The series, now in season four, stars Mary McCormack and Fred Weller as US Marshals Mary and Marshall who work in Federal Witness Security Program. It airs Sunday nights on USA in the final hour of prime time (and streams at the USA website and at Hulu). Weller did strong work in the films The Shape of Things and The Business of Strangers whereas McCormack seemed to make a career out of being miscast with the exception of Mystery, Alaska. In Plain Sight provides Weller with a strong acting partner that allows him to go deeper than he has in any other role. The show provides McCormack with a dream role that allows her to demonstrate just how talented she is -- and she is incredibly talented.
Each week, a guest star -- or guest stars -- are either introduced to the witness relocation program or are having problems in the witness relocation program and Mary and Marshall have to be beat cop, investigator, bodyguard, psychologist and much more. The characters they help have been played by some strong actors such as Martin Landau, Matthew Davis, Fred Ward; however, we think the strongest performance was delivered last season by Laura San Giacomo in the episode "Death Becomes Her." Rita Moreno and others who have played family members of series characters have done a strong job as well but we're referring to the ones playing relocated witnesses.
And how easy is it to hide "in plain sight"? Yes, in real life it does take place. But it's not something most people obsess over or even think about until someone like Henry Hill comes along. Hill was a minor league mobster who entered the witness relocation program to avoid returning to prison and snitched out his fellow mobsters. He and his wife Karen (and their two kids) were relocated to a variety of places -- all under assumed names -- including Omaha and Seattle. It was in Seattle that he got busted for drugs and it was his never-ending problems with the law that led to both him and Karen being kicked out of the program. Some of his story was told in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Hill attending premieres of the film and seeking publicity is also said to have played into his forced departure from the witness relocation program.
But, really, how easy is it to hide "in plain sight"?
Apparently not all that difficult. For example, currently there's outrage as Barack Obama floats the notion of gutting Social Security. 'How could that be? Where did this idea come from? It's not Barack!!!!' From the January 16, 2009 "Iraq snapshot:"
Turning to US politics, President-elect Barack Obama met with the Washington Post editorial board yesterday. Here for Michael D Shear's text article, here for the sixty-one minute audio. Warning for those listening to the audio, Barack's speaking abilities have not magically improved. Sample: "Uh, obviously military service is uh something we uh honor as a country [. . .] That's going to be something that we uh uh . . ." And four minutes, for those wondering, he takes his first swipe at African-American fathers. Yes, it's Barack singing all his well known tunes. And mixing in a few new ones such as, "It's not something I've said publicly . . . but spending money wisely is not easy." Mostly, the interview will be remembered as the one where Barack declared War on Social Security. Barack's replied to questions and made vague statements. But, his Love Cult insists, that's just the Nice Guy Barry trying to make nice and get along. He doesn't want to say, "Stupid crooks, Social Security is not going to be chipped away!" Well, actually he does want to say that and he did say that.
[On This Week with George Stephanopoulos (ABC -- video and text), Barack had declared, "Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game.]
Barack was asked about it above. With the Washington Post, he brought it up on his own -- and referenced George Steph's "grand bargain" -- so hopefully even his Love Cult can start to see a few realities. He begins talking about his big "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" that will be held in February and include a motley crew that will "talk about waste." He then segues into Social Security during this response (at approximately 16:14) and states the following:
"We're also going to have a discussion about entitlements and how we get a grasp on those. Uh and uh, you know, like I think everybody here is familiar enough with the budget problems to know that as bad as these deficits that we're running up over the next -- that have already been run up -- have been and despite the cost of both TARP and the stimulus, the real problem in our long term deficit actually has to do with our entitlement obligation and the fact that historically uh if our revenues ranged between 18 and 20% of GDP they're now at 16. It's just not sustainable so we're going to have to uh craft a uh what George Stephanopoulos called a grand bargain and I-I try not to use the word grand in anything that I say but uh but we're going to have to shape a bargain. This, by the way, is where there are going to be some very difficult choices and issues of sacrifices and responsibility and duty are going to come in because what we have done is kick this can down the road. We're now at the end of the road and uh we are not in a position to kick it any further."
Those are right-wing talking points and only the most historically ignorant of Barack's Love Cult will fail to grasp the declaration of war.
Yet here we are, in July of 2011, and people are angry and surprised. The angry we understand. The surprised?
4 US soldiers have died in the Iraq War this month alone. Counting June as well, that's 19 dead in the Iraq War. 'But Barack promised he would end the Iraq War!!!!!' Well he managed to rename it Operation New Dawn August 31, 2010. Before Friday's death was announced, the number of US military personnel who had died in Iraq since Barack declared the end of 'combat operations' and the start of Operation New Dawn was 54. So 55 US military personnel have died in the Iraq War since August 31st and yet some fools still think Barck's either ended or is ending the Iraq War.
This despite the fact that the White House is engaged in negotiations with Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug of Iraq, to extend the US military presence in Iraq -- despite the fact that Jay Carney's lying denials were reality checked publicly by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen.
And despite that, there are people who just can't see it.
Why?
Because they don't want to look for it.
And maybe that's the key to witness relocation?
The key to In Plain Sight is McCormack and Weller. There are no bad episodes of In Plain Sight because Mary and Marshall's relationship is key to the show. For example, when Mary's shot, after knowing whether or not she'll survive, your primary interest is in how Marshall's going to react. That's not a slam against any of the other actors -- including Lesley Ann Warren who is excellent as Mary's mother -- it's just that they are the key to the show. At that point, season two, Mary was engaged to Raph (Christian de la Feunte) and even his reaction didn't mean as much.
Mary and Marshall matter so much because, to be honest, they were both pricks at the start of the show. Possibly the reason Mary is so strong is because of the huge chip on her shoulder? And Marshall's show boated in the most pompous way that you started to believe Mary's jokes about him being a virgin were actually foreshadowing of a future revelation.
Then why give a damn? Because Mary and Marshall are each others oyster and each others sand and, together, their friendship is the pearl. And as they've bumped up against one another, irritated one another, raged against one another and comforted one another, they've ended up with one of the deepest friendships TV's seen in some time.
And it's a friendship. In the latest plot development this season, Mary's pregnant (as opposed to use big hats and large plants to hide McCormack's real life pregnancy). And some wish it was by Marshall. As far as we know, the father is Mary's first husband Mark. We keep waiting for the twist where it turns out that Mary and Raph hooked up off camera. But what is known is that Marshall's not the father. In fact, he's involved with police officer Abigail (Rachel Boston who brings a whole new energy to the show).
And that's how it should be. At least currently. The two have pushed each other into becoming better people. At some point in the future, they might push themselves into being lovers. But currently, they work best as friends.
"Brandi, single mothers are heroes but I don't want to be one." What we also know currently is that Mary's planning on giving the baby up for adoption. Her mother and her sister Brandi (Nichole Hiltz) were hesitant but now appear on board with the decision. How it ends, you never know because as much as you know Mary or Marshall, they never lose their ability to surprise. And that's probably why In Plain Sight remains the real USA success story.
