The Kill Point bucks a trend. Hostage shows have not fared well as series television. The combination of claustrophobia and suspense seems to wear everybody out. Spike hopes that an eight-hour war of wits between John Leguizamo and his fellow bank robbers (a pissed-off group of war veterans who came back from Iraq to joblessness and lousy medical care) and Donnie Wahlberg and his fellow hostage negotiators (hamstrung and bulldozed by politicians, FBI agents, and SWAT teams) will be different. I doubt it. The two principals are compelling, the two-hour pilot has some grit, and we are obviously going to get the backstory of everybody on the floor of the bank. But already, credulity is strained. Would a Pittsburgh street crowd gathered to gape at the bloody standoff really burst into raucous cheers when Leguizamo delivered an antiwar proclamation to the TV news cameras?

Spike
Sundays, premieres July 22, 9 p.m.

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• Archive: “Television”
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