Tonight: Sean Bean goes deep for TNT drama ‘Legends’

Sean Bean is a man of many faces in “Legends,” arriving Wednesday on TNT. He’s an FBI deep cover operative (DCO) who assumes fabricated identities to get close with very bad people (VBP?) and set them up for a fall.

This is a nice change of pace for Bean, cast too often as either the villain in crime dramas or the hero in costume epics (including “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones”).

But “Legends” doesn’t stray all that far from the mainstream of Bean’s resume. His Martin Odum is a rough-hewn hero, prone to defy authority and disappoint those who care about him. What he loves most is the job.

Based on the book “Legends: A Novel of Dissimulation,” by Robert Littell, the series was developed by Howard Gordon (“24,” “Homeland”), Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Mark Bomback. In undercover speak, we’re told, “legend” is the word for a fabricated identity.

10 ways to die, if you’re Sean Bean

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Before viewers meet Martin Odum, we meet Lincoln Dittmann, with a gun. Scruffy, with gold-framed aviator glasses and a bit of a stutter, Lincoln is a trainee for a group called the Citizens Army of Virginia, which has claimed credit for bombing a federal building in Wichita and killing 57.

When things go wrong, Martin reveals himself. (“Easy, boys. I’m FBI. Covert operations.”) All this, including helicopters and an impressive explosion, takes place before the opening titles.

Like Jack Bauer before him, Martin has troubles of all kinds. His boss (Ali Larter as Crystal McGuire) thinks he’s dangerously unbalanced. His ex-wife (Amber Valletta as Sonya) left him because of his habit of disappearing. (“You can’t just pop back up after being away for months and expect things to be the same.”) He’s constantly disappointing his adorable son, Aiden (Mason Cook).

At work, Martin is considered either the most “naturally gifted deep-cover operative ever,” or someone with a personality disorder. (This sends him to an FBI shrink.)

His troubles go deeper than that, though. In the premiere, Martin (and viewers) learn from a mystery man that he might not be who he thinks he is.

“You don’t know where your legend ends and your life begins,” the man tells him. “There is no Martin Odum.”

Stuff happens that makes Martin unable to dismiss this warning, especially when the mystery man tells him, “You were never supposed to remember.”

This underlying plot, which will drive “Legends,” could actually take away from the series rather than enhancing it. In the early going, the series works best as sort of a modern-day “Mission: Impossible,” and could actually use more of that show’s caper elements.

The DOC team is an interesting one, headed by Steve Harris as director Nelson Gates, with Tina Majorino as the rookie and Morris Chestnut as agent Tony Rice. At their best, as when Martin is about to be executed by terrorists and has to come up with a story, fast, the drama is completely engaging.

(I would like to complain, however, about Larter’s character, the stereotypical bossy female who once had a fling with her colleague and now holds it against him. Inevitably, she winds up in lingerie, giving a lap dance, before the end of the first hour. Is this really necessary?)

“Legends” would work well with mostly stand-alone episodes, but the first two hours suggest a lot of serialization, as Martin tries to solve his own mystery.

“Martin Odum is a man of mystery who has a past that we dig into,” executive producer David Wilcox told TV critics meeting last month in Los Angeles. “It’s sort of a Russian doll of who he really is.”

The mystery includes Martin’s accent, which (when he’s speaking as himself) makes him sound British, like Sean Bean. The pilot’s explanation for that “may be true. It may also not be true,” Wilcox said. (I think I’m speaking for Sean Bean fans when I say: We don’t care. The more he sounds like Sean Bean, the better.)

When you think the first episode of “Legends” is over, it’s not. By the end, we’ve learned to trust no one and that nobody in this show is safe.

The exception, most likely, is Martin, or whoever he is. Bean is famous, dubbed a human spoiler, for dying in so many movies and TV shows. TNT even handed out T-shirts with the line #DontkillSeanBean.

No need to start a death watch here. TNT uses “starring Sean Bean” as a subhead for “Legends.” And although he’ll have close calls, Bean said, “I’m going to be in this for a while.”

‘Legends’

HHH (out of four)

When • 8 p.m. Wednesday

Where • TNT

More info • TNTdrama.com/Legends

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Macy’s Earnings Miss Shows Shoppers Seeking Discounts

Macy’s Inc. (M:US)’s latest quarterly results show cash-strapped shoppers are still on the hunt for bargains, putting pressure on retailers to cut prices in the back-to-school and holiday seasons.

The second-largest U.S. department-store chain posted earnings of 80 cents a share last quarter, missing the 86-cent average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The Cincinnati-based company also cut its annual sales forecast, saying a second-half rebound was unlikely to make up for a sluggish year.

Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren has struggled to maintain Macy’s sales growth while a choppy economic recovery hurts consumer spending. Second-quarter sales (M:US) at stores open at least a year rose 3.4 percent, missing the 3.9 percent analysts had projected. The chain has had to rely on discounts and promotional events, such as its Friends Family sale, to get customers in the door, eroding margins.

“The consumer is still not out of the pressure zone,” Paul Swinand, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago, said today in a phone interview. “They’re still below their comfort zone.”

Macy’s said same-store sales this year will rise as much as 2.5 percent, compared with a previous forecast of as much as 3 percent.

Swinand has a hold rating on Macy’s shares.

Macy’s fell 5.5 percent to $56.47 at the close in New York, the biggest drop since June 2012. The shares have gained 5.7 percent this year.

Sales Trail

Revenue rose 3.3 percent to $6.27 billion, an improvement from the first-quarter’s blizzard-fueled 1.7 percent drop, yet still less than analysts projected.

“Our sales trend improved at both Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s in the second quarter, reflecting a rebound in shopping activity once weather patterns normalized,” Lundgren said in the statement. “We also benefitted from a shift in a major Macy’s promotional event into the first two days of the quarter.”

The effect of the promotions showed up in the company’s gross margin, or the percentage of sales left after subtracting the cost of goods sold, which contracted to 41.4 percent from 41.8 percent.

The trends echo the results retailers of all stripes — from discounter Family Dollar Stores Inc. to luxury lingerie seller L Brands Inc. — reported after the last holiday shopping season.

Retail Sales

Figures released by the Commerce Department in Washington today signal Macy’s, which operates about 840 stores, isn’t the only retailer struggling to get consumers to open their wallets.

Total retail sales were little changed in July, the worst performance in six months, as tepid wage growth restrained U.S. consumers. The slowdown followed a 0.2 percent advance in June, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.2 percent gain. Excluding cars, sales rose 0.1 percent.

Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings dropped 0.2 percent in the 12 months through June, the worst performance since October 2012, according to Labor Department data. That left consumers with less money to spend.

Macy’s Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet said today on a conference call that consumers are still feeling the effects of an economy that “at best is improving very gradually.” Promotions will remain a fixture of the company’s strategy in the second half, she said.

“This is a very promotional business,” she said. “Our customer very much wants value and very much responds to promotions.”

Discount Trap

Macy’s has worked to blunt the discount trap by offering exclusive brands that consumers can’t get anywhere else and allowing managers to tailor merchandise selections to local tastes. The retailer also is investing in employee training and its online operations to boost sales.

“Macy’s is positioned with some of the best brands that retailers have access to, so I think they should be in good shape,” said Ken Murphy, who oversees $5 billion in assets as a U.S. equities portfolio manager at Standard Life Investments in Boston.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lauren Coleman-Lochner in New York at llochner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net Kevin Orland, John Lear

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