‘The Catch’, Shonda Rhimes’ 5th Drama, Airs Thursday

The Catch, Shonda Rhimes latest addition to ABC TV, will air this Thursday, March 24, at 10:00 p.m. taking over for How to Get Away With Murder for the rest of the season, continuing this year’s pattern of Rhimes owning Thursday nights on the network.

If you have seen the previews for the show, you know that the basic set up is: Girl meets Boy. Girl shares her wealth with Boy. Boy runs away with Girl’s money. The “girl” is Alice Vaughn (Mireille Enos) who is one of the top private investigators in Los Angeles. She and her business partner, Valerie Anderson (Rose Rollins) built Anderson/Vaughan Investigations and together they solve crimes around the world with the help of slippery Danny Yoon (Jay Hayden) and computer hacker Sophie Novak (Elvy Yost). After she herself becomes a victim, she will stop at nothing to get her money back.

The “boy” of the story is Benjamin Jones (Peter Krause), who in addition to stealing millions from his fiancée, is wanted by the FBI Agent Jules Dao (Jacky Ido) who has been tracking him all over Europe for international crime. Dao hopes that his new friendship with Vaughn will help him catch the elusive Jones. Jones’ has his own partners too, though they are partners in crime. Sonya Wlager plays Margot Bishop who is sort of a mastermind and Jay Hayden plays Reggie Lennox.

In addition to the basic cat and mouse story of The Catch, both sides will be dealing with other cases and heists throughout the series. In the second episode of the series, Vaughn’s client is a husband who may be wrongly imprisoned for killing his wife while Jones and company are in the need for some fast cash.

Rhimes is ABC’s golden child who appears to do no wrong when it comes to ratings. Early reviews of the new show appear to be positive. “The Catch is filled with fast cuts, sexy people, big money, beautiful L.A. settings, betrayal and a lively soundtrack, all the stuff you would want from a ShondaLand show,” says Rob Lowman of the Los Angeles Daily News. Huffington Post’s David Hinckley isn’t as enthusiastic, but is still hopeful saying, “If The Catch can find its footing, it could get us hooked.”

As with other Shonda Rhimes shows, The Catch was able to “catch” top “A” talent. Mireille Enos has received a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and a Critic’s Choice Award nomination for her part on AMC’s The Killing. In addition to her new show, Enos has been busy reprising her role as Karin Lane for the movie, World War Z, which is set to arrive in theaters in June. She is also known for acting in The Captive, If I Stay, and Sabotage.

Peter Krause recently finished his run of the NBC series Parenthood and is known for his work on the HBO drama, Six Feet Under in which he was nominated for three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and two SAG Awards. Though now known for his drama work, Krause started his acting career in the area of comedy beginning with the Carol Burnet sketch comedy show, Carol and Company, and later the Cybill Shepherd sitcom, Cybill.

Today, Shonda Rhimes is a household name, but it wasn’t too long ago that she was relatively unknown. But things began looking up after she penned the script for the Julie Andrews/Anne Hathaway movie, The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement in 2004. She began writing for Grey’s Anatomy in 2005, Private Practice in 2007, Scandal in 2012, and started producing How to Get Away with Murder in 2014.

The Catch airs Thursday, March 31 at 10 p.m. on ABC.

[Photo courtesy of ABC]