Crime Drama TV

Dear Networks,

You know I love you. You bring me my favorite shows, a welcome distraction from the stress of college, on a weekly basis. And in return I sit through dumb, unfunny commercials that most of the time make no sense whatsoever. But lately, something’s been bugging me and I just hae to get it off my chest.

Reruns and hiatuses.

Didn’t we just come off of winter hiatus? And now you want me to wait three more weeks for new episodes of Bones? And what for? American Idol. I’ve got news for you, FOX; the only reason anyone watches American Idol anymore is to watch Simon Cowell be a dick and Paula Abdul sink to the lowest depths of drugged-out craziness.

And don’t think this is just about FOX, networks, oh no. Repeats of shows like CSI and Numb3rs leave me very little to write about. And it’s not cool at all.

Please stop. Or else I’m going to have to resort to watching the competition and their shiny new episodes of Psych.

With All My Tough Love,
Lindsay

It’s the middle of the regular TV season, so I thought I’d give a brief overview of my thoughts on the shows I will be covering and their current plot lines. FYI: A brief review of each episode will be posted the day after the epiode airs with the exception of Numb3rs, which will be posted on Mondays.

Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is the only linear drama I will be covering. All the rest are your standard procedurals. I really like how the three mysteries formula is working; it keeps the show fresh and we don’t get any filler episodes. My suspect for Mystery 2: The Return to O’Dell’s Cave is Tim the TA. Also? LAMB IS DEAD. I’M GOING TO GO CRY IN A CORNER NOW, THANKS.

Bones
Bones isn’t a great procedural - in fact, one might even call it mediocre - but it’s entertaining nonetheless. I like that they’re going somewhere with the whole Booth/Brennan romance thing and adding some non-crime-related drama to spice it up a little. Although the therapist thing has got to stop. I don’t like the therapist and I think he’s crap at his job. I will elaborate on Thursday.

Criminal Minds
I. Love. This. Show. One of the things that first got me into procedurals is my personal interest in criminal psychology; I’m really more interested in the why than the how when it comes to crime and Criminal Minds is where I get my fix. My only problem with the show is that the writers have so many characters to juggle that we often get short-changed on character development with the more minor characters like J.J. and Garcia (who is my BFF). The addiction storyline with Reid bugs just a little, mostly because he’s my TV boyfriend and I can’t stand to see him hurt, but I’m waiting until this week’s episode to pass my judgement on the storyline as a whole.

CSI
Where it all started. CSI was my first crime drama. I’ve been watching it - no lie - since I was 12. Listen closely, y’all, ’cause this is the only time I’m going to say it: this is the only CSI I will be covering. Miami and New York? Crap. I will not have their sub-par excuse for crime drama taint this blog as long as I write it. That said, I like that the Vegas writers aren’t hitting us over the head with Grissom and Sara’s relationship. They’ve been very subtle and I applaud them. Greg’s civil suit makes me a bitter, angry person. He’s another one of my TV boyfriends. I would really like the writers to give Catherine, Warrick, and Nick (THANK YOU, George Eads for getting rid of that very sad pornstache and 70s hair) something interesting to do. They really feel like they’re fading into the background.

And last but most certainly not least, Numb3rs
I hate math. I really do. And yet I cannot seem to tear myself away from the adorkable math genius Charlie Eppes and his scrumptious, FBI agent brother Don. The cases are interesting mostly because you wonder what else they can solve with math. One of these days Charlie’s going to bust out an equation to find out who ate the last cookie or something. Where Numb3rs really excells is with the balance of crime and personal moments. I look forward to the Eppes family moments, which never feel gratuitous or out-of-place.

So there you have it - the line-up for the Crime Drama TV blog. I’ll see you tomorrow with some thoughts on Veronica Mars.

Why do we love crime dramas so much? Is it the crime? Is it the drama? Is it Rob Morrow in a pair of tight jeans?

The crime is most certainly captivating. From using forensic science to identify a person from a single strand of hair to looking inside the criminal mind to using complicated mathematical equations, there are a million angles from which to look at crime. Our world can be a scary place to live in sometimes and it’s nice to know that there are people out there putting the baddies away.

And the drama. Let’s not forget the drama. Admit it, watching these people deal with the horrific and gruesome on a day-to-day basis makes you feel just a little bit better about your job as a menial cubicle slave. At least you don’t have to encounter dead bodies or get shot at every day.

So why do we love drime dramas so much? Because it’s exciting. Because it shows us the best and worst of the human condition. Because Rob Morrow really does look great in tight jeans.

This site is currently in need of a writer. If you have any interest in writing on the topic this site covers, feel free to submit an application at 451 Press. Thank you.

Writers Needed

Stabler agrees to hear the dying confession of a cancer patient named Judson Tierney (Brian Dennehey), but first he and Benson do some digging into what possible crime Tierney’s guilty of and come up with an unsolved case that goes back 47 years. However, according to Tierney, that is merely “The tip of the iceberg.”

And the iceberg just keeps melting and melting.
Dennehey is at the center of several crimes. On the outset, we are lead to believe that he is a creep who molested his daughter. Hence, the reason she refuses to have contact with him. A Box full of greeting cards, each stuffed with $100 bill give rise to yet another crime.

But rather, Judson Tierney is an old geezer, who was a bank robber and a murderer. He manages to confess on his deathbed, allowing a man who was convicted of another murder to go free. His daughter learns why their family was so distant and at the last moment decides to see her father. Too late, he took his last breath.

What I loved about this episode:
Stabler keeps digging.
Twist upon twist.
Multiple crimes being solved.

The major flaw:Oliva Benson getting soft.

Great show with a superb cast.

law and order svu, brian dennehey, crime drama tv, benson and stabler

Yesterday my 15 year old daughter sat in front of the television for most of the day. Since she’s on vacation and her normal day in school is like boot camp, I figured it was perfectly fine for her veg out. Normally it would be MTV or video games, but yesterday she spent the day watching a CSI: Miami marathon. Other than “Mom, can you fix me something to eat?”, all I heard from her were outbursts of laughter interspersed with “Ewwww, gross!”

I have to give Horatio credit for the laughter. Seems she inherited my sick sense of humor, and thinks this guy is a scream. So the Horatio-ism for the day…

“Alright, be on the lookout for an Eastern European male with bad teeth who may have access to an ape.”

As for all the “gross” comments, I’m sure they from looking at all that enhanced forensic evidence.

Now, for some Horatio trivia:
According to Caine in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode 222 (”Cross Jurisdictions”), his parents named him for the late 19th-Century American author Horatio Alger.

Do you have a favorite quote from the head CSI honcho Horatio? Or how about some trivia?

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I spent my whole New Year’s day and evening watcbing repeats of Law and order SVU. I love that show. How can anyone watch reruns upon reruns of the same show? Even the reruns started to repeat before the 24 hours was over. The only show I recall being able to watch without boredom is Perry Mason. So what makes this show so watch worthy?

1. Partner Chemistry.
Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson have amazing chemistry. Even Munch and Tutula have chemistry.

2. The zingers.
Those one liners that Lenny from the original Law and Order Franchise made so popular.
A few I love:
Olivia: “How is it like to sleep with a man who rapes other women?!”
Elliot: “When you are being brutalized by me, you’ll know it.”

Or this great conversation between Olivia and Elliot.
Benson and Stabler talking about passing genes to their children

Olivia: “Yeah well at least you and Kathy knew what kind of genes you’d be passing on. Mine is half drunk and the other half violent and cruel.
Elliot: “And look how great you turned out.”

3. They hit the pavement.
I like old fashioned investigation. Sure, other shows have gotten their props lately by featuring high tech forensics and crime lab sets (that we all know in the real world are way to expensive and don’t even exist for everyday crime. You know I’m referring to the CSI). These detectives investigate, interview, intimidate and interrogate. I love it.

4. They are passionate.
They show their feelings. They hate the crime, they can’t stand the perps and they voice it. And if they can get away with some well placed good old fashioned police beat down, they’ll do it. An example:

Perp: Honey, I’d like some mineral water, a little ice.
Olivia: Yeah, well, I’d like your balls in a blender, but ain’t life a [censored].
Elliot: Maybe you shouldnt’ve called her “honey”.

5. The plot twists.
A 5 year old boy goes missing from a kids party. He’s found later dead. The perp ends up being his 12 year old sociopathic neighbor. The victim’s father has an outburst in the courtroom when the 12 year old gets sentenced as a juvenile. The father, who is also a shrink pulls a gun from a courthouse guard and guns down the boy who killed his son. He gets off, then smugly admits to the DA that he did indeed plan the whole thing.

6. They put the bad guys behind bars.
By the time the investigation is complete and the DA’s office takes over, the partners have done their job. And for the most part, they win their cases. Hence the name Law and Order. That’s why I like watching. The bad guy goes to jail.

7. The Music.

There are two new episodes in my future. Tuesday night is for Law and Order!

Law and Order SVU, crime tv, CSI, elliot and benson

The Law and Order and CSI franchises have certainly made their mark on Crime Drama TV. While Law and Order is the older of the two, CSI continues to outrank Law and Order in the ratings. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation holds the number 2 spot for the week of December 18-24 and CSI: Miami and CSI: New York come in tied at fourth. My favorite (and far better show) Law and Order SVU is 19th.

law and order svu, csi, crime drama

No, I’n not talking about Mary Kay the cosmetics queen, I’m talking Mary Kay LeTourneau. Remember that high school teacher who made headlines by having sex with her 13 year old student? Well, it was sick then, and with an head-shaking Law and Order CI ending, it’s sick now.

What do you get when you mix an emotionally stunted high school teacher, the abusive husband of the high school teacher, an ego maniac plastic surgeon father who tapes and catalogs his sexual escapades and the teenage product of said father in one twisted plot? A murder, the likes of which you will only see on a Law and Order franchise.

That ever hunky Chris Noth, better known as renegade Det. Mike Logan is joined by yet another partner, short haired, boyish looking Det.Wheeler. To regress a moment, I loved the chemistry between Logan and Annabella Sciorra as Det. Carolyn Barek. And now Logan is breaking in another partner. The same disease seems to be making the rounds on all the Law and Orders right about now. Anyway, back to the episode.

These jaded detectives are stunned to find that a grown woman could find a 16 year old boy to be the most noble man she had ever met. The operative word here being man. Immediately after her conviction of rape and her part in the murder of her young lover’s father he could still professes his misplaced love for her. And this upon confessing to being pregnant by this boy’s father. Reminds me of Villi and Mary Kay. Married and living in the burbs of Seattle.

Law and Order. Ripped from the headlines crime tv drama.

mary kay letourneau, law and order ci, chris noth, underage sex with teacher

When checking out the Criminal Minds official website (doing my homework for this blog) I took their test to see if I had what it took to work in the BAU (Behavioral Analyst Unit) as a profiler. Take this nifty little quiz and check out your score. I scored a 26 out of 30, which makes means I have potential as a profiler.

Hmm, I wonder will that skill work on the opposite sex?

Take the quiz. I’d love to hear how you scored. On the quiz…

criminal minds, quiz, profiler, fbi, profiler test

I had my first dose of Criminal Minds last night, and my goodness, I didn’t know I would be in for such a great crime drama. Fast paced, good (though implausible) plot, and enough blood spatter to keep me sated until next week. I was eating my dinner but had to quickly put it down because five minutes into the show, there was bloody torture (no, that’s not an British adverb) and murder. Unlike Law and Order where you see the aftermath of the crime, on this show you see the crime happen. So that torture and my dinner definitely did not mix.

Back to the show, a repeat entitled Secrets and Lies. CIA agent Summers rescues a woman and her children. Takes them to an undisclosed location. He is subsequently tortured and murdered. The murder is then covered up and staged to look like a suicide. Call in Special Agent Jason Gideon, the FBI’s top Behavioral Analyst and his crew. They quickly take up residence in CIA headquarters on a two-fold mission. One, solve the murder of Summers. And two, find the missing woman and her children.

Since they know the leaks are from within, the BAU team is out to find the mole within the CIA. Each member of the team targets a CIA team member, profiling them and trying to force their hand. During the process another agent is murdered on CIA territory. Hmmm, they must be getting close to the source. Being a veteran of crime TV, you know that the mole has to be someone who has a lot to gain. And indeed it is, to the tune of 20 million dollars. It’s Gideon’s long time colleague and friend.

I found the show to have a sufficient number of twists. Definitely enough to keep me watching for the entire hour. The gory beginning drew me in, I have to admit. And had I known that Shemar Moore was on the show, I would have started watching a long time ago. And given that the acting was decent and I’ll be back for another round.

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Aaron, a fellow TV blogger, www.watchingtheoffice.com came up with the first entry to this category.

Says Aaron, my favorite Horatio-ism:

“Well that’s because he’s dead, and you’re not.�?

I think this guy is going down with Yogi Berra for all time “‘isms”.

If you have a favorite Horatio-ism, please do tell! We are going to build an empire here of sayings from super sleuth Horatio.

horatio, csi miami, sayings, horatioisms.crime tv

So when does Miami crime solving move to Rio de Janero? Only on CSI Miami. Horatio is seeking justice in the murder of his wife and he has to follow the trail to Rio. The scumbag Riaz who killed H’s wife on their wedding day is back in Rio and on the loose. Horatio and Delke are bent on revenge. Oh, excuse me JUSTICE, so they are on his heels.

Horatio checks in on his brother and his brother’s beautiful wife for leads. Unfortunately, his brother ends up dead and his nephew a mule for drugs. Horatio makes this horrible discovery when snooping in his nephew’s backpack and finds latex gloves with the fingers cut off. The packers put the heroine in the fingers and the mules swallow it. Yuck. Here are a few, fresh from the belly of a Brazillian youth.

So Horatio and Delke run around Rio averting danger and looking for Riaz. Because where Riaz is, there the nephew is. In the meantime Delke finds Riaz. Unfortunately he finds himself on the wrong end of of a knife belonging to Riaz. But who should appear in the nick of time. None other than the big H. He gets to blow the bad guy away and save his partner in one fell swoop. Like that would ever happen on foreign turf.

Back to Miami. The Dynamic duo manage to track down the nephew Ray Jr., who is under the impression that his father is still alive and has a gun pointed at the Matos, the Miami drug connection. Horatio again get’s to blow away another bad guy. His nephew is reunited with his mom and goes back home to Rio.

I’m not sure where the high points were on this episode. Was it when they showed what a mule’s body looks like when the heroine explodes and is absorbed, or Horatio’s cool demeanor when taking out a bad guy? Both pretty bad.

There was another sub story going on back home im Miami that didn’t amount to much. Pretty much like the whole episode. Thank goodness Law and Order SUV is on tonight.

[tags]crime tv,horatio,csi miami [tags]

Well, since I’m blogging about Crime Drama TV now, I guess I’ll check out CSI Miami. Anyone who knows me, knows I just can’t stand that guy with the red hair. So much so that I refuse to remember his name. Help me out here. At any rate, I’ll be back with a wrap up of the show later on.

Oh, I just remembered. His name is Horatio. Boy is he an odd duck. Does anyone really talk like that in real life? And I’ve been to Miami. I have’t even seen anyone dress like him ANYWHERE in that city. What’s up with that. I guess I’ll have to start a Horatio watch now. Or maybe an ongoing list of famous Horatio quotes. Let’s call them Horatioisms.

If you are a CSI Miami viewer, come on. Tell me your favorite thing Horatio has said. Come on, speak up. Don’t be shy!

crime tv, csi miami, csi, horatio, tv blog

Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry. That’s what Benson and Stabler have got. Thank god that on last nights episode (11/28/06), they were reunited as partners. I’ve seen my share of shows get messed up by adding romance into the storyline of a good gritty crime show. But fortunately, Mariska Hargitay came back from marternity leave just in time to save Stabler from going down that wrong path with his last partner, Dani Beck.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against romance. It just doesn’t belong on “ripped from the headlines�? crime TV. That kiss between the two of them made me utterly nauseous. (previous episode) Plus, I just didn’t like that Dani chick anyway. She never followed orders from Lt. Cragen; she was sort of a loose cannon. She has this hard exterior, yet she couldn’t take the job at special victims unit. That just didn’t play for me. (Plus that accent, where the heck was she from?) She was violating the whole partner code thing – no romantic involvement with the partner! Solve the crimes, take care of business, bust a suspect in the jaw, get pissed with each other, get in trouble with the captain– that’s what we are tuning for. That’s crime TV.

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