Jason Gedrick's task on "Falcone" is not an easy one. Not because he's playing the character Johnny Depp played in the movie "Donnie Brasco," but because he's playing the real Joe Pistone -- a former FBI undercover agent who infiltrated the mob and now serves as one of the show's producers.
"We've got great actors on the show. You put all those actors into one basket, the charisma still doesn't match up to this Joe Pistone," Gedrick said.The story itself is simply amazing. While Pistone was living the life of a wiseguy -- and risking his life in the process -- he was also a husband and the father of three young girls. Of course there were times when he didn't get home to them for months on end.
"To me, it was just a job," Pistone said. "I was an FBI agent doing my job -- no more, no less."
Just a job that required that he put his life on the line every day as he posed as a member of the Mafia in order to gather evidence to bring the mobsters down.
"In a sense, he's always acting," said executive producer Mark Johnson.
While "Falcone" is not a biography, it is based on what happened to Pistone (albeit set today instead of in the '70s and '80s).
"The writers will come up with a notion and go to Joe and say, 'Well, what would happen if we did this sort of thing?' And, invariably, Joe will come up with an actual incident that will mirror what the idea was and then sort of take you through what the machinations of what that would be," said executive-producer Bob Singer.
And "Falcone," while not perfect, is an engaging series that CBS is running as a miniseries. After the two-hour premiere on Tuesday at 8 p.m. (Ch. 2), one-hour installments air nightly at 9 p.m. from Wednesday through Wednesday, April 12 (except for Sunday).
While the action builds, each episode stands alone -- you won't be lost if you miss an episode.
In the series, the fictional Pistone, going by the name Joe Falcone, has infiltrated a New York mob family whose boss is gunned down -- which results in a war between various factions of the family, and Joe has to choose sides.
Joe goes with Sonny Napoli (Titus Welliver), who finds himself in a battle to the death with a remarkably violent rival. And, while "Falcone" is tame in comparison to theatrical movies about the mob (including "Donnie Brasco"), it is very violent by TV standards.
There's not a lot of blood, but in the pilot alone people are stabbed to death with ice picks and gunned down. Future episodes include beatings and additional killings.
"There's actually not that much violence in each episode, but there is, throughout every episode, the threat of violence," Johnson said. "And that's very important (to) the dynamic of the character that Jason is playing, that you understand that the outbreak could be there at any moment. But I don't really find it that violent a show."
Well . . . it's pretty violent. Certainly not for the squeamish (or younger viewers).
And being based on actual events makes Gedrick's job both easier and harder.
"I've got to make it my own," Gedrick said. "Because if I try to imitate this guy to a T, if I try to imitate Johnny Depp's performance, I'll find myself in a lot of problems."