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 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!

I just want to apologize for the lack of updates recently. I’ve been sick with some mysterious illness (two trips to the university health center and two rounds of antibiotics and they STILL have no clue what the hell I had) for about three weeks and to top it all off, this week is finals/moving out week at my school. So that’s my excused absence.

Your regular posts will resume next week. I’ll be covering The Closer for sure, but I’m not decided on what else I’ll be covering during the summer.

Veronica Mars returns tonight, people! Not only will I be watching to get a fresh fix of my favorite show, but because I’m still bitter at FOX for cancelling Drive. WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS TAKE NATHAN FILLION AWAY FROM ME?! WHY?!

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

Wow. Not much going on in crime dramas. Veronica Mars doesn’t return until May 1 (Boo CW!) and Numb3rs was a repeat Friday. So I’m going to take a moment to pimp a non-crime drama.

Drive, the show about an illegal cross-country race worth $32 million. The season premiere was last night and I was suitably impressed. Of course, with all the Whedonverse alums - including Captain Tightpants himself, Nathan Fillion, as the lead - and Tim Minear at the helm, it could be the worst piece of crap ever to air on FOX and I’d still watch it.

Of course, I’m wary about its chances for success. FOX is not known for giving shows a chance and ever since they cancelled Firefly, I’ve only watched the channel when absolutely unavoidable. 24, House, and Bones are pretty much all I watch.

Anyway, Drive settles into its normal timeslot at 8 tonight. I recommend giving it a shot.

Here’s a question I pose to those of you who have taken classes or are involved in any area of law enforcement? Has taking the class/having your job made crime shows less enjoyable?

For me, it’s a little bit of both. On one hand, watching CSI since I was 12 helped me pretty much ace the blood spatter section of my forensic science class. On the other, I notice the inconsistencies between TV and real life more. While I’m only mildly educated in the area of the criminal justice system, I have a lot more knowledge about the process of making a TV show and can easily let these inconsistencies go.

But what about the rest of you? Anybody got some law enforcement experience and want to share? I’m really curious about this.

Criminal Minds returns Wednesday! Here’s a little something to tide you over until then.

FOX is already pimping the May 9 season finale of Bones. The gimmick? Solve the murder before Brennan does.

At the website, you are given access to each person’s MySpace page. We’re not told who’s been murdered, but apparently the clues are hidden in the various video clips and comments on their pages.

While I have to admit it’s a really cool idea to do the solve-it-yourself thing with MySpace pages, it feels really reminiscient of the season finale/premiere of Criminal Minds. Except Criminal Minds made you really work for it. But who knows? Maybe it’s really difficult. I’ll check out the site and try to come up with my own theory.

Good luck, Bones fans and amatuer detectives!

Bones is all new tonight! Check out the promo:

Criminal Minds is another repeat with “Profiler, Profiled”.

Let’s talk about romance and it’s place in crime dramas. A lot of people aren’t interested in the characters personal lives, they just want to watch them solve cases. And that’s perfectly respectable. I mean, if I’m watching a crime show I’m obviously expecting some crime and the solving thereof.

But there are those of us who enjoy the little glimpses into the lives of our characters outside of the office. I have already professed that I am one of these people. Every time there’s an Eppes family moment or a new love interest for a character, I get giddy. Now I could go on and on ad nauseum about how seeing their personal relationships not only humanizes a character, but shows how their job affects them (Veronica Mars is a good example of this. Her PI gig has made her very untrusting and slightly paranoid). I could do that, or I could be completely honest with you about my motivations.

Living vicariously. I am a boyfriendless girl, so when one of my TV boyfriends has a new love interest, I get excited because I get to live through them. And don’t be so quick to judge; it’s like reading a romance novel. A well-written, crime-riddled romance novel.

Any thoughts?

Today is the first day of the new quarter for me. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m on the fence about declaring Criminology as my major. I’m taking Criminal Justice this quarter (lucky Veronica, getting to take the actual criminology class as a frshman. I want to go to Hearst.) and feeling it out, since it’s on the opposite end of the spectrum from my current Creative Writing/Film major.

Anyway, I was peeking at the Criminal Minds official site in a fit of boredom and came across the Profiler Quiz. Sweet! I love personality quizzes and I love profiling; they are two great tastes that taste great together. 26 out of 30. Guess I should give some serious consideration to the major change.

Take the quiz and see if you’ve got what it takes to hang with the BAU.

Are crime shows less enjoyable if you miss the first couple of minutes?

Running late after taking my cats to the vet, I sat down at 8:14 to watch Bones and I just couldn’t get into it. I watched the entire episode but I felt lost the entire time. The first few minutes are the set-up for the entire episode; the initial comitting or discovery of the crime. The initial presentation not only to the characters but to the audience.

What do you guys think? Do you turn off a crime show if you’ve missed the first few minutes?

Whooo! Hotch-centric episode! This week the team is looking for a serial killer who sets fire to houses while the family is still inside and then uses a fire suit to stay inside and watch them burn. It’s learned that the fathers of the households were employees of companies that were found guilty of hiding leaking underground benzine tanks and the team suspect the leader of the eco group EDF.

Hotch and Prentiss tail the leader. It looks like he’s getting ready to run until he stops at a hospital. He has leukemia caused by years of inspecting the tanks for companies. Figuring that the killer is at least a member of the group, Hotch gives him the profile and is pointed in the right direction.

Side note: Hotch tells the guy a story about how everyone knew his father was having affairs and he went to confront him about it. Only it turns out that his father had lung cancer. Okay. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in “The Tribe” Hotch’s brother says that their father died of a heart attack at 47. BAD continuity people! No cookie!

Anyway, the leader has the killer meet him at an old warehouse standing over benzine tanks that has been rezoned for an elementary school. Leader and bad guy go boom. Hotch is sad. The EDF leader left him a letter to give to his estranged son, which he does while wearing a fleece pullover, marking the third time we’ve seen Hotch in something other than his Three-Button Suit (of Justice).

If that continuity screw up wasn’t so bad, I might have forgiven the writers for having Reid talk about addiction. When giving the profile, Spencer mentions that fire is and addiction for this guy and he’d be unable to stop without help, throwing a significant glance at Gideon. Thank you, Spence. That was EXACTLY my point three weeks ago.

All in all a good, enjoyable episode.

I have a serious question for y’all. Does anyone watch American Idol anymore? Really? And how about that Pussycat Dolls reality show? Is anyone watching that?

As a rule, I don’t watch reality television. The only show I allow myself to watch is Project Runway because Tim Gunn is my life coach (by the way, I met Angela Kesslar this fall and she said “Tim Gunn is the jewel in the crown of humanity.” Truer words have never been spoken).

Do you have any thoughts about reality television? I know this doesn’t have anything to do with crime dramas, but I wanted to ask since all my shows are being preempted by “reality” programming.