Coded

A little late to the party, I watched the entire series [13 episodes] of Fox's recently-cancelled Chicago Code. On-the-air, it only survived about half the season before the ratings forced it to be pulled. Watching those first 6-or-so episodes via Hulu, it was definitely disappointing. However, the final half of the season/series improved and actually left me wanting more. Oh well.

First, the bad. Early in the show, they tried to give all of the characters ["good" and "evil"] a chance to do voice-over narrations during the episodes. Trite stuff like "growing up in Chicago you gotta be tough" and "being an undercover agent means you have to do bad stuff sometimes". Unless Morgan Freeman is doing the narration, it rarely goes well. Your characters should show me all of this by their actions; you don't need to spoon-feed me, thanks. They clearly realized this at some point, because towards the last few episodes narration was almost completely cut out.

While The Chicago Code had the guts to try a female Police Superintendent [and succeeded], they failed with another take on the female beat cop. Watchers of Dexter will sympathize, as his sister is also infamously bad as a policewoman. It's lame when you can guess things like "oh I bet she runs into that house and screws it up because she's afraid of her personal feelings for so-and-so." Boring. Predictable.

Chicagoans love to hang out under the El. All the time.

Perhaps New Yorkers or Los Angelites[?] can relate, but it does seem kind of silly when a show is shot in your hometown and every shot seems to include the same things. For The Chicago Code, it seems every place the cops would visit backed up to some "El" tracks. Every car chase either took place under those very same "El" tracks or through Millennium Park downtown. I guess it is fun to know all the places they are, and you want to make use of the Chicago on-location rights... but it just was a little over-the-top for me.

Now, the good. The lead actors/actresses overall were pretty decent. Episode titles were clever and Chicagoey. Watching the last few episodes, the power-brokering really came into its own. That's what Chicago is all about. "Da Mayor" finally started making appearances in the show, and the big bad alderman started throwing his weight around. Politics started to seem more personal. I really started to get flashbacks from The Wire. If only some of the characters had matured a little earlier in the series, perhaps network TV would have gained a respectable police procedural. Chicago deserves a another good show, and we almost had one here. We'll have to see how Kelsey Grammer's Chicago-mayor drama "Boss" turns out. Here's hoping...

Wired

This winter Cas and I gifted ourselves with the entire 5-season set of HBO's The Wire when it was on sale on Amazon. I had borrowed it a couple years ago from a friend [thanks Chris!] but, as most Wire-watchers do, eventually felt the need to share the love and watch it again. We're only a few episodes in so far, but there's nothing like watching some quality TV.

Lance Reddick as Cedric Daniels
[went on to LOST and Fringe]

Cas can testify that, in general, I disapprove and avoid 'police procedurals' of the CSI-ilk. Isn't it always the same story, slightly different? 1. Some crime happens. 2. Show intro-credits. 3. Early investigation points in one direction. 4. Couple of commercial breaks. 5. New evidence/police insight points at another suspect. 6. More commercials. 7. Some sort of twist! 8. Suspect caught/killed, smirky detective comments made, fade to black. This also applies to several 'medical procedurals', only replace 'suspect' with 'diagnosis'.

The Wire, while officially labeled on the back of the box as a 'police procedural', avoids the wrap-it-up-in-an-hour-every-week formula and instead has a slowly evolving investigation into a certain aspect of Baltimore city life each season. Being on HBO certainly freed it from some convention, and allowed language to be what it is. Who can forget McNulty and Bunk investigating a crime scene for 3 minutes using only the F-word? Classic Wire.

Idris Elba as Stringer Bell
[went on to The Office]

Funny, smart, serious, complicated = well written. Great acting. You'll recognize many of The Wire's actors/actresses turning up on prime-time TV after their Wire performances [a couple examples illustrated on this page]. The perfect way to keep wintertime TV from polluting your screen.

Sweep, Sweep TV

November: time for the broadcasters to pull some strings, and get some ratings!


Living without a DVR/cable- yes it has been tough [had to watch Mad Men S4 via iTunes. Pain in the rear]. But it has also made me a little pickier when it comes to donating time to the television. So a few of my quickfire network midseason reviews:


Hell's Kitchen- I don't know how we started watching this, but cooking competition shows are usually pretty good, this is the best I've seen on a network. Maybe because it makes me flashback to architecture school crits which are eerily similar to the dish presentations.

Less of this guy, please.

The Event- Was mildly interested for a few episodes, then I just 'forgot' to watch it... I like the aliens/gov't conspiracy side of it, but please no more whiny-douchey facial hair guy fumbling after his kidnapped girlfriend. Honestly, I just met these people, I couldn't care less about them right now, get back to the aliens! [Of course maybe that has happened, perhaps I'll catch up on hulu sometime]. And please learn how to do meaningful flashbacks.


Community- Do you watch television/movies? This show will try to reference as many as it can in 30 minutes, and strangely enough it works. Pretty funny, great casting. Although I'm not looking forward to a non-NBC network copycatting the show's style and making it lame.

More of this guy, please.

30 Rock- My favorite comedy on TV right now. Every line has an immediate/eventual payoff, and you can ask Cas: this show manages to make me laugh out loud. Not an easy feat. This season included Tracy Jordan being picked up by Discovery Channel's Cash Cab. Pure gold.


The Office- Due to trivia Thursday evenings, I only get to see a bit here and there. Seems like the same, reliable show. We'll see what happens when Steve Carell is gone.


Fringe- My overall current favorite program. Manages to fill in most of the hole that LOST left inside of me. I'm always amazed how easily they have figured out to have a show take place in 2 universes at once [usually the Twin Towers are the clue]. Good stuff, keep it up!


Antiques Roadshow- Well, this or anything on PBS helps me avoid the commercials during Prime Time. Just a quick jump to spend 3 minutes learning about the history and value of a mid-19th century wooden desk, then back to the show! [First million-dollar appraisal below]

TV Timeout

As the Fall TV schedules begin to make their rounds, it seems like the same-old same-old. CBS showing the same old folks' crime procedurals. NBC having a deep-voiced announcer saying how 'dramatic' and 'new' its latest bunch of soon-to-fail-because-they're-trying-too-hard shows. ABC... well, we'll see how they come back to a year without LOST.


Am I the only one tired of shows that go on-and-on-and-on indefinitely, until people just don't care anymore? Until the cast has been picked apart, or jumped ship? From what little I know about English Television, it seems most of their shows- be it drama, comedy, or travishamockery- are limited in their runs, and capped around 2 seasons. So the characters are fresh their entire run, storylines are wrapped up and concluded, and comedic bits don't have to be stretched out beyond their Use-By dates [see: The Simpsons].


I've wondered how a show would do, keeping the same actors and characters each season, but each year completely changing the setting. Maybe have a few 'winks' back to a previous year, but make it about how characters adapt to their situation. What if these guys, who were mutual enemies last season, existed as buddy cops this year? [OK, that sort of came from LOST] And while sexy-times relationships would exist, at least they could match up new couples without all the wacky, fake drama they usually use.


So the news that Steve Carell is leaving the Office, but that "The Office Shall Go On"... can't say I'm on the edge of my seat on that one. Maybe they'll pull it off. Maybe I'll forget to turn it on.


/Rant. At least there'll always be Football.