen continues on before shoehorning in some other esoteric references that it's expecting the audience to know. Once we're past the clunky introductory speech things don't get much clearer with details of this world taken for granted as you wonder why cops are driving taxicabs or underground nightclubs with flashing neon lights and scantily clad women are playing what sounds like 1920s Jazz. If you were to periodically switch shake your head around while watching two different TV sets with one playing John Wick and the other playing The Shield, that would only begin to approach the level of jarring "huh?" this show throws at you because it doesn't take time for exposition and viewer immersion instead cramming in more characters and locales without taking the time to make sure its audience is on the same page as the characters. In many ways Big Dogs has many problems I notice when an author attempts adapting their own work, such as Adam Dunn has done here, where they've transferred scenarios and characters from the book in such a way where it feels like it was still written for a book and not written for TV, and that's important because the rules for TV and books are massively different so you need someone detached from the source so it can be adapted in a digestible way for the audience.
Outside of its clumsy story things aren't much better on the technical side with the show feeling rather cheap and flimsy with its reach far exceeding its grasp in creating a dystopian New York City. You don't see a lot of independently produced crime dramas let alone one's with an alternate timeline approach and there's a reason for that, because it's very very expensive and if you don't have the resources to pull it off, it will show. As I said the show does have directorial alumni from other shows of this ilk such as Blacklist, Homeland, or Law & Order, and while visually speaking there are superficial notes to the filmmaking that you can point to, everything feels a little off because it doesn't have the resources to add the extra polish needed to mimic the style of its influences. Even the color grading of some shots looks off, such as a scene where Renny visits his mother suffering from dementia, and the gamma is turned up to an almost painful degree with the whites in the scene becoming almost painful to look at.
The show's cast feels like they're trying to bring life to this material, but it often feels like it's weighing them down. The one standout in the cast in my opinion was Manny Perez playing officer Santiago who gives some good energy to what's an admittedly standard "green cop" character but the performance elevates it to a respectable level. Other performances are more mixed. Micheál Richardson, whose father is Liam Neeson, has a major part in the show but he's still very green and doesn't fit all that comfortably into a leading role. Richardson looks like a leading man in that he has his father's rugged good looks, but he doesn't carry any weight or authority in his performance and often feels unsure and reserved. Other actors are basically just filling archetypes with Brett Cullen filling the role of burnt out police captain and Michael Rabe playing an overly reserved stiff whose just a charisma void.
Big Dogs tries to make an epic crime show without network or streamer resources and the results are unfortunately not great. While some performances in the cast are decent and the show can sometimes capture that gritty look associated with the genre, the confused storytelling that erects a wall between the audience and narrative with a lot of insular information we're not privy to as well as a noticeable cheapness to the production design illustrate the show probably needed more polish before it was committed. The Jury's still out on whether independently produced TV shows of this scale can work, but this isn't exactly compelling evidence in its favor.
You don't know what you're missing
pburke-2661619 April 2021
Aspires to being gritty and hip...
emailgrant28 July 2020
... but doesn't make it. While they're were some occasional sound and dialogue issues, I think the main problems were directorial or with editing - or perhaps the editor salvaged what s/he could based on footage provided. Kudos to visuals! The problem was that after a couple awkward scenes, they lost the audience and their suspension of disbelief, and it's a quick death from there. Could I do better? Definitely not. But then I don't know the formula to make it work any better than the guys who made this series. I might be able to recognize when it doesn't work, but can't advise on how to fix it. But the great thing is that everyone got paid and can use the experience for the next opportunity. Good luck to all!
Real reality.
lxsanchez-700012 April 2021
Some of you have stated that as the alternate "reality" is revealed the show really loses some of its mystique. I disagree with that and hope that it never does. I have accepted the prospect of the show never making an effort to explain to us how the entire alternate "reality" really works. I would rather it focuses on how our main characters handle their dilemmas and trying to solve them.
Blew Me Away!
wmiller-4486516 March 2021
Captivating from episode 1
sarahbv-589093 March 2021
I don't always love police dramas but I saw all of the reviews and I was intrigued. I binge watched all 8 episodes in one weekend because it ended up being so good! I really hope they make a season two because this show is already amazing but it has so much more potential and I feel like there's so many unanswered questions that season one left me. I also wasn't sold on the idea of this show, but absolutely loved the untranate universe/dystopian police drama because it's so unique and gives a different perspective to the 2008 market crash and what could have happened.
See also
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