Category — Crime Drama

As many before me have said, “The Wire” is simply one of the best television shows ever made.

David Simon and Ed Burns set out to depict the underbelly of Baltimore and managed to create a five season masterpiece. Each season is like another level of the city, revealing another layer of the tragic city. I love it for its realistic depiction of Baltimore, which the producers have gone to painstaking lengths to create.

Simon himself has said he doesn’t really care about awards. He just set out to tell a story and that’s what he did. Still, though season five was the bleakest season yet, I really think the Emmy voters should take notice. TV Addict said it’s in the top 10 of the drama category, but will it win? Things don’t look good if it’s nominated against “Lost”.

What I remember most is the acting. It is simply phenomenal, so the least they could do is nominate all or some of this fantastic ensemble.

Rent or buy this show, like now. Seriously, it may start slow, but it’s totally worth it.

The Wire - The Complete Seasons 1-4

The original “Dragnet” ran for a whopping eight seasons from 1951 to 1958. Jack Webb, wrote, starred and directed the cop drama that centered on the LAPD and his character, Sgt. Joe Friday. And then, in 1967, they revived the classic series, entitled simply “Dragnet 1967″. The four season run paired Jack Webb with Harry Morgan, who played Officer Bill Gannon.

I had no idea there were so many episodes out there. But it makes sense, since it was able to spawn that movie with Tom Hanks & Dan Ackroyd . I thought that movie was pretty cool back in the day. What wasn’t cool was the cheesy remake they tried to do back in 2003. Don’t bother watching a second of that permutation.

Find “Dragnet” and other tv shows from the 50s and 60s streaming for free at Oldies Television. The quality isn’t the best, so if you need crystal clear resolution for your Sharp Aquos tv, maybe you should go for the dvd collections.

Seasoned thespian and all around loveable guy Dennis Hopper started shooting “Crash” this week in New Mexico. “Crash” is the Starz and Lionsgate first foray into television drama. In Hopper’s own words, he plays a “Phil Spector type character”. Interesting…

I’m guessing it’s a spin-off of the Oscar winning movie, Crash, which I absolutely cannot stand. But if the Hopper is in it, I suppose I’ll have to give it a go. They’re shooting 13 episodes, which means the scripts have to be halfway decent.

Source: Indie 103.1 interview with Dennis Hopper (6/13/08)

My first episode of “Wire in the Blood” left me a bit confused since it started off in Luther, Texas. Definitely an unexpected locale, since it’s a UK crime drama. Most episodes follow psychologist Tony Hill and his work with the UK Bradfield CID.

From BBCAmerica.com:
“This season [season 5], the first time Wire in the Blood has ever been shot in America, a case takes Tony all the way to Austin, Texas. Robson Green says of the special season premiere, “Wire in the Blood has a loyal and growing audience in the States and we were delighted to have the opportunity to film this special episode in Texas. I was personally thrilled to be working in America for the first time - it was an opportunity for me to develop the character of Tony Hill in unfamiliar territory as he gets caught up with a prisoner on death row.”

Despite the experimental locale, I was immediately drawn into the show. The episode blended comedy with mystery-suspense quite easily. They had Tony complaining about the Texas heat one second and the next a rattlesnake mysteriously attacks him in his car! I didn’t know much about the show, so I literally just went with the flow. And by the end, I was captivated by the stylish cinematography and deft acting by all the players.

The rest of the season takes place in Bradfield, England where Tony helps DI Alex Fielding solve murders involving voodoo witchcraft, child abduction, and serial killers.

“Wire in the Blood” airs Sundays at 8pm EST on BBC America.

This sunday is Mother’s Day, so I feel I should spotlight some of my mom’s favorite tv shows.

Mystery/Suspense:
“In the Heat of the Night”
“Murder, She Wrote”
“Remington Steele” - got her seasons one and two for her birthday…
“Matlock” - no one can hate on the Griffith

Cop Shows:
“Walker, Texas Ranger” - Mom loved it before Conan made it “cool”
“Nash Bridges”
“JAG”
“Silk Stalkings”

The Soaps (every mom has “her show”):
“Knots Landing” - with Alec Baldwin! and William Devane!!

“Young and the Restless” - doesn’t everyone love this show, though?
“Days of Our Lives” - My mom finally learned how to dvr new episodes
“Another World”
“Falcon Crest”

Comedy:
“Martin”

“Living Single”
“The Cosby Show”
“Monk”
“A Different World”
“Empty Nest”
“Golden Girls”

But really, she’ll watch whatevers on USA and just leave it there. This sunday, I hope she gets the remote all to herself.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Another favorite show of my mom’s was “In the Heat of the Night”.

I had no idea it was based on a film (with Sidney Poitier, no less!) until I went to college. The tv show starred Carroll O’Connor (”All in the Family”) as the Chief Bill Gillepsie and Howard E. Rollins Jr(Ragtime) as Virgil Tibbs, Chief of Detectives. It tackled similar racial issues as the film. Both works strived to show how a southern white chief (despite his racist misgivings) could learn to work and respect his black lieutenant.

The show ran for eight seasons with half of the run on NBC and the other half on CBS. Regardless of the channel, it was on in my household for most of those years. My mom still watches the re-runs. So every time I catch an episode on TV Land, I remember all the times my mom would be curled up on the couch with her “In the Heat of the Night”.

Since I watch so much television, I usually save entire seasons on my DVR. Once the finale airs, I can finish the whole season in a straight shot or at my leisure.

This is the case for F/X’s “Damages”, and boy am I glad I did. The finale was a doozy with all that dramatic irony fueling the final reveals. Not to mention, it was alot easier to follow the double-crosses without having to wait a week in between episodes.

The show uses a flashback structure where it starts and ends each episode in the present, but shows the past in between to reveal a how the whole thing started. Each week you learn more about the events surrounding Ellen (Rose Byrne) and how she came to be charged with the murder of her fiance. Ellen works for Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), a top notch hold no prisoners litigator. The Hewes firm is trying a civil suit against Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) whose company fell apart due to financial fraud, sorta like Enron.

I’m telling you this show is intense! The acting is superb, I even like Rose Byrne despite hating her in anything else with her. After the finale, I was very afraid of Patty Hewes. She’s not a person you want to get mad.

Season 1 is out on DVD, so catch up before they start the second season.

Through the wonders of netflix, I was reminded of “Forever Knight“. I didn’t actually watch it when it was on network television. The Sci Fi Channel was where I saw most of the episodes, and typically out of order. Thus, it was news to me that Rick Springfield starred in the original tv movie from which the series was based upon. And only until I saw the dvd boxes did I learn that there were three seasons, thus it being dubbed “The Forever Knight Trilogy”.

“Forever Knight” tells the tale of the vampire detective, Nicholas Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies). He’s an 800 year old vampire, hailing from France, who wants to make amends for his violent ways by solving murders. He even seems to think at some point he can become mortal again. This mortality dream is strung along for the lifetime of the series.

Nick’s arch enemy is Lacroix (Nigel Bennett), the vampire who sired him. Lacroix finds it completely unacceptable that Nick does not embrace his vampiric instincts. And thus, they play an endless game of cat and mouse.

It’s not the best vampire genre show, “Angel” is much much better since that show tried to expand on the myth. Forever Knight plays up all the vampire stereotypes and simply interweaves them into the standard murder procedural outline. Nevertheless, it is entertaining to watch, even if the effects seem a bit cheesy now. Davies excels in the role and really gets the viewer to empathize with his plight.