There is a challenge to "Smith." It may be wonderfully shot so far. It may be blissfully quiet. And it may be supremely acted. But how much can a viewer care about the bad boys and girls over the course of many episodes?
If anything is liable to make "Smith" above the well-made caper show it already is, it's what might be done with the relationship between Liotta and Madsen.
If the producers of Smith could have chosen to focus on character development instead of a revolving door of action scenes, they might have had a top-notch show on their hands. As it stands, however, it looks as though Smith will be another victim of a good idea given a poor execution.
The cinematography is stylish, and the action sequences compare favorably to those shot for larger screens. The acting is good, sometimes even inspired, and yet there is a big problem with the show. Put simply, most of these characters are distasteful and sometimes downright repulsive.
It's not entirely Liotta's fault, though, that there's so little passion in "Smith," that the Everyman situations that serve "The Sopranos" so well seem so, well, generic, here and that the intricacies of the gang's capers fail to fascinate.