The Devil’s in the details.
Lucifer originated in the Old Testament several thousand years ago, then was added as a character to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series in 1989. I’m pretty sure no authors mention him in between those times. Though Sandman is considered one of the quintessential comic books, I find Gaiman’s writing a bit to abstract for my tastes, so I have only read a few of the 85 issues.
As such, I was not familiar with their version of Lucifer, other than his similarities to the source material. Fox had announced they ordered a pilot for the series just over a year ago. A leaked version of that pilot showed up online just a short time later. I watched it, of course, as I do most shows based off comic properties (sorry, iZombie, not gonna happen). I thought it was pretty promising, but then had to wait almost a year for the actual series to start.
The premise is Lucifer has grown bored of Hell and moved to LA to open a nightclub. Not the most exciting story on paper. What made it interesting for me was the fact that he can subtly make people tell him their deepest desires, and somewhat sway them to act on those desires. They have a suave British guy playing him so the women already act cartoonishly befuddled by him, but with those powers at work it does make for some genuine laughs. The framework of the show works like most procedurals like Bones, or Castle (I’m guessing), “Devil falls in love with female cop, starts feeling more human, blah, blah, blah.” As you may be able to tell, I’m not really jazzed about the thick layer of “Network TV” slathered on this show, but I do still find it an enjoyable watch.
Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar does a really great job selling his detachment from the human condition, while still hitting a generous amount of comedic notes. Some of the other acting/dialog does have major problems at times, but the fast pace of the hour-long episodes don’t stay on any “extras” too long.
Small side note: I also started the new Lucifer comic series from DC Comics. It follows a similar storyline, but the real story here is the art by Lee Garbett. I see shades of Stuart Immonen (Star Wars, X-Men) cartooning in there, with a bit of scratchy chaos like Riley Rossmo (Cowboy Ninja Viking, Hellblazer). Once again, it didn’t bowl me over, but it’s interesting enough to bring me back for the next one.