Numb3rs

Some types of television shows have been around so long that it may seem after almost half a century every conceivable variation of the genre would have been played out Ad nauseam but just when you think the well of creativity has been drained dry a series comes around with a novel twist that reaffirms your faith in the medium. There can be no argument that one of the definitive genres throughout the history of television is the crime drama. Many of the most popular and influential shows come from this venerable format. Typically there is a dedicated detective either on the police force or working as a private investigator. On occasion an amateur sleuth may be a doctor, lawyer or forensic scientist the later being part of the recent trend to bring the scientific method into the investigation. It is a natural progression from this scientific inclination to employ one of the purest and all encompassing branches of science; mathematics. You might think that a crime fighting professor of theoretical and applied mathematics might seem to be a ill conceived concept but then if that is the case than you have never seen ‘Numb3rs’. Not only was this series one of the freshest incarnations of a detective series in a very long time. As if that wasn’t enough it did something many would have thought impossible; make advanced mathematics interesting. The series quickly caught on lasting six seasons remaining one of CBS’ most popular series anchoring their Friday evening lineup. This unexpected hit came from the brilliant but simple concept of pairing two very dissimilar brothers; one a dedicated FBI agent the other a genius professor of advanced mathematics. Now the series has reached its conclusion with all six seasons available in individual box sets or a complete series six pack. Either way this series will remain a classic for a very long time.

Nicolas Falacci and his wife/partner Cheryl Heuton may not have had a lot of credits to their names before coming up with the idea for this series but man, what a start. Not only did it cleverly disguise math in and action crime solving format but it build a solid foundation as one of the best character driven dramas around. The secret of their success lies in many aspects of the production but the true stellar trademark achieved here was the care given to developing the unique personalities of each of the central characters. Frequently this methodology can readily work against a crime drama series when the tribulations of the characters over shadow the crime of the week being solved. Here there is a balance between making the characters into believable human beings without sacrificing the momentum on the investigation at hand and the dramatic tension of the crimes. By placing the stories against the backdrop of the FBI a much wider pool of potential crimes is made possible from domestic terrorism to drug rings and cyber crimes. In the six years the series ran the writers never seemed hard pressed for imaginative story lines.

The main characters here are the Epps family. The eldest son Don (Rob Morrow) is a senior supervisory special agent for the FBI working out of the Los Angeles office. The pilot episode established a case that Don needed help in cracking he turned to his younger brother, Charlie (David Krumholtz), a certifiable math genius and the youngest tenured professor at California Institute of Science. He just happened to already have high level security clearance thanks to some consulting work he did for the National security Administration. From then on Don always seemed to get cases that could best be solved through the application of highly advanced mathematical theories. Don had long since moved from the family home but Charlie continues to live there with their father Alan (Judd Hirsch). Now widowed and retired Alan had worked as a city planner, a skill set that frequently comes in handy. Many character changes occur in this family dynamic. There is a bit of role reversal when Alan wants to move and Charlie buys the house so they can continue to live together. Alan does have a brief romantic fling with Charlie’s boss but the most important change in his social circle by becoming friends with Charles former mentor, Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol), a full professor of Physics at Cal Tech. Larry is an odd one with numerous eccentricities such as only eating white food or giving up everything he owns to live in the university’s heating tunnels. The most important relationship shown here is between Charlie and his former graduate student, Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat). Right from the start there was chemistry between them but it took a couple of episodes to really get started. First there was the whole dating a student thing that kept them apart then Charlie’s innate shyness, finally the cultural differences between then. Some of that did evaporate when Charlie used math to write a book on relationships that became a best seller.

Like the relationship between Charlie and Amita nothing is rushed. Unlike so many aeries the writers respected the audience and the integrity of the characters by portraying a natural progression to a budding relationship. As a little point of trivia the on screen couple reflected this romance in real life. In the sixth season there were growing rumors that this would end the series. Again respecting the fans the writers provided a realistic conclusion with Amita and Charlie moving to England and getting married. As this wedding was being worked out by the writers Rawat and Krumholtz were busy preparing for their own nuptials. This is well worth getting the entire series. Every episode is thoughtfully done and expertly executed. For those not up on advanced math theory there is something that has become known as ‘Charlie’ Vision’ where a down to earth analogy is provided. It’s a shame the series ended but at least they brought things to a satisfying conclusion.

Posted 07/27/2010