Williams, are quite credible, and their characters are, too. If this is a faith-based series, it’s a very subtle one the only sign of religion in the premiere is that the family says grace before dinner, and even that is done in a way that advances the plot. And in other offerings aimed at a conservative or Christian audience, there would be terrible acting and clumsy scenes full of proselytizing. In a mainstream cop show, the crime scenes would have much more blood, and Allison would be trading sexual double entendres with co-workers there is none of that here. “Ties That Bind” is notable for what is absent from it. It’s the weaker half of this two-sided series, but the juxtaposition of Allison’s concern for an unborn child and her concern for two teenagers who don’t welcome her overtures is a nice touch. In the opening episode, her main concern is a robbery committed by a young couple expecting a baby. The couple already have two teenagers of their own, who are not gung-ho about sharing bedrooms with their cousins.Īnd, of course, Allison has crime to fight. That she apparently helped put him there makes her unpopular with his two teenage children, a problem because Allison and her husband, Matt (Jonathan Scarfe), are the leading candidates to take them in while Dad is locked away. Kelli Williams stars as Allison, a detective in the Seattle suburbs who, as the show opens, watches her brother (Luke Perry) be sent to prison.

The series, “Ties That Bind,” marries a police procedural to a family-under-stress drama, and in the premiere, the combination works pretty well.

The UP network, though, has shown signs of being the exception, and its first original scripted series, which begins on Wednesday night, is another respectable offering. Many have tried, but when it comes to making television that is both family- and faith-friendly, few have produced anything other than unwatchable mush.

Ncis ties that bind cast