The Librarians (on DVD)

The Librarians
[DVD Librarians] 

This TNT cable network series, which finished its third season in January 2017, is a spinoff from a series of three made-for-TV movies (2004, 2006, 2008) that featured Noah Wyle (ER) as Flynn Carsen, who is hired to be the lone “Librarian” for a mysterious agency that tracks down and secures ancient mystical objects. In those 3 movies, he was a single agent in the field, backed up by Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin in “the Library”, and usually assisted (or threatened) by a different femme fatale in each movie.

In “The Librarians”, which began 6 years after the last TV-movie, Flynn is looking for someone to replace him, and ends up settling on three possible Librarian recruits, plus a bodyguard to protect them. The series initially appears to have the recruits vying to be Flynn’s sole replacement, but with the increased number of magical threats facing the world, they all become full-fledged Librarian field agents, backed by John Larroquette as their crusty and fusty researcher back at their home base. Wyle continues to make occasional appearances as Flynn as the series progresses. Each season of The Librarians has featured a different major threat that the team faces. The action and plots are sometimes silly, but the cast has great chemistry with each other, and tackles the craziest of plots with enthusiasm. The series is written and produced by the same team that created multiple seasons of Leverage for TNT, and in fact, one of the Leverage cast members is a regular on The Librarians as well. Each season is extremely short — only 10 episodes — but they pack a lot into those 10 episodes each year. Fun to watch, as long as you don’t take it too seriously.

[If you enjoy this series, you may also wish to try the trilogy of The Librarian movies that preceded it: Quest for the Spear, Return to King Solomon’s Mines or The Curse of the Judas Chalice] [Also available: The Librarians tie-in novels — see them on our TV Tie-Ins booklist.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this series ] | [ official The Librarians page on the TNT web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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