Crime Drama TV

NBC has a new linear crime drama; The Black Donnellys. It’s the story of four brothers - Jimmy, Kevin, Tommy, and Sean Donnelly - involved in the Irish mob. Tommy wants to get out of this life of crime and just go to art school in peace, but he constantly has to get his brothers out of trouble.

Now, I didn’t watch last night’s episode because I was studying for finals watching the South Park movie with some friends after 24, but thanks to NBC’s awesome policy of putting up full episodes of their shows online, I’ve managed to catch the first two plus an online bonus episode. And I have to say that I’m suitably impressed.

First off, if you don’t like graphic violence, this show isn’t for you. The Black Donnellys is just getting by Standards and Practices by the skin of their teeth. Because of the violence you might think that this show has a mostly male audience, but I frequent a message board full of women and we all LOVE it. The dynamic of the four brothers is really engaging.

But the thing I love most about The Black Donnellys is Joey Ice Cream, a childhood friend of the brothers. Joey is our narrator, telling the story to cops and lawyers while in jail. The thing is, he’s not exactly the most reliable of narrators. A few times during the second episode he was asked how he knew all this and he answers, “Oh yeah, I was there” only to disappear out of the scene a few seconds later. It adds a layer of “what the hell is really going on here?” to the story.

All in all, The Black Donnellys is an enjoyable mob drama. If you’re missing The Sopranos, I’d definitely give it a try.

This week, Charlie is approached by a female friend from college for help. Relax, Charlie/Amita fans, she’s dead within a minute anyway. She wanted Charlie to take her to Don because she had information on a voter fraud conspiracy. The Feds look into it, confirm her story, and spend the rest of the episode trying to save the few people involved that are still alive.

Meanwhile, it’s the triumphant return of Oswald! Yay! He’s unsure about applying to CalSci and Charlie tries to browbeat him into submission because if you don’t go to college, you fail at life. Millie gives him the brilliant idea to get Oswald involved in the voter fraud case to show him how much fun it is at CalSci. He sees the light and decides to apply.

Also? Meghan’s avoiding calls from the Director (of their FBI branch office). In the end, she declines whatever he was offering her, but is pretty much told that she’s going to accept and she’s going to like it. Thanks for that oh-so-subtle set up for Diane Farr’s maternity leave, writers.

Honestly, the best thing about this episode was the return of Oswald and the forensic accountant played by Joshua Malina. It was like a side character spectacular! Oh, and Alan trying to get Don to move back home ’cause he’s pretty much there all the time anyway. He has a point, Don; we’ve only seen your apartment once or twice. Move back home and give me some more Eppes Family Moments, dammit!

The screencap above is not from CSI. It’s from the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly. I just want you to have this image of a grown man playing with dinosaurs in your mind, so you might begin to understand why “Burn Out” makes my soul weep.

In “Burn Out”, two boys are missing and the team is in a rush against time to find them. Nick works an arson that happens to be connected; the victim is a convicted pedophile (played by Alan Tudyk) whose house was set on fire by a neighbor who suspected him. The CSIs are a little suspicious of this story and when they dig further, the truth is revealed.

The boys were hanging out with Alan Tudyk’s character because the one boys’ gandfather, who watched them after school, was a strict man. The night they went missing, the grandfather had knocked the other boy around and hit his head on a wall. They ran away to Alan and since the boy’s concussion went untreated, he suffered a seizure and died. Knowing that this looks really bad, Alan hid the boy’s body and the other boy ran away. He’s found safe and sound, but Alan’s character goes to jail.

Make no mistake; Alan Tudyk is an amazing actor. In fact, this episode really showcases his range really well. But in my mind, he is Wash from Firefly. So seeing him talk about seducing young boys? More than just a little disturbing to me. This is a fantastic episode, but it’s one that I would really prefer not to see again. I’ll stick to watching my Firefly DVDs.

Tonight’s repeat of Criminal Minds follows two serial killers operating in the same city, one - the Mill Creek Killer - hunting middle-class brunettes and the other - the Hollow Man - shooting prostitutes. They’re locked in a rivalry leaving the city paralyzed in fear. But before the BAU team takes off, a new member named Emily Prentiss arrives. There’s some confusion due to the fact that Hotch has not approved a transfer to the team but she has the proper paperwork. She’s left behind for now.

After the Hollow Man alerts the media to the location of one of the Mill Creek Killer’s victims, Reid figures out that the two killers are communicating through the newspaper’s classifieds. They use names from Catcher in the Rye, the preferred novel of the sociopath. Apparently I am not a sociopath, because I HATED that book. Wah, wah, wah. Shut up Holden. The team is able to play the Mill Creek Killer and the Hollow Man off of each other and apprehend both.

When Hotch returns to his office, Prentiss is there. In the dark. Waiting for him. Hotch is slightly creeped out, but is impressed with her evaluation of the case file that was delivered for him. He makes no promises - the credits already made them for him - but directs her to someone who can assign her a desk and she practically skips away.

This is one of my favorite episodes; I found it really cool how they played the killers off of one another. They also used handwriting analysis to help profile the Hollow Man, something which I would personally like to see more of on the show. Another thing I thought was particularly interesting was how we saw the Mill Creek Killer’s face in the opening. It was a great stylistic choice, especially since we didn’t see the Hollow Man until the last few minutes, mirroring the media coverage each killer got.

I just want to pop back in to say that Criminal Minds won its time slot, beating a first-run episode of Lost ! How awesome is THAT?! Congratulations to everyone involved in the show; having a repeat beat out one of the most critically acclaimed shows on TV has to feel pretty good. You guys deserve it.

Once again, I find myself without an episode to comment on. The CW has deigned that instead of a rerun, the Veronica Mars timeslot was to be filled with Who Will Be the Next Doll?, which is a search for the next great slut Pussycat Doll.

So let’s discuss another reason why I love crime dramas; TV boyfriends. Crime dramas are ripe with beautiful, angsty men (or women if you so prefer) to crush on. Some of you might prefer the strong leader types or perhaps the tragically damaged. But my weakness is….the geeks. Yes, I have a thing for geeks. And their usual habitat is the crime drama, where they use their mad knowledge skillz for the greater good.

Let’s start with #1 on my list, Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid. There’s really only one word that accurately describes Spence and that word is “adorkable” (a word which here, dear reader, means adorably dorky). Physics magic, anyone? Spencer is a geek with a heart of gold and while I find him extremely sexy, mostly I just want to curl up in bed with him and a good book.

#2 on my Crime Drama Boyfriends list - who is actually #3 on my overall TV list because of Dr. Robert Chase on House - is CSI’s Greg Sanders. As I’ve mentioned before, I began watching CSI when I was 12 and I’ve alwyas had a soft spot for the geeky lab tech; “Fannysmackin’” had me demanding the blood of Kevin Federline. My Thursdays are made brighter by the appearance of Greg on my television screen.

And last but most certainly not least, #3, Charlie Eppes. Any man who can make math interesting to me deserves to be on the list.

So, dear readers, who are YOUR television boy/girlfriends?

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

Again, this episode (a friend of mine likes to refer to them as “eppesodes”) was a repeat. And what a terrifying episode it was. Instead of “Longshot”, I’m renaming this episode “The Birth of Liz”. Perhaps the most hated woman in the Numb3rs fandom (at least on the boards I visit) besides Amita.

Why do we hate Liz? Robin. Robin and Don were perfect for each other. They had awesome chemistry. And then Liz comes along. Liz with her all-over-Don-ness and her willing-to-sleep-with-him-even-though-she-didn’t-know-that-he-and-Robin-were-broken-up-ness.

Honestly? Liz has more chemistry with Colby than she does with Don. I accidentally typed “dies” there. Subconscious thinking? Yes.

Anyway, since I remembered this episode pretty well, I flipped over to USA and one of my favorite crime comedies, Psych, about an extremely observant guy pretending to be a psychic for the police department. It’s basically the James Roday and Dule Hill Acting Silly Hour. It’s good for a laugh if Numb3rs is a repeat.

Last night’s episode was a repeat, as was much of television programming. This episode a woman was strangled with a rosary and crucified in a church and the team unravels a love triangle between the woman, a car salesman, and a priest. The priest and the woman, who was pregnant, were in love. He was leaving the church for her and everything. The car salesman killed the woman, Charlie, in a jealous rage. Except, oops, the baby’s his.

I don’t know why, but for some reason my television wants me to see all my TV boyfriends in pain this week. Greg’s back in the field trying to work through the trauma of being beaten up by Kevin Federline and his posse in “Fannysmacking”. He still has huge bruises on his face, although I imagine the bruises to his ego and soul due to being beaten up by Fed-Ex are much larger. Oh sweetie, come here and let Lindsay make it better.

I wasn’t really impressed with this episode. The surprise ending of finding out the baby was the car salesman’s is extremely similar to “Feeling the Heat” and “Primum Non Nocere”.

That’s all I got. Numb3rs is a repeat tonight, but I’ll still be back with a recap on Monday.

This week the team is called to New Orleans (which JJ in all her Pennsylvania-girlness cannot pronounce properly) to investigate a series of murders that seem to mirror Jack the Ripper. Except the victims are male. Anyway, the lead detective on the case died in Katrina, but before he shuffled off this mortal coil, he had the time to carve “JONES” into the wall of his house. Now his son - who actually looks more strung out than Reid supposedly is - is heading the investigation. They eventually figure out that the killer is a woman luring men away with promises of sex and Jones is a bar where she was raped nine years ago.

This is the first time I’ve actually had several problems with the profile/actions of this killer. First, as they have mentioned several times on this show, blitz attacks show that the killer is insecure and cannot charm their victims into coming with them willingly. So I don’t see how the woman could have been confident enough to lure men away from the crowds. Second, the way the victims were killed. Garcia said that Jack the Ripper only ever removed a kidney from his victims, which isn’t true. He also removed the uterus. If the woman was indeed like Jack, she would in all likelihood castrate her victims to rob them of their masculinity as Jack removed his victims’ feminimity.

I’m really pissed off about this so called “resolution” to Reid’s drug storyline. “I’ll never miss a plane again”? THAT IS NOT A RESOLUTION TO ANYTHING. If Reid’s using the Dialudid as his friend Ethan made it seem (since we’ve never actually seen Boy Genius shoot up), that little discussion he had with Gideon isn’t going to do a damn thing.

And now I move to the shallow end. Let’s talk about hair. Yes, hair. I had a lot of issues with hair in this episode. Let’s start with the good. Is it bad that I absolutely LOVE Reid’s drug hair? It nearly doubles my urge to just hug him and pet him and feed him soup, poor thing.

Next, Prentiss. I actually liked her character in this episode, and I’m ashamed to admit that it had a lot to do with her hair. They curled it this episode and WOW, what an improvement. Let’s compare, shall we?

It’s like they’re two different people.Morticia Addams and Emily Prentiss.

And finally, the bad. JJ. Oh, JJ, I loved you this week but I have to ask; what is up with your hair? She seriously looks like she’s been standing in front of a fan and the hairspray in her hair stuck that way.

So that’s about it. No Bones this week because American Idol has once again taken over our televisions. Tomorrow: CSI.

Keith puts the heat on Mindy O’Dell now that he’s sheriff (Why, Lamb, WHY?! *sobs*) She reveals that the second man in the hotel room that night was the Dean himself, who waved a gun around and basically informed Landry that his career is over. She was the one who appeared at Cyrus’ office later to plead for mercy and give him some Xanax. Keith arrests Landry, who has some info to add to the story. Cyrus also informed Mindy that, according to their pre-nup, she gets nothing. His alibi? He stopped at a convenience store for cigarettes on his way back from the Neptune Grand. Mindy gets her life insurance check, buys a boat, and skips town.

Meanwhile, Veronica and Tim the TA try to prove Landry’s innocence by tracking down the stripper who bummed some cigarettes off of him, but end up kind of proving he did it by learning that the stripper was blackmailed into saying it. They listen to the recordings of Landry’s bugged cell phone and hear a reference to Papa’s Cabin, a Hemmingway reference that leads them to some beach-side paradise and Mindy’s boat. On it, they find Landry, who cries that he just meant to confront Mindy about setting him up and he didn’t mean for her to fall overboard and die. He’s arrested.

Post arrest, the criminology class wants the dirty details of how Landry killed Dean O’Dell. Tim the Teacher begins to go over the crime and Veronica realizes something - Landry didn’t have time to call and blackmail the stripper after being arrested - and puts it all together. The true guilty party? Tim the Teacher. Me? Doing the victory dance. This is the first time I’ve ever correctly predicted who did it on this show!

Oh, I almost forgot. Logan and Parker are getting cozy. Logan asks for Veronica’s permission to date her. It is about as exciting as it sounds.

What I Liked
- Being right about Tim the TA
- Keith showing up the kids by figuring out that “Papa’s Cabin” was a Hemmingway reference

What I Didn’t Like
- The pacing. The whole episode felt a little off. And Mindy’s death was like an afterthought. This could have been stretched over two episodes and have worked much better.
- LAMB IS STILL DEAD.

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?

csi miami, horatio caine, crime drama tv, david caruso