The major networks are having problems.  With cable stations, DVDs, and the internet all competing for viewer's time, the number of people who watch the big four have been shrinking over the last few years.  It seems that the only thing that will make a viewer tune in is a hit show. Consequently if a program doesn't find a large audiance almost immediately it gets the axe.  That was the case with Kidnapped, a solid series that aired on NBC in 2006.  Like 24 or The Wire, this show followed one kidnapping case from beginning to end.  Unfortunately the number of episdes for this first season was cut from 22 to a mere 13, and then it was taken off the air before even those could all be shown.  (NBC did post the unaired episodes to their web site.)  Now people who want to find out what happens to poor Leo Cain can buy the complete series on DVD.  The series does wrap up the case and doesn't end in a cliffhanger.

Conrad Cain (Timothy Hutton) and his wife Ellie (Dana Delany) are members of the ultra-rich.  They have a enormous condo in Manhattan, hobnob with the movers and shakers of the country, and want for nothing.  That is until their son, Leopold (Will Denton) is kidnapped, his driver killed and his bodyguard, Virgil (Mykelti Williamson), critically injured.  The kidnappers want $20 million dollars, or they'll kill the boy.

Into this grim picture steps Knapp (Jeremy Sisto).  He's an ex-FBI agent with a mysterious past who now makes his living by recovering kidnapped children.  He's very good at his job because he doesn't play by anyone's rules.  His one goal is to rescue the child and everyone else can go hang.

The FBI soon find out about the kidnapping and Latimer King (Delroy Lindo) is assigned to the case.  They plan to give the kidnappers what they want, gather the money, stake out the drop off point, and try to capture the bad guys.  Of course they see it coming and don't fall for the trap, though a couple of FBI agents are killed in the aftermath.

This is where the case becomes a bit odd.  The kidnappers don't issue any more demands.  At one point they admit that they aren't interested in money, but what do they want.  The FBI and Knapp have several leads, but every time they think they are getting close to someone involved with the conspiracy, that person turns up dead.  Each time each piece of the puzzle is discovered, the main revelation is that the puzzle is larger and more complex than they ever suspected.  Just who is the mastermind behind this kidnapping?  What do they want and why did they do it?  It will take all of Knapp and King's energy and intelligence to answer those questions.

The show owes a lot to 24; it is set up in a similar fashion and it is obviously aimed at the fans of the popular mystery show.  Each episode takes place over the period of one day, and each show has a kinetic and frantic feel.  There are also several storylines going on all at once and a large cast of characters.

Even though it's derivative, Kidnapped is good and deserved a second season  That's not to say that there aren't any problems, because there are some significant ones, but the strenghts of the show outshine the weaknesses.  First the good news:  though this was a one-season-wonder lasting only 13 episodes, the story is wrapped up at the end and the case is finished.  The very last minutes of the final episode create a jumping off point for future seasons, but it if you ignore that the show doesn't end on a cliffhanger.

Kidnapped is a very engagind show too.  The characters are multifaceted and easy to like.  Knapp doesn't do his job because he wants to; he's driven to by events in his past.  He's trying to atone for the times when he wasn't prefect and people where injured.  Conrad Cain grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and though he's now a billionaire when the going gets tough he has a hard time not lashing out with his fists.

The cast was also excellent.  Filled with familiar names, the show had some outstanding performances.  Timothy Hutton was just right for Conrad.   He played a complex character and was able to hit all to the right notes.  Conrad was upper class, a ruthless businessman in the boardroom, worried to death about his son, but also cruel enough to hang a man off the side of a building when looking for information.  In the hands of a lesser actor the character would have seem disjointed and random, but Hutton makes Conrad seem like a real person.

The actor really stood out in this cast of excellent actors was Mykelti Williamson.  An amazing actor he could be kind and warm one moment then calculating and ruthless the next.  In an early scene in the first episode, just before the kidnapping, Virgil thinks that something's up and with just the look in his eyes goes from friendly bodyguard to cold mercenary.  Every time he was on screen the show became much more interesting.

With interesting characters and great acting, the show is fantastic, right?  Well, almost.  The only problem I had with it was the script.  It was just too over the top and clichéd to be believable, and at times it got a bit silly.  The comic book like villain who kills everyone who works for him, if they succeed in their missions or not, and is practically omniscient becomes almost laughable at times.  A lot of the story elements are things we've seen time and time again.  The hero with a tortured past, the fact that everyone is hiding something, and the beautiful but deadly lady assassin makes the show seem like a retread.

Not only that, but there was some really sloppy writing in this season.  The number of amazing coincidences that advance the plot make it really hard to take the show seriously at times.  At one point Knapp is interviewing someone about the identity of a man.  The lady doesn't know his name, but *SHAZAM* he happens to be on her TV at that exact moment!  That sort of thing happens much too frequently.

The show was originally scheduled for 22 episodes but early in its run NBC cut that number to 13.  That probably account for the rushed feeling at the end and some of the plot lines that were dropped, but not all of them.  Early in the season (first or second episode) a human ear is sent to the Cain's.  They do a DNA test on it and discover that it doesn't belong to Leo Cain, but it possibly belongs to his older sister Aubrey (Olivia Thirlby).  The next episode deals with the kidnapping and the recovery of the eldest Cain daughter, with both ears in tact as it turns out.  So whose ear was sent?  Where did it come from?  They never mention it again.  [Note: Alert reader and DVDTalk regular Shannon Nutt believes that they do mention in a later episode where the ear came from. If they did, I missed it.) To make matters worse Aubrey never acts like she was kidnapped and the fact that her best friend was murdered during her abduction doesn't seem to bother her.  The very next day she ditches her FBI escort so that she can blab her family's secrets to some druggie.  Oh yeah, and then she disappears from the show, not appearing in the last shows of the series.

Even with these flaws, Kidnapped is a good show that can be riveting at times.  The fact that the ending, though a little rushed, wrapped the case up nicely was something that I didn't think the writers would be able to pull off.  The ending was much tighter than I was expecting and explained the hows and whys very nicely.  Though the program would have assuredly been stronger if they had the chance to make all 22 episodes that were originally called for, this condensed set of shows is worth watching.

Audio:

This show comes with a DD 5.1 soundtrack in English only.  The disc sounds good, with the minimalist music coming from all speakers.  Aside from that and the few action scenes, the rears don't really get a great workout.  The dialog is easy to discern generally.  The kidnapper communicates with the family and police by using a voice distortion device, and sometimes it's a little hard to make out what he is saying, but that's undoubtedly the effect the creators were going for.  The dynamic range is very good, with the low rumbling of the kidnapper's voice and the high notes of the bells in the music both coming through with crystal clarity.  There are no subtitles, which should be mandatory on a release like this, and a stereo track would have been nice for people who don't have a six speaker set up.

Video:

The widescreen (1.78:1) anamorphic image looks good for a TV show.  The colors are solid though the palate used is generally darker and subdued tones, the detail is fine very good and the whole show is easy to watch.  There are a lot of night and dimly lit indoor scenes, and fine details sometimes get lost in the shadows during these, but this is a minor flaw.  On the digital side things look great.  There is some minor aliasing in a few scenes but besides that the show looks fine.

Extras:

The bonus items are really meager, which is very disappointing.  Aside from a promo form Law and Order, the only extra is a 16 minute overview of the series that has the actors describing their characters interspersed with clips form the show.  This appears on disc two, and there are some scenes that included in the featurette that don't appear in the series until the next disc.  NOTE: Major plot points are given away (including the ending) in this featurette. I'd strongly recommend watching it only after you've seen the entire series.

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed watching this show even though there were some flaws in the scripts and plotting.  The program is tense and the story quickly draws viewers in.  It's too bad that this show didn't get a decent chance to find an audience.  In any case, fans of 24 should surely check this program out too.  Recommended.