Watching the Detectives

The mean streets of San Francisco

2010-01-10T13:56:00.001Z

I remember The Streets of San Francisco being on the television when I was young, but I've not seen it as an adult, so I was looking forward to the box set I received for Christmas.

So far, I've just watched the pilot episode. Robert Wagner is the guest star, playing a flashy young lawyer who is implicated in the murder of a young woman, whose body is washed up on the shore and who looks to have been killed on his boat. Of course, this won't be the only time Wagner will find himself connected with a suspicious watery death, but that is all in the future, along with Hart to Hart.

Not quite as good as Ironside (although I didn't like that much at all at first), it has got off to a promising start.

Christmas Crime

2010-01-05T13:27:00.001Z

Sadly two weeks off for the festive period did not provide the opportunity for detective watching that I would have hoped. ITV celebrated with a string of Midsomer Murders but I’d seen them before.

My Christmas viewing consisted of just:

1 episode of The Perry Mason Mysteries which are the lame franchise where Perry Mason isn’t actually in it, but his sidekicks are. The main character was what my mum described as “a man who bursts into opera every now and then” who turned out to be Paul who was in one season of Law & Order.
1 episode of Murder She Wrote, which was a concept episode just narrated by Jessica Fletcher. Actually, it was probably better than the ones with her in and it featured a poodle.
1 episode of Monk where it is revealed that Natalie is from a wealthy toothpaste dynasty.

In terms of presents, I did much better with the first series of Kojak and The Streets of San Francisco being under the tree for me.

An Observation

2009-12-06T22:19:00.001Z

Ironside eats a lot of chilli.

Ironside Weekend Part 2

2009-11-30T18:57:00.002Z

Sunday's continuation of the Ironside-fest saw another three episodes watched.

The Macabre Mr Micawber
A rich man is murdered and the only witness seems to be a mynah bird, who of course can talk. So the bad guys attempt to steal him back to stop him blabbing all. Burgess Meredith, best known as the Penguin was in this episode was a downtrodden servant, perhaps one bird too many. Eve's splendid grey and orange striped dress made a reappearance.

Side Pocket
A young pool hustler finds himself working for a gangster in order to pay off his brother's debt. Ironside steps in to save him from this life. The famous pool hustler he beats is played by the man my OH recognised as Grandpa Joe from Charlie and The Chocoloate Factory. Otherwise I found it a rather dull episode - I don't like plots that involve gambling or any kind of addiction. I did some ironing while this one was on - as the OH pointed out I was appropriately ironing to the side.

Sargeant Mike
This episode looked like it was going to be a repeat of the bird episode, but with a dog instead, but it turned out the the dog didn't witness anything, although his owner did. Besides a rather beautiful German Shepherd, the tally of guest stars was added to with Bill Bixby. He was alot smaller than I remembered, although perhaps I was confusing his stature with his alter ego, The Hulk.

Six episodes in two days. Not too bad going but we still have a backlog.

Ironside Weekend Part 1

2009-11-29T15:05:00.004Z

The second season of Ironside is currently showing on Quest, and I've allowed rather a lot of episodes to pile up on our SkyPlus system. So I'm attempting to get through them this weekend.

Price Tag Death
An ex-cop who is living on the street, contacts Ironside when a fellow homeless man is murdered. The killing is soon linked with a forgery of cheques, but what follows is somewhat bizarre. While the team try to track down the forger-killer, we see him going around cashing fake cheques, buying expensive suits and dancing in yet another portrayal of a psychedelic nightclub. For reasons I didn't quite grasp, in order to cash the cheques, he was buying a huge amount of groceries and they were able to nab him by finding some of the 96 bags of shopping he'd bought in a few days (clearly he wasn't shopping at Waitrose!). The club scene introduced another great 60s band "The Poor" (following my discovery of The Hook in the "Trip to Hashbury" episode".

An Obvious Case of Guilt
An ex-girlfriend of Ironside is accused of murdering her husband, but the evidence suggest she has been framed. A tense plot, reminiscent of a Hitchcock film, but lacking the psychedelic weirdness of the previous one. Eve has umpteen outfit changes in this episode for no particular reason.

Reprise
Eve is shot while buying a birthday present for Ironside. The episode moves back and forwards between her in hospital and the other characters remembering when they first met her, and she went from being a society girl to joining the police. Some great outfits from Eve here, including a beautiful pink suit and a brown, orange, yellow patterned dress that was remarkably similar to our lounge curtains in the 1970s.

Kojak and the Little Man in the Corner

2009-11-21T11:17:00.000Z

On my trawl through the week's schedule looking for things to record, I found a lone episode of Kojak on ITV in the middle of the night/very early morning depending on your perspective.

I watched it last night and it transpired it was one of those shows with a person doing sign-language in the corner of the screen (or the Little Man as my niece used to call this service). At first I wondered if it might be a distraction, but as the episode progressed, I actually began to enjoy watching the Little Man's actions along with the drama.

There were some tense silent scenes where the man just stood there rather at a loss, but in other places, seeing his facial expressions and hand movements actually added to the drama. I don't know sign-language, but having paid attention to this, I can see why a someone who is deaf would prefer this to subtitles - his interpretations clearly expressed the tone of voice being used, which subtitles can't do.

Obviously as a big fan of Kojak, I'm glad that it is being made accessible to a wide audience, but I do wonder if there is any logic to it? Has the bald Greek detective been found to be particularly popular amongst the deaf community? I would love to think so, although I rather suspect it might just be that they sign programmes in these unsociable timeslots.

Vincent - A Beginners Guide to Detectiving

2009-11-21T09:06:00.003Z

I recorded an episode of Vincent, knowing little more about it other than it featured a team of private investigators.

It turned out to be a 2005 programme starring Ray Winstone. Had I known that I might not have recorded it. I like Ray Winstone, but find a little of him goes a long way. Suranne Jones is also in it - I've met her in real-life (she wouldn't remember because it wasn't a particularly memorable event and she was drunk) and she is actually alot prettier than she looks on television as her face is often contorted in scenes of Northern misery.

The episode (which I find out later is the last one of the first series) could be divided into two distinct parts. For the first part, the team are hired to follow a man whose wife believes he is cheating on her. What we see is very much the nuts and bolts of how you go about spying on someone, which with my long-harboured desire to be a detective, I found fascinating.

Then the plot takes a turn, and the woman the husband was cheating with, becomes the focus of the investigation, requiring Vincent to go undercover to seduce her. It came more pyschological and switches to being a guide to what not to do as a detective, namely get yourself personally involved with suspect. This part involved Ray Winstone being very Ray Winstone, and lots of agonising face-twisting from Suranne. But I was gripped, and then hugely disappointed to find it wasn't on again.

Early Spelling: Honey West

2009-11-15T15:52:00.003Z

I have mixed feelings about Aaron Spelling. On one hand I do love Charlies Angels (circa Farah Fawcett) and thought I might one day marry Jonathan Hart, but generally I don't like how the type of shows he produced (such as T J Hooker) came to dominate television in the 70s and 80s. The style is formulaic, action-packed, with storylines that fit neatly into their 40 minute or so time slot, with no depth. Spelling didn't produce them all, but he was probably the godfather of that genre that replaced grittier shows like Ironside and Kojak.

But having said all of this, I'm quite pleased at having just discovered one of Spelling's first shows, Honey West. There was just one series of 30 episodes made showing in 1965 to 1966. The show is black and white, has those Spelling trademark plots, but is possibly one of the first shows to feature a feisty independent female lead and was probably rather remarkable when it was first shown. Honey runs a detective agency with her less interesting male friend, who there are appears to be a will they/won't they type of relationship (in the style of Remingston Steele). She drives a sports car (rather like Penelope Pitstop!) and she owns a pet ocelot called Bruce (the only detective to do so, to my knowledge).

I've just watched two episodes and so far her investigations seem to involve rescuing less feisty heiress and actresses from the evil schemes of men. Besides the ocelot, there is a good dose of quirkiness to the show, and some amusing dialogue such as when Honey was rescued by her male associate and she asks him how he knew where to find her, and he replies "I'd already looked everywhere else".

So its easy on the brain but sometimes that is good. It makes a change from the utter misery-fest of SVU.

Style File: NYPD Blue

2009-11-14T18:34:00.005Z

Slowly working our way through the NYPD Blue back catalogue - currently on Season 2 and I feel I need to comment on the fashion style on the show.

Sipowicz may have been a style icon for a certain type of man. He is mentioned in the Simpson's when Marge tells Homer he shouldn't wear a tie with a short-sleeved shirt and he responds that Sipowicz does. In Seinfeld, George apparently has a picture of Sipowicz behind a door in his apartment. As I said, he inspires a certain type of man - stocky and fictional.

My main fashion interest in NYPD Blue lies elsewhere, with the glamorous secretary Donna Abandando. Her hair, make-up and demeanour are 1950s starlet, whereas her wardrobe is usually pure 80s (the show was filmed in the 90s). I look forward to each new episode to see what garish coloured knitwear or blouse she will be wearing.

Hers is not a look to be copied nor envied, but nonetheless it has a certain charm.

Song of the Week: Bruce Springsteen "Highway Patrolman"

2009-10-25T10:11:00.000Z

The conflict between family ties and upholding the law beautifully illustrated in this album track from The Boss. In this song, the patrolman chooses his wayward brother over his duty as a lawman, in contrast to the response of most tv detectives, who more often than not turn in their own flesh and blood.

Familiar Names and Faces

2009-10-24T11:21:00.004+01:00

My aunt dated a man called John Kelly for years. He was a committment-phobic window-cleaner with an idiot brother and mullet.

This association has coloured my perspective of the first series of NYPD Blue where the main character is called John Kelly. NYPD Blue's John Kelly is quite different from my aunt's John Kelly, although both seem to consider themselves a hit with the ladies, for reasons beyond my comprehension.

NYPD Blue's John Kelly is also played by David Caruso, never my favourite CSI actor. Here he is younger and more carrot-topped (all that Florida sunshine seems to have lightened his hair). He is less prone to staring off into the distance, but he still fails to charm me and everytime another character mentions his name, I expect my aunt's former beau to appear.

Still this isn't enough to spoil NYPD Blue for me. Dennis Franz as Sipowicz is a tour de force and the supporting characters of Martinez and Medavoy are great too. And whilst it is not quite in the same league as The Wire or Homocide, it has shocked me a few times, and there are 12 seasons of it, which should keep us occupied for some months to come.

Christmas Wishlist

2009-10-02T08:36:00.004+01:00

It has now turned October. My sister contacted me weeks ago to ask what I want. So I feel justified in making my wishlist now.

1. Ironside Season 2 - this doesn't seem to be available over here yet though but Region 1 may do the job,

2. Kojak Season 1 - my sister has her name down to buy this.

3. Streets of San Francisco Season 1 - this is available cheaply so perhaps my other sister will oblige.

4. Life Season 2 - unhelpfully not released here until 28 December. A new year treat to myself perhaps.

5. Longstreet (the one about the blind detective) given a DVD release, please.

6. More George Gently, please BBC.

Slight Return of the Shouty Man

2009-10-02T08:13:00.003+01:00

The previous series wasn't particularly good, so Waking Dead wasn't as much "must watch" as in the past, so I managed to miss the first two weeks of the new series. I may have missed out as the two stories I did see were rather good.

A A Gill praised Waking the Dead in the Sunday Times, mainly for the acting as he isn't keen on the gruesome murders, and I agree it does seem to have become increasingly and unncessarily gruesome. He described it as a British CSI which at first I would have contested, but on watching this latest series, I can see it has become more CSI like. Lots of dependence on science plus the beautifully dressed cast. You are investigating a brutal murder - surely one day you might come into the office in slighly creased clothes and not bother with lipstick?

Whilst the storylines were exciting, the two I saw both involved plots personally relating to members of the team, which added to the unbelievability of it. By the last one, Spence had had enough and transferred to CID, possibly to avoid it being his turn next. Who can blame him though - seven series of being yelled at? I wouldn't have lasted this long.

With the final episodes being called End Game, I presume we've seen the last of Boyd, Grace and co. Of course, I may find time to watch the episodes I missed on the BBC website, but I think it is probably time for them to call it a day. Future careers as models for Boden or Next could await them all.

The show must go on

2009-09-19T14:11:00.003+01:00

Detectives have been on the back burner while I've settled into a new job. I've been comfort-watching The Wire and Homicide (perhaps rather gritty depressing shows for comfort-watching but I've seen them both before so don't require any great brainpower).

Earlier in the week, I caught an episode New Tricks. I haven't seen this for a while and am confused by the disappearnace of the character Jack (James Bolam). It has been alluded too but I suspect he isn't returning, which is a shame.

This particular episode was about the theatre. I nearly cried watching the episode. Not because of the murder or the human emotions. It was full of stereotypical luvvies and drama queens. But it made me miss my old job in the theatre industry.

I doubt there will be any detective shows set in the interesting world of third sector second-tier support organisations. Unless I've just spotted a gap in the market.

We're off to see the wizard...

2009-07-23T20:56:00.004+01:00

We've started to watch Oz. Obviously a good decade after it was made, but since the sad demise of The Wire and the Sopranos (and even the timing-fillers Prison Break and The Shield), we need a new series to get our teeth into.

Oz has the immediate advantage of featuring loads of people we knew from elsewhere. So far, we've encountered Carmela from the Sopranos, Falsone from Homicide, Brodie from The Wire, the black guy from Ghostbusters and one of my favourite actors J K Simmons, who pops up in Law & Order as Dr Emil Skoda and is Juno's dad in Juno. Unfortunately, my nemesis B D Wong has also turned up, this time as a priest, but no less of a know-it-all than when he's playing a psychiatrist.

But overall. it is a great show. Very gritty and grisly - I could have done without seeing a completely burnt corpse. It has an interesting narration thing going on that might become irritating and I'm not sure is sustainable, but I'm looking forward to watching more of it.

Kojak-athon

2009-07-18T21:02:00.001+01:00

This week I recorded five episodes of Kojak and today, I set about watching them. They were all from Season 4, following on from the episode I watched last week.

10.00am: I start watching the first episode "Out of the Shadows". It is about a serial killer whose victims at first seem motiveless, but it turns out are all people who've ripped him off. We are shown a divorced man having a breakdown who may be the killer. The episode is good, but I still manage to leaf through the Guide and magazine sections of The Guardian. No sign of any lollypops or his catchphrase "Who loves ya, baby".

10.45am: I move straight onto the next installment, "A Need to Know". This is about a chauffeur for a foreign consulate who molests children in his spare time. The cops catch him leading another child away but then the FBI step in, declaring the man to have diplomatic immunity. Kojak and the Captain are enraged, and Det. Crocker still tails him. It turns out he is more than just a driver. Kojak calls the FBI agents "baby" in a less than respectful way and he produces a lollypop when he is trying to soothe a child, but the catchphrase isn't used.

I break off here to do some gardening for an hour or so, then have a shower and a spot of lunch.

1.45pm: I resume with "An Unfair Trade" which is about a cop shooting a Hispanic youth, and then coming up accusations of racism. Tired by the gardening, I lose concentration and fall asleep for a while.

On waking, I take a break from the marathon and watch a film instead. It is a romp from the 70s with Robin Asquith - its pretty awful. The OH, who is spending the day elsewhere watching cricket, texts to ask how much progress I've made.

4.30pm: Refreshed, I return to "An Unfair Trade". It really is very good - I'm impressed by the depth of characterisation they fit into an hour show and its ability to tackle the big issues. No lollypops here and still no catchphrase.

5.15pm: Moving onto "A Hair-Trigger Away" where another troubled cop (these seem to be a recurring theme) is on a one-man mission to ride the world of drug dealers, because his girlfriend is a heroin addict. Its all very overwrought, but the cop does have a great dinning room furniture set which looked like Eero Saarinen's Tulip table and chairs. The girlfriend is played in great thespian style by Lynn Redgrave. One of the crooks turns out to be Dominic Chianese, best known as Uncle Jun from the Sopranos, but I only find this out on IMDB afterwards and I've already deleted the episode so too late to check him out. A smattering of babies but no lollies. I'm beginning to think this catchphrase is a myth.

Another break, this time to watch the episode of Oz I fell asleep in last night (more on that separately). I make my supper (vegetable chilli if you are interested in such things) and then onto the final leg.

8:00pm: Last one of the day "By Silence Betrayed". The setting is the docks, rather similar to Season 2 of The Wire, which I'd re-watched earlier in the weeks. The dock workers operate a code of honour of standing together and not talking to the police, but they also live under the threat of violence from the gangster who they steal crates of cargo for. The episode features a big slow-witted guy who talked about seagulls in a way Eric Cantona would have admired. It all ended badly. Actually a lot of the episodes end rather bleakly. I'm wondering whether watching so many in a row is a good idea.

So that is the Kojak-athon complete. One lolly, fair use of the word "baby", but I've given up on the catchphrase.

There are another five episodes next week, but I think I'll spread them out a bit more.

Grey Day = Tea + Detectives

2009-07-11T14:37:00.000+01:00

Summer has retreated, leaving in its wake a grey day that isn't fit anything other than drinking tea and watching television. Luckily I had a couple of programmes put aside for a rainy day.

Quincy - an episode that took the classic murder-mystery formula of a group of people all with one thing in common, gathered in a remote house, with a murderer killing them one at a time. Quincy was there with his new wife (I had no idea) and the others were judges, a detective and a lawyer, who had all been involved in a fraud/murder case. The convict had escaped prison and here will all of the people who helped put him away, gathered in one place. There was also a mute servant, who I misssed the significance of, having missed the first five minutes of the show, but who was shown to look guilty/spooky/shifty at every opportunity, but turned out to be completely blameless and unconnected.

Dempsey and Makespeace - Makespeace is gorgeous, Dempsey is gorgeous. Everything and everyone else is drab. Its no wonder they fall for each other. Even the woman Dempsey describes as a fox in this episode is lacklustre. London is grey rather like today. I suppose England was like that in the 80s, in Thatcher's Britain, although the drabness is probably more a reflection on the production methods, lighting and actual weather than a political statement. The music however is rather exciting. It chimes in forcefully at the chase sequences just in case you hadn't noticed they were supposed to be thrilling. The plot was something to do with a right-wing group trying to overthrow the Government by hyper-inflation, but it didn't have much depth and is merely a backdrop to the simmering chemistry between the two leads.

Kojak - The episode was entitled "A Summer Madness" and all the characters sweated their way through the episode. In just an hour, it managed to create a drama with impact and believeability. It featured a troubled cop, his wife driven made through grief, a murdered lover and a junkie musician, set against the sweltering heat of New York in the summer. This was great stuff. Ultimately depressing, but excellently done, rather like Ironside. I'm hunting through the schedule for more, otherwise this may be next on my "To Buy" list.

RIP Karl Malden

2009-07-06T08:43:00.003+01:00

This blog is in danger of becoming "Burying the Detectives" as another star died this week, The Streets of San Francisco star, Karl Malden.

Not quite as sad as Fawcett's death as Malden did make it to a ripe old age, but a shame nonetheless. I thought one of the cable channels may have dug out a few episodes of The Streets of San Francisco in tribute to him, but none here had, so I was forced to just watch two poor episodes of Murder She Wrote yesterday, which was no kind of tribute to anyone.

RIP Farrah Fawcett

2009-06-26T07:55:00.003+01:00

Somewhat overshadowed by the news of Michael Jackson's death, I was saddened by the news of Farrah Fawcett's death. Although she wasn't my favourite Angel and I never wanted her iconic haircut, I only liked the show when she was in it.

Here is the opening credits from the pilot episode.

Goodbye The Shield, Goodbye Prison Break

2009-06-06T18:09:00.000+01:00

So two series that I've watched in their entirety have come to a close.

First, The Shield. My love-hate relationship with Vic Mackay and his gang has been well documented. The very end of the penultimate episode knocked me for six and I began to think that perhaps I'd been too harsh about the show, but then the finale was the rubbish I've come to expect.

I was hoping that there would be some loophole that would allow Vic to be jailed afterall or that some angry gang-banger would blow him away. But no, Vic's punishment for countless murders and single-handedly raising the crime rate of LA, was a desk job. It ended with him in agony because he was not longer out the streets, banging heads. Were we suppose to pity him or feel that this was the worst punishment for him? I struggled to believe it was worse than the fates of the rest of the strike team; murdered by your own colleague (Lem), blowing your own brains out after killing your pregnant wife and child (Shane) or jailed for all eternity for just going along for the ride (Ronnie).

I worry too that without Vic behind bars or in the ground, the makers may reconsider and bring him back.

Then Prison Break ended. A good few series after it should have. I only continued to watch because of my crush on Mahone. The final episode was the usual rush of meaningless excitement with the rather naff ploy of bringing back some old favourites, ignoring little details like the fact that they were supposed to be dead. So it all ends nicely with things cleared up, then Michael's nose starts to bleed again. I thought the Company used advanced technology to fix his brain bug but clearly it didn't work, making me wonder just how powerful they were afterall. The implication being that he doesn't have long to live. I had time for a quick cry (it was largely hormonal although it did seem incredibly mean that he'd gone through all that to be killed off) and then it cut to his gravestone, to help anyone for whom the gushing nose was too subtle a clue.

But there is an epilogue to this ending. Prison Break the Final Break (or something equally silly). A one-off special that filled in the time between that nosebleed and the tombstone. This was dross. Perhaps if we'd had a break of a few months and had time to miss the programme, we might have enjoyed it more, but watched so soon after the "real" ending, it was pointless. But at least I know this one is over for good.

The end is nigh

2009-05-17T12:31:00.003+01:00

The pennultimate episode of The Shield. It continued in much the same way as the rest of the show; lots of unintelligable shouting, running about, rubbish dialogue, and below par acting.

The theme that had been developing over the past few episodes that I'd dubbed "At home with the Vendrells" finally made sense. We had endured multiple scenes of red neck racist thug Shane and his money-grabbing wife enjoying tender moments of domestic life whilst on the run, committing murders and robberies in front of their infant child, at the same time worrying about his future. I struggled to care about their fate. They have not been sympathetic characters and seeing them gather around a piano in a house they've broken into, isn't going to change that for me.

But then we had the pay-off for this.

(don't read ahead if you haven't seen it yet and intend to watch it)

Shane blowing his brains out, then the discovery of his wife and son dead, laid out on the bed, her with flowers in her hands, the son with a toy that we'd seen Shane purchase earlier.

It shocked me and I will admit almost brought me to tears.

And I think this may crystalise my problem with The Shield. It isn't all bad. Sometimes it is very good. It had the potential to be really great television, but mostly it squandered that in a chase for cheap thrills and ratings.

Crossover

2009-05-16T12:15:00.000+01:00

I caught one of the Law & Order meets Homicide Life on the Streets crossover episodes the last night. A woman living in Baltimore was murdered and her body dumped in New York which brought together the two squads. And gave the writers a great excuse to bring together Det John Munch with Det Lennie Briscoe, two of my favourite ever characters. The old hands paired off leading to some great banter for example discussing the victim:

Munch: She was a blonde
Briscoe: Top and bottom
Munch: That's what I like about you. You're succinct.

Even minor characters joined in. The investigation takes them to a lesbian bar:

Munch: I never believe a woman is a lesbian until she has personally rejected me.
Female in bar: You must know a lot of lesbians.

Det Rey Curtis was left to partner Det Rene Sheppard, who didn't seem pleased about it.

Curtis: Last time I was with Falsone. This is an improvement
Sheppard: You think?
Curtis: You're taller at least.

Unfortunately the screen chemistry was ruined when it moved over the lawyers section with Sam Waterstone draining the episode of any interest, but it was brilliant while it lasted.

What I've Been Watching

2009-05-09T09:12:00.002+01:00

Life has been getting in the way of my detective viewing, so apologies for not posting for ages.

I've been working my way through the Morse box set. I think I have watched most of it, although I have been watching them in bed late at night so keep falling asleep in the conclusions. The only full episodes I've not watched are the one where Morse thinks the Masons are out to get him (seen it loads of times), the one where there hasn't been a murder at all and the supposed victim is wearing a face mask (sorry if that ruins an episode for someone, but frankly it was nonsense) and the final episode "Remorseful Day" which I'm avoiding until I feel in the mood for uncontrollable weeping.

We are continuing with The Shield, which is drawing to a gripping and no doubt overblown finale. I still hate it but it will still leave a void in my life when it is over. So if anyone can recommend something else implausible with badly written dialogue to take its place, I'd be interested. Actually, I've just remembered that Prison Break is back on so that will fit the bill nicely.

For a bit of variety last weekend I watched a pair of Mary Higgins Clark Mysteries, dubious television movies, featuring plucky heroines (one was owned a wine company, the other was Clint Eastwood's daughter). They were rather silly, but there are worse ways to spend a Bank Holiday.

Song of the Week: "Midnight on the Murder Mile" by Carter USM

2009-05-09T09:03:00.003+01:00

I thought this feature had died (a natural death, it wasn't murdered) as I'd ran out of appropriate songs. Then last night the OH and I were discussing The Kills and their song "The Murder Mile", and he mentioned the Carter song of a similar title.

Most of the songs I've featured have been ones I've liked. I was never a big Carter fan myself, but I will dedicate this to my OH and revive this feature.

PhotoFit Up

2009-03-26T22:12:00.001Z

Just about made it through two episodes of The Shield.

A photofit of two criminals (I'd lost track of what they'd done) looked just like the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb.

This was the highlight

I'm Listening

2009-03-14T20:57:00.003Z

Not another Frasier detective episode. That may have been preferable to this new show, "The Listener".

The lead character is psychic. He can read minds. He listens in on people's thoughts. Hence the title. When we join him this power has just become stronger and for the first time he finds himself caught up in a crime because of his gift, and then uses the power to solve it.

I didn't like it. Even though he was using his power for good, there was something rather creepy about The Listener. There is a back story about his past which is also starting to come back to him and would potentially be interesting if I didn't find him so creepy. He has a mentor the only person who knows about his secret skill. I don't know if we are supposed to not trust this guy, but frankly I don't. He is even more shifty than The Listener.

There were two women characters who look like being regulars; a police detective and a doctor. Neither looks old enough to be doing their jobs and both were inexplicably angry. And they didn't even know that this guy was listening to their thoughts.

I just don't think I need another show about a psychic. Medium covers pretty much the same ground but in a somehow more sympathetic way. And then Psych pretends to the same powers but isn't a creepy weirdo.

Not one I'll be watching (or listening to) again.

In the Criminal Justice System, there are two...

2009-02-28T14:38:00.004Z

The big news in the world of tv detectives this week was the start of Law and Order UK. The Dick Wolf franchise has come to ITV.

The introduction is the same. The format is the same. The incidental music is the same. The setting is London.

The episode opened strongly with two security guards finding what they think is a suspect package. They open it, and recoil in shock. It is then revealed to be the body of a baby.

The rest of the episode failed to live up to this dramatic start. Mostly due to the casting.

The cops are played by Bradley Walsh (hard to take him seriously, he's no Jerry Orbach) and Jamie Bamber (easy on the eye, but fancies himself so much he looks like he is fighting the urge not to eat himself). The lawyers aren't much better; Freema Agyeman never convincing although hampered by some awful dialogue and Ben Daniels being too reserved to ever excite much drama. Bill Paterson is the only one worth watching, excellent as ever.

The story unfolded quite predictably but then I suspect I may have seen the original episode on which it was based. Which is my problem with the show on the whole. I don't see what the point of it is. I'd rather watch the original. But if you don't have access to Channel 5 or the Hallmark Channel where Law & Order is shown, then I suppose you could do worse than Law and Order: UK.

The Begining of the end: The Shield

2009-02-26T12:30:00.001Z

The Shield Season 7 is showing on television, which I should be grateful for as it has saved us spending money on it. This is to be the final season, bringing to an end my love-hate relationship with the show.

It was business as usual with the first episode with all of its hallmarks present and correct:

Gratuitous violence – Vic poking someone in a bullet wound with his gun and gang members with limbs hacked off.
Ridiculous Dialogue – “We need to make the Armenians think the Mexicans are the worst thing since the Turks”
Vic and co creating more crime than they are preventing - (see above)
Stellar bad acting from Vic (Chiklis) – worse than the dialogue are his angry silent pouts.
A sub-plot involving Dutch that is much more interesting than the main part of the show - great story involving an old case and Billing's suing the department.

What I'll be watching

2009-02-16T09:49:00.001Z

The OH bought me The Complete Morse on DVD for my birthday.

So that is my viewing taken care of for the foreseeable future!

Fair Cops

2009-02-11T17:49:00.007Z

So which television detective do you fancy? Its a puerile question, but one that I've been pondering a while.

Here are my top 6 (I did have five but I thought of someone else!) that I wouldn't mind being hand-cuffed to! Be warned I have strange taste.

6. Jeff Randall in Randall & Hopkirk Deceased (Mike Pratt)

His partner may be the more traditionally good-looking, but there is something about Randall's craggy face that I find attractive. I also love his 60s bachelor pad. He's the one not wearing a white suit, in case you don't know.

5. Rebus (John Hannah)

John Hannah era only. Ken Stott is a good actor, but even I'm not going there. I think the Scottish accent holds a lot of the appeal.

4. Shaun in Psych (James Roday)

I've actually checked and in real life he is only a year younger than me (I thought he was a lot younger), so I don't feel so bad about fancying him. I find him very funny, which is probably much of the appeal, but he has a nice line in t-shirts too.

3. Mike Kellerman in Homocide Life on the Streets

I've already rambled about this before. He lunges from one crisis to another, completely out of control, but I like that.

2. Sgt Ed Brown in Ironside (Don Galloway)

Not my type in real life as he looks like he's stepped out of a catelogue but ridiculously good looking.

1. Sam in Life on Mars (John Simm)

I've alway liked John Simm, but put him in 1970s clothes, and its even better.

Style File: Jeanie Hopkirk

2009-02-07T13:47:00.008Z

The biggest influence on my clothes at the moment isn't a celebrity, model or designer. It is the character Jeanie Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). I've always loved the fashions of the Sixties, but Jeanie Randall is a weekly reminder why.

She wears a fantastic mixture of shift dresses, mini dresses, pussy bow blouses and cute macs. She has great hair and make-up too. Perhaps a little too fond of lime green, but she can carry it off. Obviously it helps that she is played by the beautiful Annette Andre.

Today she wore this outfit with the amazing headscarf. Sometimes the storylines might get a bit predictable, but Jeanie's wardrobe is always worth watching for.

Found It! Longstreet

2009-01-10T12:02:00.002Z

A while ago I came across a series called Longstreet in a book I was reading about a blind detective from the 1970s. It isn't available on DVD but I've found some clips from an episode on Youtube.

It is an episode called "The Way of the Intercepting Fist" which stars Bruce Lee, hence its popularity on the web. Here is an extract. The whole of this episode is online but broken up into YouTube sized chunks, but I will watch it all at some point soon.

Song of the Week: "Theme from Ironside2 by Quincy Jones

2009-01-10T11:48:00.002Z

There hasn't been a song of the week for a long time. This week is can only be one thing, the theme from Quincy.

I usually avoid just doing theme tunes, but I've pretty much ran out of other tenously connected songs, and this one is by the legendary Quincy Jones so I think deserves its place here.

It is a great dramatic opening to the show and the theme is then reprised through the episodes in different forms to indicate the mood. I do love it but ten episodes into the boxset, it is beginnign to grate on me slightly.

Hometown Detective

2009-01-06T18:22:00.000Z

Imagine my surprise when I turned over to watch George Gently and saw the name of my hometown appear as the caption for the episode. South Shields, 1968.

I've never seen a detective programme set in my home town before. It was most strange. It was about racism with locals and immigrants from the Yemen (my town was also the site of the first UK race riots - not something they put in the tourist brochures). The episode featured a seedy bar on the beach called The Shoreline, which I was sure was a real place and having checked with my mother, it was. She went there once, thought she was too good for the place and then tripped on the step on the way out.

I guessed what was going on quite quickly, rather ruining the plot for myself, but I still enjoyed the episode. I'm a big fan of Lee Ingleby, who plays the sidekick, Bacchus.

I wondered if every episode would be set in "canny auld Shields" as it is often referred to up there, so investigated further. It turns out that the series is set in Northumberland (except obviously this episode as South Shields is not in Northumberland at all), but is based on books set in East Anglia (where I went to university coincidentally), but is filmed in Ireland. So it wasn't probably wasn't South Shields afterall, but it looked just like it.

Old Beginnings

2009-01-03T13:02:00.002Z

In the last week I've seen the pilot episodes of two shows. Unfortunately they aren't the discovery of new shows, but just that I've finally seen how two old favourites began.

I was given the boxset of the first series of Ironside for Christmas (hurray!) which begins with a feature length pilot episode which shows Ironside receiving the gunshot injury that leds to him being in a wheelchair. I had assumed that much of Ironside's tough-talking cynicism came from being disabled, but this episode showed that the pre-shooting Ironside was much the same. He gave a great welcome to new recruits to the police force that told them they'd either be corrupt or assumed to be corrupt, and unappreciated until they were shot in the line of duty. He gave the nun nurses in hospital a hard time, he gave his colleagues a hard time and then he caught the person who shot him.

ITV4 continues to show no logic in how it shows Randall & Hopkirk Deceased and completely out of sync throw in the original pilot episode in the middle of the series. Whereas Ironside was disabled, the first episode here shows how Marty Hopkirk ended up dead and wearing a white suit. Marty is killed in what appears at first to be a hit and run, but he returns to haunt Jeff to tell him that it was murder. It is a great introduction to the premise of the series, that would have been better had it been shown at the start of the series!

Ms Fletcher and Ms Christie

2008-12-30T10:38:00.002Z

Once the festivities were out of the way, I spent much of my Christmas break in the company of the most famous female crime writers; Agatha Christie and Jessica Fletcher.

There was a "Murder She Wrote" marathon consisting of four feature length episodes of the crime-solving mystery writer. The quartet had plots involving the FBI and stolen security secrets, slavery and Jessica's great aunt (Angela Lansbury in a bonnet), a convention of writers and a treasure hunt in Ireland. None were set in the murder capital Cabot Cove, but still it turned out that two of Jessica's friends were killers.

Aside from bits and pieces of Miss Marple, I watched a few episodes of Poirot with my mother. My mother has seen most episodes of Poirot already but due to lack of anything else on the television (and lack of anything else to do), she didn't mind watching them again. I had not seen these episodes before, but impressed my mother by quickly guessing the murderer, before the Belgian detective did. In the episode "Poirot at Christmas", I guessed the killer so quickly that my mother took to telling me I was wrong to throw me off the scent. I didn't quite identify how the crime was committed, but considering it involved a balloon that squealed like a pig that was hardly surprising.

Suffering from my customary inability to sleep in a strange bed, I also saw a bit of the 1978 film "Agatha" about the writer's disappearance. It starred a young Dustin Hoffman, as a journalist, not as Ms Christie!

Along with Christmas Cake and sprouts, I've had my fill of Christie and Fletcher for a while.

Ends?

2008-12-20T16:41:00.005Z

Several shows came to an end this week.

Wallander - just a three part series this one, but it probably cost a fortune for the BBC to make. The second episode had a rather over-the-top plot which seemed highly unlikely, but showed Wallander at his most Morse-like, i.e. falling in love with an unsuitable woman which clouded his judgment about the crimes. The third episode wasn't any more probable, involving a cross-dressing postal worker. I like the scenery and the doom-laden take on society falling apart, and I loved the theme music, but the plots were rather lame and I'm not sure I could have taken any more episodes. I deleted the two episodes of the Swedish version I'd recorded from BBC4 unwatched.

Life - Crews bought his ex-wife a white horse and found out who the real killer was. But lots of loose ends remain, setting up a second series where he can find out how high the corruption goes. And perhaps what becomes of the horse? I'll be tuning back in.

Cold Case - it hasn't come to an end so much as it isn't on the schedule for the next week, perhaps it is just taking a Christmas holiday. Frankly, I'm in need of a break too from its daily dose of misery.

One show that shows no sign of ending is Prison Break. "We're not getting out of here" seems to apply as much to the viewer as the Fox River gang. Its like being stuck in a maze (which actually also happened to me this week) - just when you think you are near the exit, the corridor turns into a dead end or you find out your mother worked for The Company.

Coincidentally the killer from Life turned up in Prison Break as a buyer for Sylla and Dutch from The Shield turned up as a gay man in Cold Case.
Small world.

Quote of the Week

2008-12-20T16:28:00.002Z

"You'll do whatever I want. Even if it is working with a bassett hound in a birthday hat"

The General to Lincoln Burrows in Prison Break.

Working for the Company doesn't sound so bad. Bring on the bassett hound!

Extra Insight

2008-12-07T11:16:00.004Z

I watched a BBC4 documentary this morning "Who is Kurt Wallander", a slightly misleading title as it was more about the Sweden that provides the context for the detective. Very interesting background on the social state ideal that has crumbled and now has the same problems as the rest of Europe.

Then the Sunday Times television critic A A Gill (the Marmite of critics, but I'm very much in the love camp even if I don't always agree with him) writes today about the death of the television detective in relation to Wallander. His theory is that the detective characters are still great but are let down by the plots (the article can be read here).

I think he has a made a good point. Many current shows rely on smoke and mirrors, tricks and quirks to distract from the slightness of the plot. The ante is upped on the levels of gore, nastiness or science to compensate. Perhaps we've seen it all before.

But does that matter so much? My favourite thing about Morse was not the crimes or their resolution, but the character of Morse and his relationship with Lewis. The plot is largely secondary to that. In the Rebus novels (particuarly the early ones), I was frequently disappointed with the whodunnit element, as I was with the Henning Mankell book I read, "Return of the Dancing Master", but enjoyed the characters. If the characters are strong enough I think the detective can survive.

So I will continue to watch the detectives even if all of the good plots have already been used. Although, of course, I do have a higher tolerance and intake of detectives than the average person.

Revisiting Rebus

2008-12-07T09:40:00.003Z

From my limited crime reading, Rebus is my favourite detective but I've somehow missed much of the television adaptions. I remember seeing the "Strip Jack" episode which wasn't one of my favourite books and I vaguely recall that the programme lacked the political insights of the books.

Last night on the Alibi channel, I saw that Rebus was on and the episode was "The Hanging Garden" which I think is the only Rebus book that I've somehow managed to not read. This was from the first series of the show, when Rebus was played by John Hannah. As much as I like Ken Stott, I think John Hannah is a better Rebus. Despite his alcohol dependence and general rubbishness at relationships, the Rebus of the books does quite well with the ladies and I think John Hannah is more plausible in this aspect, at least as a younger Rebus.

Some of the other casting choices weren't so great. Siobhan Clarke was Scottish like her colleagues rather than English as in the books, and Rebus' daughter Sammy didn't seem as feisty and her relationship with Rebus was too good. But these are small points.

It was the best detective programme I've seen in some time.

It used voiceovers, flashbacks and freeze frames, rather experimental for a British show and it pulled it off. The plot was a great one, with some good twists that I didn't see coming.

First Impressions of Wallander

2008-12-03T09:21:00.002Z

There was a fair amount of hype around the start of Wallander on the BBC (a fair amount of hype that is for anything that isn't a reality tv show). I'd read one Henning Mankell novel but not from the Wallander series and was intrigued by the hype of him being more cerebral than Morse.

It started with a harrowing scene with a teenage girl setting fire to herself on a rapeseed field in front of the eponymous policeman. It didn't get any happier from there. The murderer's preferred method of execution was scalping and although you perhaps didn't see as much as was suggested, it was unsettling to watch.

There is something slightly odd about the BBC's Wallander, about the way it has been filmed. It doesn't look like a modern television show. Something I think to do with the light. It might be the daylight of Sweden is different from ours, I'm not sure. But there was something unnaturalistic about it and it looked more like Bergerac or British shows from that time than things on television now. Or perhaps it is a more European look and the obviously British actors jar with the Swedish landscape.

I wasn't entirely sure about Kenneth Branagh at first. He literally seemed too big for the television screen. Rather than Morse, it was Boyd from Walking the Dead that he reminded me of most. Perhaps he didn't shout quite so much and it was a more nuanced performances than Trevor Eve ever gives but it was in that school.

So again it is another new show that I neither love nor hate but will be adding to my schedule to see how it develops.

Too Much

2008-11-24T08:36:00.003Z

I've not posted much lately because I've not had much to write about. A daily dose of Cold Case and a weekly helping each of Randall & Hopkirk Deceased and Life.

Last night however I returned to Law & Order Special Victims Unit. The one episode I'd previously seen of this series featured a ridiculous virtual reality plot which is always a sign of being out of ideas, so I'd been put off it. Last night's episodes weren't as bad, but still they seemed overblown, as if it was trying too hard to shock. Which is a strange thing to say given the subject matter of the programme, which has always been disturbing, but one episode last night in particular crossed the line.

Olivia went undercover in a women's prison to find a rapist Corrections Officer. The plan worked too well and he tried to rape her. He was stopped but his pants were undone and pressed next to her face. This was too much. We don't normally see this much and nor do I think it is necessary.

I think I may just stick with my regular diet of shows.

New Kid on the Block: Life

2008-11-01T19:57:00.002Z

Taking a break from the never ending episodes of Cold Case, I decided to expand my horizons and recorded the first two episodes of a new series, Life.

Cop Charlie Crews was convicted of a triple murder he didn't commit and served 12 years in prison before the conviction was overturned. He receives an undisclosed amount of compensation, but chooses to return to working for the LAPD. His time in prison has given him greater insight into people which he uses to solve cases and at the same time slowly piece together who framed him.

"Life was his sentence. Life is what he got back" is the tagline for the show which is spoken by Crews' attorney in the introduction to each episode.

The first episode wasn't that great. Often first episodes are a bit slow as the scene is set but this was all done in the introduction which is repeated each time. But since I'd recorded two episodes I stuck with it and I found the second episode more interesting. The cases he is given to work on aren't that interesting, but I'm hooked by the on-going story of his case.

The style of the show is odd though - it doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be dark or light. We see Crews spending his millions and picking up women, seemingly enjoying the celebrity and wealth he has found, but on cases he is brilliant but random, in the style of Goran from Criminal Intent. He seems to have a liking for fruit (which reminded me of Prot in K-Pax) which is a rather tame and lame quirk. But then parts of it are darker - the horrific crime he was accused of and that we aren't sure who he can trust. There are documentary style talking heads bits with people connected to him and the case (his ex-partner, his ex-wife, the cop from the original case) but I don't understand who is making a documentary and why.

So I don't love it and I'm beginning to think that The Wire has ruined all other television for me as nothing lives up to that, but there was enough in this to keep me interesting. I would like to know whodunnit.

How to write an episode of Cold Case

2008-10-17T14:09:00.000+01:00

1. Episode begins with a scene from the past. It could be anytime from 3 years ago to 60 years ago. A date will appear on the screen, but you can tell it is the past because it looks different. Anytime before 1965 will probably be in black & white (they didn’t have colour back then, you know), later will be in colour but with a washed-out haziness to it.

It will be a scene from the life of a group of people. They will be wearing the fashions of whatever the chosen period is and there will be a song from that time playing. Either there will be some obvious tension in the scene or someone will profess to being the happiest they’ve ever been. Someone will soon be dead.

2. Cut to the second scene. A dead body.

3. A retro police person carrying a file down to the basement bearing the name of the victim in the previous scene.

4. Fourth scene is the present day (this will be in sharp full colour with naturalistic lighting). A discovery is made or someone turns up at the police station – something that leads to the case being reopened.

5. Cue the dramatic theme music “Waaa, Waaa, Waaaa, De De De ” etc (I’m not very good at expressing music noises).

6. Next scene is present day and the detectives visit either the nearest and dearest of the victim or the person who was the chief suspect. You will see the person in question as they are now, with a quick flash to them “back in the day”. The drama of this will vary – it may be that they are an old man now and boy when the crime happened, or if it happened in the 2000s, they might just have a slightly better haircut now.

7. They will be asked a question and their response will be seen as a flashback, always with period detail and soundtrack.

8. Something that is mentioned in this will send the detectives onto another suspect.

9. Repeat the above three stages with an average of four more people. (Optionally, it can be peppered with hints of the personal lives with the detectives, normally their doomed relationships, but this would be a slowly evolving sub-plot over a whole series).

10. Evidence given by the last of these people will led back to one of the people interviewed previously. Return to them and repeat the process of question and flashback again. This may reveal the murderer or it may lead back once more to one of the other people already questioned, who will then be the killer.

11. The killer is arrested. He/She looks sheepish, both as he is now and as he was at the time of the crime. Montage of all of the characters in their current setting (with a brief glimpse again of them in the past), looking wistful or depressed. Melancholic or outright heartbreaking music from the period plays over.

12. Then the piece de resistance, the victim appears and smiles gratefully at the arresting officer. The arresting officer acknowledges them (even though they aren’t really there). All the while, the heart-wrenching music continues, tugging at the heart strings of the audience.

13. The case box is returned to the basement with “Closed” written on the box.

14. The music starts up again “De, Dedde Da” etc

Animal Instincts

2008-10-09T17:28:00.000+01:00

The new television service is bearing wonderful fruit. Last night I discovered a whole channel devoted to detectives (fictional, not that nasty true life stuff). The Alibi channel has Murder She Wrote, Taggart, Bergerac, Dalziel and Pascoe and Shoestring. What delights! I shall look forward to spending some quality time with these guys over the weekend.

Elsewhere on a channel called something like Thriller Zone, we came across Manimal. A relic from the 1980s that I’d heard of but never seen. “This should be right up your street” harrumphed the OH, before going in the other room to listen to sport on the radio. The premise of the show is (I quote) “a man who can change himself into any animal fights crime”.

To say it is ridiculous would be a huge understatement. From the bits I saw, this man (played by Simon McCorkendale, who I’d seen before in “Death on the Nile” and is a poor man’s Remington Steele) turned himself into a parrot so that he could eavesdrop on a conversation and a big cat so he could scare some villains. You didn’t see much of the big cat (presumably because of budgetary restrictions) hence my inability to say for sure whether it was a lion or tiger, but we did get several close-ups of the parrot looking thoughtful. The day was ultimately saved by an elephant, but it turned out that this was an actual elephant, rather than our man in disguise.

Vintage Pair

2008-10-02T17:41:00.000+01:00

I had the morning off work and never one to miss a sleuthing opportunity, I sneaked in a couple of vintage shows.

Randall and Hopkirk Deceased was a case involving a scam with a fake spiritualist. I was struck again about just how weird this programme can be. Hopkirk spied on one of the con men and caught him pretending to be an orchestra conductor, putting on a classical music record and standing in front of a mirror with a baton in his hand. It had no bearing on the plot whatsoever but it is these little quirky bits that make this show so good.

Next was an episode of The Professionals from 1978 entitled “Everest was also conquered”. When a senior policeman claims on his deathbed to have killed a woman called Susie, Cowley’s former mentor asks him to investigate. The duo uncover a web of corruption (corruption is always a web!) involving police and respected businessmen. Parts of it were predictable including the “twist” at the end, but it was saved by the banter between the pair. Not sure if it was an intentional joke, but people in the episode kept referring to them as “Doyle and Bodie” when it is normally “Bodie and Doyle” and it sounded ridiculous the other way round, like saying “Dec and Ant” or “McCartney and Lennnon”.

Sadly I had to go into the office after The Professionals finished, but I enjoyed this luxury.

Banned

2008-09-29T10:58:00.002+01:00

I’ve been banned from watching Cold Case!

The OH has banned me from watching it. I don’t see how he is going to enforce this exactly but he is doing it for my own good since an episode of it yesterday left me sobbing.

I’ve often mused on whether it is callous to watch so many crime shows, that depict so much death and suffering and what that must say about my character. What makes most crime shows tolerable is that they focus on the process of solving the crime or the criminal without too much time given to the victim. But recently I can’t stomach SVU and now it seems Cold Case is too much for me, and what these have in common is that you are constantly reminded of the victim.

The episode of Cold Case that had me in tears involved a murder from the 1960s (my favourite period so I was looking forward to this one) but it was a case that had only just come to light when a body was washed up by the sea. It was the body of a child. I should have just turned it off at this point. The story involves four year old twin girls, an abused wife and a wonderful Sixties soundtrack that just added to the sorrow. It was all too much for me to take.

Perhaps the OH was right to ban it.

Week One of Sky Plus

2008-09-29T10:41:00.000+01:00

The joys of the Sky Plus box means that I no longer have to miss my favourite shows because of inconveniences like work and sleep! Whole new worlds of viewing have opened up to me – except typically there doesn’t seem to be that much on at the moment.

Nonetheless I recorded (is that the right word – captured perhaps?) an episode of Psych that I hadn’t seen before. It involved alien abduction, tanning salons and speed dating. A fairly typical plot then!

I also recorded an episode of Criminal Minds which turned out to the season finale of season 2 which I’d seen nothing of, so I deleted that without watching it in the hope that I will be able to watch the full season at some point. A similar fate befell an episode of Intelligence, which I’d seen the first ever episode of, but that wasn’t enough to allow me to follow what was happening in this one.

I hope to be able to store up some more viewing for those long winter nights, but I’m not going to resort to Colombo just yet.

Life without Television

2008-09-15T12:43:00.003+01:00

We are without television. Not entirely - we do still have a portable with the basic five channels in the bedroom but that hardly counts.

Someone at the OH's work gave us a DVD of the first series of Morse which is three episodes. I thought this wouldn't last very long. We made the mistake of trying to watch one when we came in on Friday night after a concert. I fell asleep 10 minutes in, the OH faired a bit better but still didn't see the conclusion. I tried to watch it again on Saturday night but fell asleep twice! So we still have three episodes left to watch.

The sixth and final season of Homicide has also arrived chez us. We had read that it wasn't very good but it had to be better than nothing? The first couple of episodes weren't bad at all. There was a Pembleton shaped hole that they were trying to fill with Giardello's son, but otherwise it was ok. After about five episodes I started to doze. There was a double episode with Kellerman as a Private Investigator but still sleep was calling me. Tonight we will resume watching this, and then perhaps it will be back to Morse.

Hopefully on Wednesday we will have Sky installed although I won't reap the benefits of it until next week as I'm away for the rest of this week.

Cherry-Picking Cold Cases

2008-09-07T09:56:00.002+01:00

This week we will part company with our cable television provider. We started out with Homechoice about six years ago and the service was great. Unfortuately they were taken over by Tiscali and the service worsened. Television reception has been poor with periods of complete unavailability. So we are moving to Sky.

The new service will hopefully be more reliable and give me access to more detectives, but the one thing I will miss about the current provider (when the service actually works) is the on-demand channels. Through this service I was able to watch the whole of the first series of Criminal Minds and around a dozen episodes of Cold Case.

To make the most of it while I could (and the OH was out watching sport), last night I thought I would watch a couple of episodes of Cold Case. After 20 minutes of loss of service (this is why it is going), I decided that I would cherry-pick the episodes to watch as I've seen episodes here and there and don't have enough time left to watch them all. I decided that I would go with my favourite period in history, the 1960s. The three I started up weren't from that decade but the fourth one "The Volunteers" was. It involved hippies, Vietnam, draft-dodging, illegal abortion, Black power and communes. There was music by Jefferson Airplane and references to Woodstock and bell-bottoms. It was marvellous.

Of the 11 episodes currently available to watch, it turned out only one was set in the Sixties, so I just watched the next two episodes in the sequence as it looked like there might be an interesting background plot involving the detective, Scotty Valen's girlfriend. The next episode was "The Lost Soul of Herman" which was about basketball and the 1980s. It wasn't bad, but not was good as the previous one (the Eighties are never as good at the Sixties). Then it was "Resolutions" which was a crime from the cusp of the millennium.

I stopped after that as the OH had returned and we ended up watching a bit of Quadrophenia instead!

Crossing James Caan

2008-09-07T09:36:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I watched an episode of "Crossing Jordan". It was entitled "What happens in Vegas, Dies in Boston" and involved a private jet from a Vegas casino landing in Boston. There was a dead man on board with a security box containing $3million chained to his arm. The chief suspects were the head of casino security and his glamorous female assistant. Later in the episode, James Caan turned up, threatened a few people and everyone seemed to do as he said. I'm surprised they didn't obey him straightaway - this is James Caan, don't they know he is connected?

Actually what I didn't realise until I looked it up this morning on IMDB is that Caan and the other two casino employees are characters from another show, "Las Vegas", so American viewers presumably would have known all about these characters before they popped up here. I've never seen "Las Vegas" so didn't know that they were definitely good guys, which perhaps added some mystery to the show that in-the-know viewers wouldn't have had.

This main storyline didn't conclude within the episode, which annoyingly ended with a "to be continued". It is next shown on Hallmark on Monday at 6pm when I'll be at work, but I suspect that it may not even be continued in "Crossing Jordan" but the story would have been wrapped up on "Las Vegas" instead. So I may never know what happened.

Although the sub-plot in this episode was actually what kept me watching. This involved the possibility of a very young child being a psychpath, and fortunately this bit was resolved, albeit sadly, within the hour.

Lost Gem?

2008-09-04T10:07:00.005+01:00

I'm currently reading "King Suckerman" by George P Pelecanos. It is set in the 1970s and one of the characters is deciding what to watch on television and moaning about the type of show he hates. He complains about the unbelievability of "Barnaby Jones" as the lead character is too old to be taken seriously as a hard man. He continues to complain about what he calls "cripple shows" Ironside and Longstreet, which is about a blind detective!

I've never seen Barnaby Jones but the name is familar, but Longstreet was entirely new to me. A show about a blind detective! Whilst the character in my book is appalled by the idea and sceptical about how he detects, I'm fascinated. I want to see it.

Sadly, it doesn't seem to be available on DVD. Another lost gem? I'll probably never know.

The character settles on watching Harry O instead, a show I've only seen once. I would be more than happy with his choice of programmes. I'm craving 70s crime shows.

Why?

2008-08-29T12:05:00.002+01:00

I'm still wondering why I spend £30 on The Shield and why I wasted 10 hours of my life this week watching it.

But more than that I'm wondering why Franka Potente wanted to be in this show?

She appeared for two episodes at the end of this series as the daughter of an Armenian gang boss. She was very good. She is a good actress. But I don't understand why she would want to do it. Perhaps her indie credentials from Run Lola Run are behind her since appearing in the Bourne films, but really they weren't as bad as this mindless dross.

I suppose the same question could be asked of Forest Whittaker and Glenn Close too.

I hope it paid well.

Reading the Detectives, Part 2

2008-08-29T12:00:00.003+01:00

A year ago I wrote about my reading in the crime genre, which hadn’t really been much. Recently I’ve been reading a lot. In fact I’ve been reading manically as it is the only thing that seems to soothe the feelings of angst from which I’ve been suffering.

This reading has included some more crime novels. Firstly, I got back into the Rebus series and read the final two books in the set. I especially enjoyed End Music and thought it was a good farewell to Rebus, who I shall miss.

Next I borrowed a George P Pelecanos book from the OH, the first in his Washington series “The Big Blowdown”. It took me a little while to get into it, but I enjoyed. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the next instalment “King Suckerman”, can’t get a swap for it on “Read It Swap It” and my library doesn’t have it. I will probably crack soon and buy it but at the moment I’m loathe to pay full price for it.

Then I read "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" the book by Jeff Lindsay on which the television series was based. It was similar to the programme but there seemed to be one plot difference, so there was still some suspense there for me.

Last weekend I read “The Shape of Water” by Andrea Camillieri, the first of the Inspector Montalbano books which are set amongst the corrupt officials and gangster in Sicily. It had a decent plot but wasn’t too heavy-going. It is the perfect sort of read when I don’t want to think too much.

Yesterday, I started “The Return of the Dancing Master” by Henning Mankell, This time my reading has taken me to Sweden, and it’s a much darker journey than the one to Sicily. Its quite graphic, but I like the characters in it so far. The thing I don’t like about, and I realised is what puts me off a lot of crime novels, is the book itself. It is one of those squat books, that implies low-brow. At least it doesn’t have a black cover with blood-soaked dagger on it and the author’s name in a huge font. I like my crime books to look just like any other books, to look like they might be good literature too.

And the prize for the Worst Character goes to...

2008-08-27T10:30:00.002+01:00

In a universe populated by gangs, drug barons, murderous cops and corrupt politicians, it is perhaps strange that the character I hate the most in The Shield is a nurse!

But it is true. The character that aggrieves me the most is Vic’s estranged wife, Corrine, an emergency room nurse. It isn’t so much that she is a despicable person, but that this is the worst written part in direly written show (a show that I’m still watching though).

If there is ever a scene in the hospital, you can guarantee that Corrine will be the nurse on duty. This is a mother of three children, yet she is always on duty whatever the emergency. Is Farmington’s hospital so bad that they can only employ one nurse?

This is what separates The Shield from something like The Wire. The Wire across its 5 seasons must have close to a hundred characters and even small parts are fully formed. The Shield may have a high body count, but beyond that it doesn’t seem to pay for extras and every plot involves the same few characters. So if there is any nursing to be done, Corrine Mackay is going to do it.

Last night though her character annoyed me beyond the omnipresent nursing. Last night she had a dream. It was a dream about Lem and burgers. She gathered together the Strike Team (her estranged hardman husband and two hardmen cops) to tell them about her dream. It was supposed to be symbolic, but it was the symbolism of the worst teenage poetry.

They would have been justified to have laughed in her face. I would have. In fact I did. Another night of laughing at The Shield (except for the bit were someone was whipped with chains - nobody laughed at that.)

Return of the Angry Baked Bean

2008-08-26T13:22:00.002+01:00

The Olympics are over, there is still nothing on the television and I refuse to pay £40 for the first season of Ironside on DVD. This leaves me with no choice other than to buy the sixth season of The Shield instead.

And thus my love-hate relationship with The Shield continues.

Last night we watched two episodes of it. I laughed through most of the first episode, vowed to try to take it more seriously, then had to chide the OH for laughing.

Lem (the blonde one who looked more like a surfer than a cop) was killed at the end of the previous series. This one opens with Vic (the Angry Baked Bean) vowing to find his killer and “make them die in the same way….but slower”.

This is the standard of the dialogue throughout so it is no wonder we are struggling not to laugh.

Heaven

2008-08-21T08:08:00.006+01:00

Unless it had magically appeared like the shop Mr Ben visits, I must have walked past it a hundred times before, but I didn't notice it until yesterday.

Murder One Bookshop on Charing Cross Road.

Perhaps its window display had previously been crime books so I hadn't paid it so much attention. But yesterday, the display was a glorious selection of DVDs.

I never thought a stack of Bergerac DVDs would make my pulse quicken. Actually, until yesterday I didn't know there were any Bergerac DVDs. And there at the bottom, Ironside Season 2, presumably a USA import.

So many detectives, but alas I've so little money. Next month I will return with my wages, but until then is there any harm in browsing?

Song of the Week: Echo and the Bunnymen "The Killing Moon"

2008-08-12T17:36:00.002+01:00

Another tenuous choice - nowt to do with detectives, but it has the word "killing" in the title and was used in the film "Grosse Point Blank" which is about a hitman According to Wikipedia, Ian McCulloch told Smash Hits magazine that the song was about "a moon with a machine gun".

Actually it doesn't seem quite to tenuous a choice at all now.

Also I have a bit of thing for Ian McCulloch. I think its the arrogance.

Lessons learnt from Law & Order

2008-08-12T17:32:00.003+01:00

The Hallmark Channel was on a Law and Order marathon on Saturday, showing episodes from the Benjamin Bratt era. I’ve not seen too many of these and actually I quite like the pairing of him and Jerry Orbach.

The first episode “Encore” was about a man who had been suspected of murdering his first wife and then his second wife was murdered too, with some similarities. The next episode, “Saviour” has a family man suspected of killing his wife and son, being labelled a “family annihilator”. The characters and conclusions in these episodes were very different, but in both suspicion fell on the husbands due to insurance policies on their wives. This made me think that it perhaps isn’t such a good idea to take insurance out on your wife because either a) it will fill you with an uncontrollable urge to murder her or b) she is bound to get murdered and you will automatically be the prime suspect.

Next up was an episode called “Deceit” about gay lawyers. Not one of the best episodes, but a chilling ending. Then there was “Atonement” about a murdered model, which featured Michale Imperioli (Christopher from the Sopranos who I find quite attractive even though he resembled Gonzo from the Muppets). The model was a shallow coke addict which led to her being murdered. This episode reminded me that all photographers are sleazy. I’ve yet to see an episode of any murder show featuring models and photographers where the photographer isn’t a callous sleaze.

Some detectives

2008-08-12T17:32:00.001+01:00

When my OH hasn’t been watching cricket or the Olympics, I’ve watched a couple of detective shows in the last week.

I’ve seen a bit more of Medium. I’m surprised the couple have three children as I’ve never seen two people wear so many clothes to go to bed. Is it a family show so we can’t see man’s bare chest?

I attempted to watch a couple of episodes of SVU but they seemed to be particularly gruesome episodes (I know sex crimes are never a barrel of laughs, but these seemed particularly vicious) and I found myself not having the stomach for it.

Saturday morning, I enjoyed an episode of Randall and Hopkirk deceased, which featured a great moment when Randall was nearly drowned and for a moment he appeared next Hopkirk, wearing a white suit too.

I’ve also watched a bit of Law & Order too but that will be a separate post.

Quote of the Week: Woody Allen

2008-08-12T17:00:00.000+01:00

Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television.

Woody Allen

Medium Dark

2008-07-22T13:09:00.003+01:00

I think I'd got the wrong impression of Medium from the couple of episodes I'd seen on the BBC. I've seen a few episodes (or bits of episodes) on the Sci-Fi channel recently and it really is a lot darker than I'd thought. It has a real ambience of foreboding and makes me feel a bit uncomfortable at times.

The last couple of episodes I've seen weren't so much about her solving crimes but the difficulties of living with her special powers, her moral obligations and how it conflicts with family life.

It is a more interesting show than I had thought and I'm keen to watch more of it. The middle child, who may have the same powers, is so adorable and a brilliant little actress too.

Song of the Week: Bob Marley "I Shot the Sheriff"

2008-07-22T13:00:00.002+01:00

I was in Spain the week before last and the poolside bar played a lot of Bob Marley. Not the political stuff (I've cleared a pub in the past by putting "Redemption Song" on the jukebox) but the more poppy ones. Which reminded me that I hadn't picked this obvious choice for my Song of the Week.

According to Wikipedia, Marley had wanted the lyrics to say "I shot the Police" but feared the reaction from the Government. The song didn't attract any controversy but there is an interesting article here about why it didn't when compared to "Cop Killer", although it does focus on the Eric Clapton version rather than the Marley original.

Obama loves The Wire

2008-07-22T12:48:00.004+01:00

The final series of The Wire is starting in the UK, but we have already seen it on DVD obtained over the internet. I'm envious of people who still haven't finished watching it and whilst there is still joy to be had from re-watching it, nothing beats that first thrill of discovery.

As part of a feature on The Wire in the London Paper yesterday, they had a quote from Barack Obama, as The Wire is apparently his favourite television show. The quote was about his favourite character being Omar Little, the gay stick-up artist.

That’s not an endorsement. He’s not my favorite person, but he’s a fascinating
character

I can't imagine David Cameron watching The Wire, although I could imagine him claiming to watch Hollyoaks or Skins to appear to be "down with the kids".

I found this interesting feature about it here.

Cold Turkey

2008-07-16T20:49:00.003+01:00

I've really not watched much at all in the last few weeks.

Apart from:
Two episodes of Medium that I fell asleep in before the end
Two episodes of the first series of Cold Case
An episode of Diagnosis Murder that I started to watch whilst in Spain, but it turned out it was one I'd already seen.

I'm away again this weekend so I doubt I'll get to watch anything for a while yet. Bother.

That man Lynley again

2008-06-18T17:07:00.001+01:00

Having been disappointed by the final Inspector Lynley two weeks ago, I was confused by his return this Sunday. But it turned out to be a repeat.

I’ve no idea why the BBC choose to repeat this particularly episode on this day. It wasn’t a particularly good episode and it involved the death of a cricketer. Considering how exciting Kevin Pietersen was playing at the weekend, for once I think I’d have chosen cricket over detectives!

Song of the Week: Radiohead "Karma Police"

2008-06-16T21:13:00.003+01:00

I'll confess here and now. I don't like Radiohead as much as everyone else does. For a while I was convinced they were the most over-rated band in the world.

But then I'll here certain songs, and realise that actually they are pretty good and I can see what all the fuss is about. "Fake Plastic Trees" is my favourite Radiohead song, but even I can't pretend that it is detective related, so instead, here is my second or third favourite, "Karma Police".

Nothing but Ironside

2008-06-15T10:58:00.002+01:00

Between going away for work, the Apprentice final and the football, I haven't had much time for detectives this week. That, and the fact that the schedules still seem pretty empty of crime shows.

Except for Ironside on ITV3 early in the morning.

Yesterday, I actually got up at 6.30 to join the Ironside-athon from the beginning. Five episodes (although I only ended up watching three as it turned out I'd already seen the last two). Then another three this morning, although I only got up in time for the latter two. There are another two episodes on in the small hours and if I didn't need sleep I'd be tempted.

Whilst I appreciate the extra Ironside, there doesn't seem to be any logic in the scheduling with episodes now skipping about between series without reason. I prefer the earlier series with Eve. I don't mind Fran so much, but I'm not keen on the later episodes device of showing you what is going to happen in the episode before it starts (it was a common device, but not one I like). Also everyone's hair is bigger in the later shows. Mark has a huge afro and mustache, Ironside looks like he's had a blow-dry and even Ed has more hair. Because the fashions are so obviously from the Seventies in these episodes, they look more dated than the Sixties' episodes where the main characters were more staid looking.

The topics covered in this weekend's episodes included; defection from the Soviet Union, vigilantes, witchcraft, and remorse over shooting a young armed robber, but the best episode was one where Ed had to bring a hitman back to San Francisco on a flight from Chicago. More screen time from the delectable Don Galloway is always welcome (he is surely the best-looking fictional policeman ever), but it was also another beautifully constructed episode. There was an urgency to get the hitman back to San Francisco as Ironside believed whoever hired him would now in turn want him killed. Sure enough this turns out to be true and Ed's task is complicated when the flight is re-directed to Reno and he is left to protect the prisoner, never really being sure who he can trust. Actually, the twist in the tale was pretty obvious but it was still well worked and there was more suspense than in your average show.

Unfortunately, this Ironside-fest won't last. It continues for the next few days, but will be over before next weekend, when there is no more Ironside at all. Next up it looks like a run on The Rockford files.

Cold Case, Cold Case, Cold Case

2008-06-07T19:49:00.002+01:00

Today, I wasn't watching "Waking the Dead" nor "New Tricks", but that other show about cold cases, the imaginatively titled "Cold Case".

I've seen an episode or two of it before, but this afternoon I came across a new "on demand" channel that included Season 4 of Cold Case.

As I didn't have much else to do (I'd already been to the shops, repotted my tomatoes, read the newspaper and done lots of walking) I watched three episodes of it on the trot.

The first case involved high school kids in a mall massacre, the second a female Iraq war veteran and the third an urban miner. Each time the team interviewed several potential suspects, before eventually find their culprit, who each time was someone they'd already interviewed earlier.

I'm pleased I've found this series as there doesn't seem to be much else on at the moment and it is easily watchable. As the fact that I've just watched three episodes in one session illustrates.

Out with Whimper, Not a Bang: Inspector Lynley

2008-06-07T16:23:00.003+01:00

I wasn't going to bother Inspector Lynley after the previous week's dull episode, but then I read that this was the final one. I felt compelled to watch it on the playback service. I couldn't let it finish without knowing what happened in the end.

The episode was called "Know Thine Enemy" and it involved abduction, rape and power games between husband and wife. It was mile better than the previous episode, but somehow I couldn't help feel that I'd seen it all before, probably on Law & Order SVU.

I had wondered how it would end, the show more than the actual plot. Before watching it I wondered if he might die, but as the episode progressed I thought being fired or resigning would be more likely. Then it just ended. They solved the case, justice would be served and he gave some reassuring words to Havers.

I feel cheated. I want closure as much as an American in therapy. Apparently, the BBC were getting rid of it to clear space in their schedules, although I shudder to think what new reality television torture that might be.

How TV Changed Cops

2008-06-02T13:18:00.002+01:00

I can’t remember the last time I watched anything on Channel 4, so I was intrigued to find a documentary there last night of particular interest to this blog. It was the first in a new series on How TV Changed Britain and this episode was about cop shows.

It started with a section on Life on Mars and how many people believe a return to the Gene Hunt style of policing is what this country needs. From there, it went back through the history of the depiction of police on British television, how that affected the public’s perception of the police and what the police themselves thought of each show.

It wasn’t anything particularly intellectual and some of it wasn’t particularly accurate even (incorrectly saying Gene Hunt policed Hyde, calling Cracker a policeman and claiming Silent Witness was responsible for the rise in interest in forensics, which surely must be more down to CSI?). But it was still an interesting little history of British police shows.

Whilst Dixon of Dock Green obviously looks tame and idealistic by today’s standards, it did briefly raise an interesting point that I’d never really considered before relating to class. Being a police officer back then was very much a working class occupation and the standard portrayal of cops was largely comic, showing them as bungling. Dixon was the first wholly positive portrayal of this working class type, so although it doesn’t look particularly exceptional now, it was quite a change back then. This hadn’t occurred to me before but thinking just of Agatha Christie plots, the amateur detective (Poirot or Miss Marple) is an upper-class amateur, always getting on up on the working class police man. I would have liked the documentary to have explored this more, but it didn’t.

I also found out about a programme I’d never heard of before but that goes by the same name as later US show, Law and Order! The UK Law and Order was from the 1970s and was controversial in showing wide-spread police corruption. The real police hated it and demanded the BBC withdraw it, which they didn’t and then real life cases of corruption hit the headlines. This programme claimed that the show hit such a nerve that it forced the police to look internally and make changes.

Another interesting artefact was Police, a fly-on-wall documentary series with Thames Valley Police, again from the BBC. The police were obviously confident that they could be held up to close scrutiny and the show was initially popular with police and public alike. Then there came an episode about a rape where the interview technique the victim was subjected to was horrific - questions about whether she was on the game or (bizarrely) whether her periods were normal. This rightly caused outrage and apparently led to the police changing how they dealt with rape reports.

It was good to see the positive impact that television shows have had in the past, outside of just providing entertainment. Sadly, I feel this is happening less and less as the BBC is more concerned these days with chasing viewer figures than changing society.

Career Cases

2008-05-31T13:55:00.005+01:00

Some actors' whole careers are defined by one role. Peter Falk has played other parts, but he is Columbo. Richard Belzer is John Munch, in a record breaking number of programmes. Others are celebrated for two roles; John Thaw was Jack Regan in The Sweeney then Morse and Raymond Burr was just as much Perry Mason as he was Ironside.

As I've mentioned before I love it when someone famous from one show turns up in another. But then there are those minor players who have appeared in a staggering number shows.

Take Richard Anderson, who appear as the father of drug-using niece in today's Ironside. He may have found success in the Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man series, but his crime show CV comprises:

Columbo
Hawaii 5-0
The Streets of San Francisco
Perry Mason
Barnaby Jones
Charlie's Angels
Nero Wolfe
Knight Rider
A Team
Hardcastle and McCormick
Simon & Simon
Murder She Wrote
and five episodes of Ironside, each time as a different character.

Then there is Robert Lipton, who played the would-be murderer in the episode "One Hour to Kill". He has appeared in the following:

The D.A.
The Mod Squad
Police Story
21 Jump Street
Murder She Wrote (in three episodes as different characters)
LA Law
The District
Without a Trace
and two episodes of Ironside (again as different characters)

Just by following the careers of these minor characters, I could fill up my schedule for months (if only I had access to all those old shows).

Its Family Affair: Ironside

2008-05-31T12:13:00.002+01:00

The two episodes of Ironside I watched this morning were from Season 2, which is strange because the last episode I saw was from Season 3. Both episodes involved family members of the team, but they couldn't have been more different.

The first episode "Up, Down and Even" involved Eve's niece being arrested for drug possession. What followed was a diatribe on the dangers of drugs, but it was so dated that even the dangers didn't seem quite so dangerous. One boy sleeps a lot in class, another doesn't do athletics anymore, a group of girls skip school to lounge around giggling - I'm sure teachers and police today wish that drug problems were so innocent.

The language too was dated. Kids were being "turned on" to marijuna use, which was "groovy". One "drug fiend" even used the phrase "better living through chemistry". There was a soundtrack of ethreal beauty about lost causes including B J Baker's "Melody Man" and despite the obvious anti-drug message of the episode, it didn't seem that far away from 60's exploitation films like "The Trip".

Next episode saw a complete change of pace. "Why the Tuesday Afternoon Bridge Club Met on a Thursday" had a lighthearted feel to it in comparison with the previous episode, which is bizarre considering this episode involved a murder and the last just involved a bit of cannabis. The family member this time was Ironside's aunt, a prominent member of the Bridge Club. When one of her bridge friends disappears, the aunt suspects foul play and has Ironside investigate, but she and her cronies can't help but get involved. The husband, it turns out, has a bit of a Crippen complex, but in case we should ever find it too gruesome, there is bouncy incidental music to keep things jaunty.

Lynley returns

2008-05-31T11:58:00.002+01:00

I watched the latest Inspector Lynley Mystery on playback last night because there really wasn't much else on.

Lynley is still foppishly good looking, but plot was still paper thin. The son of a posh family, old friends of Lynley naturally, goes missing. Fast forward 12 years (although most of them don't really look to have aged that much) and his body is found. Lynley persuades his sister to return from Rome for the funeral, and "accidentally" ends up bedding her. She is then found splattered on the pavement and our hero finds himself a suspect.

Of course, we know it wasn't him, but he has to find out who it was. Unfortunately, there is never any real sense that Lynley might really get charged with it (this is afterall the start of a new series) so there is no dramatic tension. The final "twist" whilst being fairly obvious, didn't make much sense in terms of motivation.

The 10 minute chase scene through Rome must have been great for the actors and crew but didn't add anything for the viewer. The whole thing could surely have been wrapped up in 60 minutes rather than drawn out to 90.

Song of the Week: Gram Parsons and Emmy Lou Harris "Streets of Baltimore"

2008-05-30T20:05:00.002+01:00

Since I've watched nothing but Homicide and The Wire this week, it seems only fitting that I pick a Baltimore song.

It isn't anything to do with detectives, but like The Wire and Homicide Life on the Streets, it is about the streets of Baltimore.

And its by Gram Parsons, the acceptable face of country music, the grandfather of alt-country, the pioneer of country/rock fusions etc etc etc. Actually the older I get the more country music I like, but Gram Parsons was one of the first country-ish artists that I liked.

Cross-referencing

2008-05-27T15:41:00.003+01:00

I take great pleasure from seeing actors I know from certain crime shows popping up in others. Law & Order is particularly good for this.

Last night in an episode of Homicide, I encountered something I like even more but that happens less frequently:

Crime shows mentioning other crime shows

In this episode, "Abduction", it is suggested that the police use a hypnotist to get more information out of a child witness. Falsone is unconvinced, but Giardello says "At this point, I'd even use that woman from Profiler".

Genius!

Homicide: The Subway

2008-05-22T08:06:00.001+01:00

Continuing watching Homicide, we reach an episode entitled "The Subway".

This may be one of the most traumatic things I've seen on the television.

A man is pushed into the path on an oncoming subway train and is trapped between the train and the platform. He is alive but his spinal cord has been severed and he can't feel his legs. The trains needs to be lifted away from him so that he can be pulled out. But once he is moved, his heart will stop in 30 seconds and it is a 5 minute journey to the hospital. There may a million to one chance of survival, but this Homocide, it doesn't do miracles or fairytale endings.

Into this situation comes Frank Pembleton, a murder police faced with a victim who is still alive but who knows he will die soon. Bayliss interviews the suspect, Lewis searches for the victims girlfriend, but the episode is mainly a two-header with Pembleton and the dying man. The big questions about life and death have never been so urgent.

The man (played exceptionally by Vincent D'Onofrio before he was in Criminal Intent) is no simpering victim. He is angry with life, with the world, with the twist of fate that has led to this and Frank Pembleton is his friend in his last minutes.

In the past week, I've been to the theatre twice and the cinema once, yet here it has been this, on the small screen, a medium often derided as low-brow, that has left the biggest impression on me.

I read recently that the average Londoner will spend 5 years commuting during their lifetime. Travel safely.

Another Quirky Detective

2008-05-18T17:51:00.003+01:00

I just saw an episode of Pushing Daisies. I'd not seen it before and had no idea that it featured a detective. Not just any detective, but a knitting detective by the name of Emerson Cod.

The episode was called "Smell of Success" and involved the death of a woman by the means of an exploding scratch & sniff book.

I don't mind a bit of quirky and kooky but this was too much. It was all too quirky and all too kooky and all so sickly sweet. I like things with a bit more grit.

Of course, I have been known to completely change my mind about programmes (Psych and Ironside for example) but I'm not sure it will happen with this one.

Early Morning Ironside

2008-05-18T11:42:00.002+01:00

Despite it being Sunday and the day of rest, I woke up at 6.50 this morning and watched Ironside. Actually I'd had trouble sleeping all night so I thought I may as well capitalise on it and watch Ironside while I was awake.

Today's episode had William Shatner as the Special Guest Star. He played a criminal who was in prison after Ironside had persuaded him to turn himself in, but now his wife had been murdered, leaving his son alone. There was nothing wrong with the plot but Shatner was his usual hammy self. I don't understand how he managed to get work as an actor. This rather marred the episode for me.

I watched another episode of it yesterday morning, which was much better. Ironside was alone at home as Mark was at his evening class and Ed and Eve were at the opera. He received a threatening phone call, saying he had an hour to live (the episode was called "One Hour to Kill"). Tension was built up as the episode moved between Ironside anticipating his fate, Ed convinced something wasn't quite right and Mark struggling with some detail in his mind, trying to place its significance. There was suspense, but also a discourse on perception, guilt and the human mind.

Besides the drama, there were also moments of levity involving Ed's inability to understand opera and a pessimistic pizza maker. It really was a great episode which made it worse that it was then followed by today's Shatner ruined effort.

Tumbleweed

2008-05-18T11:35:00.002+01:00

There have been no posts for a while because I've been very busy and unfortunately not watching much in the way of detectives. I've had a hectic time at work and I'd have liked nothing more than unwinding in front of a good murder or two, but there hasn't been much on recently. So my viewing of late has mainly consisted of rewatching The Wire and I'm not sure I've much more to say on that topic at the moment.

But we are now in possession of Season 5 of Homicide which should keep me entertained for the coming week.

Quote of the Week: PD James

2008-04-29T08:10:00.000+01:00

What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order.
P. D. James

Sunday Schedule

2008-04-28T17:44:00.002+01:00

The Hallmark Channel isn’t scheduling quite so many detective programmes at the weekend at the moment. I spent Saturday gardening in the garden (where else?). And I’ve actually had some semblance of a social life recently (even if that did include watching darts!). These things have conspired to mean that I’ve not been watching as many shows as usual. But the exception to this is Sunday night. I’ve settled into quite a nice little routine of viewing on a Sunday.

Psych – I feel thoroughly ashamed that I was so harsh on this when I first saw it as I really like it now and wish I could watch it more often than once a week. The settings of the last few episodes have been; a Spanish soap opera, a Lodge and a fashion party. Each one has brought with it ridiculous jokes. Unfortunately, it looks like this week’s is the last episode of the second series. I feel that I may need to buy the first series on DVD soon. I may have a little bit of a crush of the main character, Shawn.

Law & Order – I don’t go out of my way to watch this anymore but on Sunday it fills a hole in my schedule. Despite my dislike of Sam Waterston, it is still usually believable and well-written.

Dexter – Again I have to retract my earlier reservations about this show. I’ve been gripped by it for the past few weeks. First they thought they had the Ice Truck Killer. Then they realised they didn’t. Now we know that it is Dexter’s sister’s boyfriend. But they don’t know that. There is also some new twist involving Dexter’s biological father.

Song of the Week: New Order "Thieves Like Us"

2008-04-21T21:05:00.000+01:00

I'll confess that this song has nothing to do with crime at all. It has the word "thieves" in the title, but nowhere in the song. It is a song about love actually (aren't most songs?). But it is by New Order and its great.

Style File: Waking the Dead

2008-04-18T17:13:00.001+01:00

Waking the Dead returned this week with its seventh series. It hasn’t really been that good since the end of the fourth series. The sixth series was particularly lame and this one isn’t looking any better.

“The Shouty Man” (Trevor Eve as Superintendent Boyd) is still shouting his way through every episode but with the added tension of him looking for his estranged son. The plot in the first two episodes was a credibility stretching yarn involving various terrorists groups, plus some thoughts on the nature of parenthood.

Besides the poor quality of the plots though, the thing that has started to annoy me in the more recent series is the clothes worn by the team. They are far too well dressed to be realistic. I know there are probably plenty of stylish detectives out there and I don’t believe that they must be in the Columbo/Frost scuffy model, but really, this lots look like they’ve taken far too much time over their appearance.

Spence is probably dressed by Paul Smith, always looks sharp and is bizarrely looking younger with each passing series. Stella is the epitome of French chic and is probably dressed by Agnes B. Dr Grace Foley, with her coloured knits and statement necklaces, looks like she’s had a makeover with Trinny and Susannah. Even Boyd, a man racked with guilt, anger and aggression, still finds time to buy suits that aren’t from M&S.

It just doesn’t seem realistic. Surely it is odd for a whole department to be this well-dressed? Not even the CSI teams are this universally well-groomed.

Ironside Triple

2008-04-12T12:01:00.003+01:00

I didn't quite make it up in time for the Rockford Files double, but I did see the triple-bill of Ironside.

I still have reservations about some things in Ironside - the portrayal of women is old-fashioned and its inclusion of a black character tokenistic - but I think it was probably quite progressive in its day.

Having watched more of it now, I do like the tone of the show. It is pretty bleak stuff. The mood is resolutely sombre, the sun rarely shines in this San Francisco and the streets are unfriendly. This is not the sort of outlook I would generally associate with the 60s and 70s. This is the flipside of free love generation - the fear of the crumbling of society. A world that is in moral danger of falling apart. And in that respect it feels pretty modern.

Today's trio of episodes were on the following subjects:

Illegal abortion
Bomb threats on campus
Con men

A variety of topics, but all covered with upmost seriousness.

I noticed the character of Eve Whitfield (played by Barbara Anderson) more in these episodes. She is not just some blonde. She is a Hitchcock Blonde transplanted into television. She has the icy beauty that belies vulnerability. The first two episodes were the final ones from Season 2, the third was the start of the third season, which was the last series with Eve Whitfield and I think she will be hard to replace.

Wot No Detectives?

2008-04-11T19:58:00.003+01:00

I've not managed to watch any detective all week. I'm feeling anxious. I've had an exhausting week and the OH is out tonight, so was looking forward to a bit of mindless viewing. But there is nothing on!

Of course, I don't mean the channels have all stopped transmitting (although our providers, Tiscali are more than a bit rubbish. I mean there aren't any detective programmes on for me to watch. Hallmark (the home of the detective) has Jericho on which is sci-fi. There are various Law & Orders on later but I think I've seen them all already. Most disappointing.

Perhaps I should have an early night so I can get up at 6am for a double-bill of Rockford Files, followed by by three helpings of Ironside on ITV3? It sounds good and all over by 11am which leaves me with plenty of time to go about my business.

Theories on The Wire Part 3

2008-04-07T08:49:00.000+01:00

There are plenty of theories as to why The Wire hasn't been more popular - white audiences struggle with a mainly black cast (it doesn't bother me), in the UK it was tucked away on a channel no one watches, and audiences are too stupid. My own take on this is:

The Wire is not suited to television. It is the first ever DVD series

It isn't so much that audiences are too thick to understand the show. It really just doesn't work very well being viewed episode at a time once a week. There are too many characters to remember viewed like that. It needs to be watched a few episodes at a time at least. This makes it ideally suited to the DVD format.

I preferred watching The Sopranos on DVD too, but if there was no choice, you could still watch it on a weekly basis without losing too much. But not The Wire. You need to spend time with it, absorbing it to fully appreciate it. You also can't miss an episode. Its predecessor, Homicde, you could watch like a regular cop show, dipping into it occasionally, but this is where The Wire was a marked departure.

It has to be watched on DVD. But we haven't reached the stage yet where series are released straight onto DVD. Poor films often go straight there, but that is out of necessity, not choice. Series need to be shown on television first, even if that isn't the right place for them, so hopefully the show will gain more popularity now in its rightful format.

Resolution Update

2008-04-06T21:18:00.003+01:00

At the start of the year, I made several resolutions relating to this blog. It has gone way past the date in the year when most people give up on their resultions, so I thought I'd revisit them to see how I've done.

To update this blog more - I'm doing pretty well on this front. I've made double-figure posts each month so far and well on target for a bumper April.
To watch more detective shows - not so sure about this one. I have tried to mix things up a bit and watch a greater range of shows, but still room for improvement!
To discover at least one new show that I like - this has been achieved with Criminal Minds, I loved the first series and am keenly awaiting my next installment of it.
To work my way through the Remington Steele box set (22 episodes is looking pretty daunting right now) - very poor showing on this one, I'm afraid. I think I've watched about 8 episodes at the most.

Theories on The Wire Part 2

2008-04-06T20:39:00.002+01:00

Despite my notion that Bunny Colin does the most good, he is not the hero of The Wire, which brings me onto theory number 2.

Detective Carver is the real hero of The Wire

As much as such an ensemble show can have a main character, this was probably McNulty. But as the series go on McNulty becomes less and less likeable and in the final season something is even said about realising that you aren't the hero.

For me, a real hero is someone who goes on a journey, who develops and learns. McNulty doesn't do this. He doesn't really change. It may look as if he has matured at one point in his relationship with Beadie, but this doesn't last. Colvin isn't in the show enough to be the hero. Instead I think that is Carver.

When the show starts, he is inept, indistinguishable from his partner Herc. Then it is revealed that he has been a spy for the management in return for career progression, but he realises he was wrong. In the third season, he learns about community policing. By the end of the whole show, he has progressed up the ladder, but is responsible, has a strong sense of what is right. He has grown and is, for me, the unsung hero.

Theories on The Wire, Part 1

2008-04-06T20:09:00.003+01:00

Having now watched all five series of The Wire, I've been reflecting upon it and thought I would share some thoughts here.

My first theory is this:

Bunny Colvin has had the most positive impact

Drug dealers may have been locked up, murders may have been solved, but at the end of the show, the cycle is shown as continuing. One addict may recover, but there is always someone else succombing to it. And where one drug lord is dethroned, there is always another one coming up behind to take over. The war on drugs has not been won.

I therefore contend that perhaps the only person who has done any real lasting good is Bunny Colvin.

This has nothing to do with his career in the police force or his radical approach to drug crime. It is because he took Namond Brice from the street corner, gave him a stable home and education. This is one true success of the whole show. Its only a small thing in the grand scheme of things but the life of one young man has been saved. None of the police can lay claim to having done that - things ended badly for all of the kids they tried to help (D'Angelo, Wallace, Randy, Bodie)

A better version of Ashes to Ashes

2008-04-06T18:20:00.003+01:00

I made no secret of the fact that I was disappointed by Ashes to Ashes. I gave up on it after a few episodes and have no idea how it ended (I assume it has) and whether there will be anymore.

But for anyone who did enjoy it, is missing it and/or can't wait for the next installment, may I point you in the direction of ITV3 which is currently showing Dempsey and Makepeace.

Dempsey and Makepeace is just like Ashes to Ashes, except better. Like Ashes to Ashes, it features:

a mismatched pairing comprising:
a posh woman
a sexist man with outmoded views, but who is still rather attractive
constant will they/won't they sexual tension
car chases
1980s fashion
London
inneundos
witty one-liners

The main difference is that rather than being a figment of someone's imagination, Dempsey is just on secondment from America. So there is thankfully no hallucinations or evil clown figures. Just crime capers and the hint of a possible romance.

Today's episode involved the robbery of a Bank of England van containing half a million pounds in used notes. The criminal gang wore gorilla masks which seemed particularly apt today as it was announced that Charlton Heston had died.

Glossary of Terms: Red Ball

2008-04-06T12:38:00.004+01:00

Definition: A high profile case that needs as much resources as possible thrown at it
Usage: Homicide, The Wire

Game Over

2008-04-02T17:44:00.002+01:00

I returned from San Francisco on Friday. I’m sorry to report that I failed to solve the Zodiac killer mystery. Actually, I was having far too good a time to remember to investigate and I went pretty much a whole week without any detectives. (I did doze through a Law & Order).

When we returned, there was a DVD of the fifth season of The Wire waiting for us, which made post-holiday blues a bit easier to deal with. Until of course, it was replaced by the post-The Wire blues, which are especially hard since this was the final ever season.

The fifth season was good one. I won’t go into too much detail as it hasn’t been shown in the UK yet, but it was as good as previous series. The plot mainly revolves around an audacious plan by McNulty and Freamon that could only end in disaster. A new layer was added with the addition of the press to the already complex story.

But now it is all over. In a way I’m glad it has ended while it was still brilliant, but I doubt we’ll see anything as good as that again for some time. The final session worked well in tying up some loose ends (nearly all of the main characters across all previous seasons at least had cameos here) but of course it wasn’t a neat happy ending because these things continue, “because the game is always the game”.

Song of the Week: The Clash "Somebody Got Murdered"

2008-04-02T17:37:00.003+01:00

If I was a fan of rap or heavy metal, it would be really easy to find songs about murder, slayings and shootings, but my tastes are more refined. This makes finding the Song of Week a bit harder, as I’m determined to stick with what is my idea of good music.

I’m not a huge fan of The Clash. I think I have trouble getting over the fact that they were mainly posh boys (son of a diplomat, anyone?) which makes it harder for me to take their political stance so serious. But this song is pretty good.

Way better than anything by bands with names like Slayer, Dismember, Razor or Cannibal Corpse!

Crime Hotspots: San Francisco

2008-03-18T16:43:00.000Z

The Law & Order series alone make New York the undisputed television USA crime hotspot. LA had years of Columbo and Perry Mason cases. Miami had Miami Vice, now CSI and Dexter. And of course Baltimore has made a late bid with The Wire and Homicide.

But today, our attention turns to another US city, San Francisco. Perhaps not so prominent recently (there is no CSI SF for one thing) but my reason for featuring it is more personal. I’m off to San Francisco this week.

In a bid to prepare myself for the trip, I was planning on absorbing some San Francisco crime drama. Sadly, I didn’t have access to ‘The Streets of San Francisco” which I remember vaguely but fondly from my childhood, but I did manage to watch a few episodes of Ironside, one of which featured the post office on Geary Street prominently in its plot.

Looking for something more contemporary, I was going to indulge myself in some Monk, which is set in San Francisco. But it is just set there – it is actually filmed in Canada.

I turned my attention then to cinema. I’d already seen Vertigo which is quite famous for its use of San Francisco locations, but watching another SF based Hitchcock, The Family Plot. The location didn’t play quite as big a role in this one though. I also attempted to watch Bullitt which shamefully I’d not seen. The city looked great in it, plenty of shots of the cable car, but I’m afraid I fell asleep in it.

Of course, the big one in San Francisco crime is the real-life crime of the Zodiac case. I loved the film and am still intrigued by the case. So in between photographing the bridge, vintage shopping, visiting galleries and bars, I’m determined to solve the case!

Too Much of a Good Thing?

2008-03-16T13:49:00.002Z

I don't get the channel Movies 24 and I'm going away over Easter. But if I did subscribe to it and was in the country, I would be able to watch 4 days of non-stop Columbo. That is what they are showing for four solid days. Nothing but the scuffy detective. That's way too much even for me.

Quote of the Week

2008-03-16T11:39:00.000Z

Well I think that the mind of a serial killer and the mind of the
detectives represent the duality we face as people.

Paul Guilfoyle

Song of the Week: The Jam "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight"

2008-03-16T10:48:00.000Z

The dangers of the London underground presented by Paul Weller. There aren't many songs about beatings that make you want to sing along loudly (Killing of a Flashboy has that effect too but that's probably just on me).

Despite what Paul Weller has become (a grumpy has-been with no musical relevance and a tragic haircut) this is undeniably great.

Enjoy!

Finally, Lewis

2008-03-11T17:58:00.000Z

On Sunday, I managed to see the whole episode of Lewis for the first time this series. Both of the weeks before, I managed to fall asleep before the end, but truth be told, I wasn’t that bothered as I didn’t really care who did it, or even what they did.

But this week was much better. To start with there was the slight intrigue about Hathaway’s sexuality. Once the notion was planted, he suddenly seemed almost camp, especially the way he held a cigarette and Lewis stood in for the curious viewer, hesitantly asking what we want to know. Modern fellow that he is, Hathaway side stepped the question neatly.

I guessed the ‘whodunnit’ a good 15 minutes before it dawn on Lewis. I think the OH was quite impressed with my powers of detection, but then claimed that he would have solved it too had he been paying full attention. But I doubt it somehow.

36 Hours of Crime & Flu

2008-03-07T16:56:00.006Z

Still off work ill, but just about managing to crawl to the lounge to watch television and then to the computer to break up the day. The novelty of daytime detective watching has truly worn off and I'm regretting watching Criminal Minds so quickly.

In the last 36 hours, I've watched the following:

Crossing Jordan - I watched it but through my flu-haze I struggled to follow it properly. It was nearly over before I realised there were two separate crimes, which was why I was confused. Like I said, I'm ill.

Season 5, Disc 2 of The Shield - three episodes in total. I wasn't enjoying it but then as the plot moved away from the Strike Team and onto Dutch and Claudette instead, I started to get back into it. I had only just remarked how I would prefer it if they had their own spin-off series, when Claudette fell down and the episode ended. We now have to wait a couple of days for the next installment to arrive.

Law & Order SVU - the second episode about Olivia's brother and whether he is a rapist. I'd seen the first episode a while ago but missed the follow-on, but last night, all the loose ends were tied up.

Intelligence - the first ever episode of it - or rather the first twenty minutes of it before I crashed out. It looked quite good although a poor man's The Wire or Sopranos perhaps.

Ironside - another good episode about using a television show to trap a killer. The television show was part Crime Watch, part debate. It was interesting that the same worries about crumbling society and rising crime were issues in San Francisco in 1970s as they are in the UK today.

Charlies Angels - an episode from series 3 about a psychics. Not bad, but it is late period Angels where Farah has been replaced by Cheryl Ladd and its just not the same. I miss Farah's big hair. I attempted to watch a second episode involving 'the death of Charlie's favourite folk singer'. The plot involved drugs and laundrettes but even so I slept through it.

Cold Case - Whilst I've seen other cold case based programmes, I'd not seen this show before, perhaps because it is on Sky One, rarely a good sign. But it was ok. It was about the murder of a yuppie trader and although it was complete with 80s soundtrack and detail, it didn't get in the way of a pretty good plot. I liked the device of switching between how the person looked at the time of the murder and how they are in the present.

That's an awful lot of crime - no wonder I feel ill but at least I've managed to avoid Diagnosis Murder.

Anyway, I must get back under my duvet as Randall and Hopkirk will be starting soon.