Numb3rs

Numb3rs was a TV Crime Drama series, which aired on CBS between 2005 and 2010; and told the story of a new crime fighting duo, made up of an FBI Special Agent, and his brother, who happened to be a Mathematician! Yes, that’s right, it was a show about a Mathematician helping the FBI to solve crimes. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci, and Cheryl Heuton, and was produced by Ridley, and Tony Scott, with Scott Free Productions. And the show really was spelt Numb3rs (with a 3, not an E)!

I came across this show, almost entirely by accident, when I was on holiday in the Netherlands with my family. A couple of episodes were on one late night, and I watched them to give it a go, and really liked it. Which was a big surprpise, as Me and Maths, have never got on. But I did like it, and when it began showing in the UK, I was already hooked!

The show was set in Los Angeles, and featured a large cast of characters, who all had a major input on each episode. Each episode focussed on a different crime taking place, with FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow), leading the case, whilst receiving help from his mathematical genius professor brother Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz). Charlie was still living with his father Alan (Judd Hirsch), and over the course of the episode, other characters will be drawn in to assist with the investigation, and whilst that was going on, there was also time to explore the relationships between the main and supporting cast members.

The Mathematics used in the show, were quite entertaining to watch, as the theories used, were represented by easy to follow examples and descriptions. Actual mathematics were used in the show, with several mathematical consultants being brought in to help assist with the show. There was even a book published about the maths used in the show called: The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics.

The show ran for six seasons, and was decently popular from start to finish. But despite the pretty simple format of the show, it did feature some fluctuations in it’s run. For instance, the opening credits. In the pilot episode, the opening credits for some reason had what I believe is a non-vocal version of Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads. This theme then changed to what would be the show’s main opening theme, however the opening credits which were made for the previous piece of music, didn’t really fit all that well with the new piece. Then, after season 2, they stopped showing the opening credits altogether, instead just having the title card with a brief reference to the music (sort of like the opening titles to Castle).

But the real fluctuation, was in the cast. It’s like the show was constantly flipping a coin as to who should, and shouldn’t be in it. The core cast who appeared in virtually every episode of each season was made up of Rob Morrow, David Krumholtz, Judd Hirsch, and Alimi Ballard as David Sinclair. But then things get weird. Peter MacNicol was a regular feature throughout the show’s run as Larry Fleinhardt. Navi Rawat meanwhile, playing the part of Amita Ramanujan, was a regular fixture too, but for the first two seasons, was not in every episode. Strangely though, she was a prominent feature of the opening credits of season 2. Meanwhile Dylan Bruno who played Colby Granger, who was introduced from the start of season 2, and featured in virtually every episode since, was not featured in the opening credits for season 2 at all, with his name being a fixture during the post opening credits, credits.

Sabrina Lloyd meanwhile starred in season 1 alone as Terry Lake, with her appearances being less and lessfrequent as the season went on. She was then replaced by Diane Farr as Megan Reeves, who became an integral cast member of the series for three whole(ish) seasons, before then choosing to leave, despite the fact that by now the show had a pretty stable cast to carry the show forward. Then we get a group of new female supporting cast members, most of which come and go, before then coming back again, with Aya Sumika as Liz Warner, and Michelle Nolden as Robin Brooks; making occassional appearances, before then becoming series regulars. Sophina Brown meanwhile replaced the position held by Diane Farr for the final two seasons, playing the part of Nikki Betancourt. It’s almost as complicated as mathematical equation itself, was this the show’s producers plans all along?

But whilst the show’s regulars were largely undecided as to whether or not they would stay or go, there were some other regular cast members who popped in every now and then to assist too, which included (but was not limited to) Sarah Carter, Will Patton, Kathy Najimy Lou Diamond Phillips, Leslie Silva, Susan Beaubian, and Matthew Yang King to name but a few.

Fluctuations beside, the show was a really fun watch, and one of a kind of Crime shows that are sadly no longer produced. You know, show’s which were about the crime, rather than the story arc. Shows that could be watched more casually and didn’t require watching them in a correct order. Other shows like it include Castle, Without A Trace, Rizzoli & Isles, Body of Proof, and others.

But that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any story arcs either, but these mostly focussed on the growing relationships between characters, although they were very much sandwiched between the lines of mathematical theory, and crime solving.

Numb3rs was a very unique, and entertaining series. It had a few production niggles sure, but when it was flying, it was flying high. It was a show that you could watch on and off, but found it very hard to stop when you did. It featured great characters, and great stories. The show did fall into that hole of all american crime dramas, what I call the slash and burn technique (choosing to wrap it up fast and quickly, rather than leave any possibility of a return), but it wasn’t a blink and you’ll miss it run either, sticking around for six full seasons. It has now been 20 years since the show first started, but it’s definetely worth re-watching (and re-running if any channels are reading this)!