Crime Drama TV

You’ve heard the complaints: “Crime drama is so unrealistic” “It’s not that exciting in real life.” “Cops are never that attractive.” Every serious crime drama fan is hit with an onslaught of attacks every once in awhile from an otherwise intelligent, well meaning friend who just doesn’t understand. Here’s the deal: accuracy is not the most important thing for me when I’m sitting down for a new episode of Law and Order. Sure, I want the shows I watch to have a reflection of reality, but if the legal or medical jargon on a how isn’t quite accurate, I am not going to complain. You see, the moment you start to critique the minutia of a good television program is the moment that you lose sight of the bigger picture. There are so many good lessons about ethical growth, interpersonal relationships, and societal development in good crime drama. I think that all good producers and writers should strive for accuracy in a show, but I think viewers should try hard not to lose sight of what the show does give us. Maybe we need a little fantasy in our programs to make them interesting–if that’s the case, I say, bring it on! Because with the inaccuracies that grow from that fantasy also come a more compelling, and arguable more truthful show, especially if the truth that a person is seeking is less about forensic procedure and more about moral and emotional achievement.

I was suprised by my lack of knowledge in the SVU-realm-try your luck!

Don’t you love the way that The Closer intertwines Deputy Chief Johnson’s private life with her professional aptitude? I hope you all managed to view this week’s episode of the Closer. I won’t give anything away in case you’re waiting to watch the re-airing on Thursday evening (at eight) but I will say that Brenda gets ahead solving the case with a revelation that comes upon her while she is house hunting with Fritz finally.

I realized after posting recently, that I never introduced myself! My name is Alice; I am a first year college student from New Hampshire. I am an avid fan of Law and Order and the Closer, although I pretty regularly watch CSI, and most other TNT crime drama. I will be posting regularly from now on, so please visit often!

I am turning into a huge fan of the official websites for crime drama shows. While I wouldn’t ever abandon my favorite fan sites, the bar for the official sites seems to be raised constantly. Now they almost all offer extensive video clips (or even full episodes) in addition to the character and actor bios and other features they’ve had for awhile. Speaking of character bios, these are definitely worth having a look at. You might feel like you know all relevant information about a favorite character, and maybe you do, but I was surprised to see what kind of details I was missing when I was perusing the TNT website for The Closer. Seemingly minor information about a character–past job, divorce, country of origin–can help you read a character and his or her actions. Don’t ever rely on just watching a show to get your background info–who knows what you might miss!