This Stone Finally Turned

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Jesse Stone is back…finally. CBS is airing THIN ICE, the fifth of Tom Selleck's Jesse Stone movies and the first one not adapted from a Robert B. Parker novel, on March 1. The big mystery, though, isn't the one that Stone solves in the movie — it's why it has taken so long for this one to show up on TV. It was shot in August 2007 and has been on the shelf ever since, even though the Jesse Stone movies are consistently strong performers for CBS (and the last one earned Selleck an Emmy nomination). And the network hasn't lost faith in the franchise…they've already ordered and shot NO REMORSE, the sixth movie in the series. So why was THIN ICE on ice for a year-and-a-half? 

I'm just glad it's finally airing. I love the Jesse Stone movies — far more, in fact, than the books that they have been based on. I hope this one is as good as the others. CBS could do a lot worse than making Jesse Stone a weekly series, assuming that Selleck is up for it.

UPDATE 3/2/2009: Just finished watching it. I think it might be the best of the Jesse Stone movies. 

UPDATE 2/27/2008: MaryMcNamara at the Los Angeles Times loved the movie, too.

With a cast that has won its weight in Emmys and Golden Globes, it's not surprising that

"Thin Ice" is filled with great performances; what is surprising is that so many of them are so marvelously small and subtle. This is a slow-moving film, especially in comparison with the often hyperkinetic pacing of today's television, but that's one of its greatest strengths.Like good police work, good storytelling requires time and a eye for detail; "Jesse Stone: Thin Ice" has both.

UPDATE: Alan Sepinwall at the New Jersey Star-Ledger gives the movie a rave.

It's a role that fits star Tom Selleck like a glove. "Thin Ice" is Selleck's fifth Stone movie, and the first not directly adapted from one of Parker's novels, even though several Stone books remain unfilmed. (The eighth book, "Night and Day," came out this week.) Given the richness and cinematic quality of the Stone books, I was nervous about the TV series moving away from the source material, but Selleck so thoroughly embodies Jesse's flinty yet wisecracking personality that "Thin Ice" feels like something Parker might have written, even though he didn't.

6 thoughts on “This Stone Finally Turned”

  1. Hi Lee,
    Love Tom Selleck, Love Robert Parker. Every book is like visiting with an old friend. Just picked up Hundred Dollar Baby yesterday to reread.
    I went on to your myspace and laughed my butt off at your bio. Then I saw that you’re married and was sad……ask your wife if it’s ok if I fantasize about you anyway. There’d we be, two writers, lovers of words, minds meshing, getting each others 80’s references,correcting each other’s copy….is it hot in here or what?
    That was fun for me…and I don’t expect you’ll post it, but you may enjoy it. :o)
    Looking forward to exploring the rest of your site.
    Thanks!
    Karen

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  2. Oh Yeah.
    I have to say that Jesse Stone [the movies I’ve not read one of that series yet] is one of the first characters Tom has played that doesn’t make me think of Magnum. Usually that doesn’t matter, I look past it but I don’t need to with Jesse Stone.
    I’d totally support a series but if Tom is smart he’ll just keep doing the movies [two a year or so]so he can have a life.

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  3. I’m so glad to see that I’m not the only one excited about Jesse Stone’s return to CBS. I’m a huge fan of both Robert B. Parker and Tom Selleck. (I picked up Night and Day today.) I’m really looking forward to Sunday night. 1 or 2 of these movies a year sounds like a awesome idea.

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  4. Have to agree the Jesse Stone TV movies are better than the Parker books…not that the novels are bad. I like keeping Jen as just a voice on the phone and not a real character. Makes Stones isolation that much deeper.
    Two Stone movies per year would be great and Selleck has said hed do 20-25 of them as hes thinks the character is fun. A weekly series would be a mistake as the quality of the writing would decline I’m afraid.

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  5. “Selleck has said hed do 20-25 of them as hes thinks the character is fun.’
    He just said the other day that he wished he could do another 40 of them. It’s amazing that there hasn’t been a decent movie at the box office in over a year, and not a really great one in a couple of years, but I find these Stone made for TV movies better than anything else out there right now.

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