Crime Time, All The Time!
September 28th 2006 13:52
The idiot’s lantern fills the gloomy room with all manner of fractured imagery. One of those staples is the crime drama, wherein a ne’er-do-well strikes at the fabric of society, and the forces of the law have to track down this pawn of the forces of darkness and administer unto him the full force of justice. Or something.
Are cop shows a cop out? Producers going for the easy answer? Easy because each episode can be filled with some new situation, giving the stern looking heroes another way to clench their jaw and stare off into the distance with a hawklike gaze, as they scan the horizon for their quarry. What annoys me is that each show pushes its edge along, to try and squeeze out a slightly more heinous crime, because if they don’t they’ll start repeating themselves, and down that road lies staleness and cancellation.
Sex crimes. Corruption, all the way to the highest office in the land. Serial killers. Fraud. Murder. Mayhem. Terrorism. Sometimes I think that they put these shows on, and there’s someone sitting out there writing notes in purple ink on floral notepaper in ever decreasing spirals. The criminal mind knows no boundary, apparently. Or at least the mind of a cop show writer knows no boundary, that’s for sure.
To all the producers out there, it’d be nice to have a show with a few different modes. I know you want to sell soap powder and corn flakes, but a little morality and ethics can go a long way. (Now someone’s going to chip me for mentioning Big TV and ethics in the same breath!) Fortunately we have shows like ‘Scrubs’ and ‘Arrested Development’ to rescue us from the gimlet eyes and stressed teeth of the law. More variety now! Bring it on!
Are cop shows a cop out? Producers going for the easy answer? Easy because each episode can be filled with some new situation, giving the stern looking heroes another way to clench their jaw and stare off into the distance with a hawklike gaze, as they scan the horizon for their quarry. What annoys me is that each show pushes its edge along, to try and squeeze out a slightly more heinous crime, because if they don’t they’ll start repeating themselves, and down that road lies staleness and cancellation.
Sex crimes. Corruption, all the way to the highest office in the land. Serial killers. Fraud. Murder. Mayhem. Terrorism. Sometimes I think that they put these shows on, and there’s someone sitting out there writing notes in purple ink on floral notepaper in ever decreasing spirals. The criminal mind knows no boundary, apparently. Or at least the mind of a cop show writer knows no boundary, that’s for sure.
To all the producers out there, it’d be nice to have a show with a few different modes. I know you want to sell soap powder and corn flakes, but a little morality and ethics can go a long way. (Now someone’s going to chip me for mentioning Big TV and ethics in the same breath!) Fortunately we have shows like ‘Scrubs’ and ‘Arrested Development’ to rescue us from the gimlet eyes and stressed teeth of the law. More variety now! Bring it on!
| 48 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
