SHORT HIT for this new ABC Drama. I'm of the opinion these days that it takes a big gimmick to give another cop show a shot. The genre has been on fumes since NYPD Blue and especially The Wire and The Shield. The Shield, in fact, is in danger of being the Cop show's version of Unforgiven. I remember when I saw that Clint Eastwood tour de force I couldn't look at a western for two years -- not even the classic ones. It just seemed like it put an exclamation point on the entire genre, and closed the book for good.
So while those promos for Southland push all the right emotional buttons, I find myself thinking, first, "I really don't want to watch another cop show," and second, "Oh God I really, really, really don't want to watch another cop show set in L.A."
Because, let's face it, as far as L.A. cop shows goes, we had our ambitious try, rather recently, with Boomtown -- the Graham Yost copper that employed the multiple perspective gimmick.
And there it is again...the gimmick. When you're treading such well trod-earth, you need one. Some sort of hook to erase all those years of every other cop show you've ever seen.
I bought the pilot for The Unusuals, but just barely. In my estimation, here's what it had going for it.
Appealing Cast:
Amber Tamblyn gets to grow up from Joan of Arcadia days. She's still pretty, but not "no way she'd ever be a cop" pretty. A nice, self-deprecating air about her, but a couple of interesting scenes in the pilot to both set up her toughness and vulnerability.
Surrounding her is one of the most appealing supporting casts I've seen for awhile. Terry Kinney as the world weary head of the precinct, Harold Perrineau, Adam Goldberg, and a guy named Jeremy Renner as her partner.
New York Tax Credits:
A LOT of on the street shooting. This show gets NY in a way that NYPD Blue didn't, with its 'few trips to NY every year' shooting. The authenticity and feel of the locations really shines through. You are transported to somewhere else.
"Veronica Mars" style serialization:
Nice setup, cleanly presented. A cop who was dirty is murdered. Through the hour we find out that he was surprisingly decent for a dirty cop, but he had a file on all the other cops. New girl (Tamblyn) is from a rich, rich family (a premise that was being floated recently for a Canadian cop show -- be interesting to see if that sticks now) and so is brought in by Captain to "keep an eye on" and report on the other cops -- who we are starting to realize, all have secrets. One of those cops, (Goldberg) has a brain tumor -- he won't tell anybody, but somehow he experiences two miraculous events in a day that save his life. The focus of Tamblyn's explorations, revealed only at the end: her new partner, who apparently was a first baseman for the Yankees at one point before becoming a cop.
Jeremy Renner and Tamblyn are in interesting pairing. Renner gets to state the theme of the show: Cops are defined by their secrets. At the end of the pilot, he gets a moving speech about his dead partner's badge number -- how it was passed down from cop, to cop, to cop -- until someone dies on the job, then the badge is retired. You pass down the badge till it kills you. A little maudlin, but surprisingly effective.
The numbers weren't great for the premiere, so it might not stick around. But there was definitely a kick or two left there in the premise. I'll watch it again.
I'd love to tell you more about Southland but I fell asleep about ten minutes in. Take that as you will.
10 comments:
I could tell what emotional buttons Southland's promos were intended to hit, but it was such a generic string of "blue-collar philosophy one spouts at the rookie to vary the yelling and things going boom" that it pinged completely hollow, no matter how hard that poor actor was selling it. And I don't even watch cop shows to speak of, so if it looks tired to me, you have a problem.
The Unusuals, meanwhile, I hadn't even heard of until just now. Thanks for the tip!
Long-time lurker, first-time poster, Denis. Love your blog. I'm a big cop show nut, and I John Wells THIRD WATCH is one of my favorites. So I was looking forward to SOUTHLAND simply because it looked like THIRD WATCH, minus the whole firefighter/paramedic angle. And set in LA instead of NYC. But anyway, I liked it. I can't see it lasting, though, simply because, like you said -- there's no hook. It's just a cop show. Period. If anything, it reminds me most of that mid-90s Spielberg-produced show, HIGH INCIDENT. But I digress...
I'm kind of sorry I missed THE UNUSUALS, based on your review. All the promos I saw made it look like a comedy. Or at least, painfully "quirky." And I've got a very low "quirk" tolerance. But your review gave me a different impression, so I'll have to check it out.
Haven't seen "Southland" yet. I've been wary of it from all the gay press they're courting -- "No, we can't tell you if the show's any good or not but you should watch it anyway because it has A GAY CHARACTER in it!!"
Sigh.
But speaking of LA cop shows with a gimmick, did you see the (series?) finale of "Life" last night? Not only did the creator dutifully tie up a lot of loose threads in case (well, let's be honest -- because) the show won't be back, but the astonishing final minutes made Charlie Crews an unforgettable character. "Southland" is no replacement!
What I noticed right away about SOUTHLAND was that all the cops were white. But, like you, I fell asleep early on, so maybe that changed.
Amber Tamblyn may not be too pretty to be a cop, but she's way too young to be a homicide detective. And really, cops are the only blue collar workers left on TV, can't we have those, please, and not give that last one over to the rich kids, too?
Cop shows have a tough time balancing episodic solves with serialized stories as well as character stuff with invenstigation stuff.
In most cases the gimmick that gets used to make the cop show fresh also limits it. Most of those gimicks would work realy well for a limited series but can't be sustained for too long.
They elided that a bit (the Tamblyn too young thing) by making her a deliberate poach from Vice by Terry Kinney's character. He picked the rich girl because he figured she can't be bought. Or something like that.
Whatever the feelings I had, I will say this:
The Unusuals debuted really, really soft.
And Southland won the night, did better than 14 of the last E.R.s, and delivered NBC's best debut of a show in a long time. So there it is.
I think about the only thing that's going to get me to watch a cop show pilot in the upcoming year is Katee Sackhoff wearing a badge.
I'll take a cop show over a lawyer or medical show any day. I actually liked Southland but found The Unusuals to be a little silly for my tastes. I don't think much of the audience for Southland followed The Wire or The Shield so they are perhaps ready for another NBC cop show. We'll see if it retains it's audience next week. Even though I liked Southland, I didn't think it would be a success.
Okay, SOUTHLAND was on again last night and I stayed awake (in my defense, I'm actually getting over mono) and it's got a lot going for it. It's nice to see a cop show that's trying to be out on the streets so much. A lot of the characters are very good. there's a lot of potential here.
I loved NYPD Blue, but sometimes it seemed like a stage play in the squadroom - a serious version of another one of my all-time favourites, BARNEY MILLER.
Southland does look to be YACS (Yet Another Cop Show). It works but it doesn't stand out. One thing to keep an eye on is that the production values were high and it has a strong probability of falling victim to the trap where the regular $2.5 million episodes can't live up to the $5 million pilot. The writing, directing, acting and editing is all solid and it engages while watching - but little stuck with me through to the next day.
I did leave the "Record All New" flag on the PVR and will give it a few more episodes to draw me in before changing that.
The Unusuals was painful for me to watch. All through the show I was yanked out of the moment when they desperately tried to be funny and failed (me) miserably. It was like they had a room full of well meaning drama writers who had never done comedy... and showed them episodes of the old Police Academy TV series to get them up to speed.
Every couple minutes I would watch as they overtly and heavy handedly constructed something that was obviously meant to be funny but wasn't.
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A cop, a horse and an astronaut walk into the bar. The cop says "I'd like to have a rye and coke". To which the bartender responds. "I'm sorry, you will have to take the horse back outside. Health codes don't allow us to let any animals in here except for seeing eye dogs."
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Like Dane Cook's act, they were structured and presented just like they are jokes... but they aren't.
If the Unusuals survives I will come back in five episodes to see if they've managed to find their way. I expect a cancellation before five episodes are aired.
I am fully on board with the need for a hook on a hoary old saw like the cop show- House did that magnificently for the doctor show.
Castle is a cute show that sidles right up against the cop show and I enjoy Nathan Fillian's take on a wise-ass and lecherous Jessica Fletcher*... but yeah, they could have called it "Murder He Wrote".
*Come on, who doesn't want Angela Landsbury to cameo on Castle and school that young punk on OG wise-ass lechery? Show of hands?
There are eight million stories in the Naked City and SOUTHLAND seems determined to tell ALL of them in 46 minutes. The show has much going for it, I wish it would tell three stories really well and not go crazy.
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