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Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
Is it a crime to dislike crime dramas? TNT's "The Closer" spices up the procedural mix, but USA's "In Plain Sight" and "Burn Notice" give the genre an extreme makeover.
By Heather Havrilesky
Read more: Drama, TV, Arts & Entertainment, Heather Havrilesky, I Like to Watch
Aug. 3, 2008 | Procedural dramas are boring. I don't care to see another shocking, violent crime on my TV screen. I'm not interested in the victim's jealous ex-boyfriend or domineering boss or semiviolent father or psychotic neighbor. I know the second I see a character actor with haunted, beady, deep-set eyes that he did it.
Likewise, detectives and cops and FBI agents and other crime savants are no longer intriguing to me. I don't need to meet the hotshot who can spot subtle clues or see right through suspects or make any criminal confess. I'm not impressed by a commanding knowledge of forensics or an eye for hidden pathologies or a dismissive demeanor with newbie underlings. I don't care if a detective's marriage is on the rocks because she doesn't spend enough time at home; I don't care that he drinks too much or drives too fast.
Most of all, I'm bored by criminals, with all of their creepy fetishes and uncontrollable violent urges and obsessive behaviors and elaborate rationalizations and copycat killings. Their disturbing, scrawled notes and ripped-from-the-headlines ghoulishness put me to sleep.
Apparently I'm all alone in my boredom, though, because procedural dramas still dominate the lineup: The "Law & Order" franchise, the "CSI" franchise, "Medium," "Numb3rs," "Cold Case," "Criminal Minds," "NCIS," "Monk," "Psych," "Without a Trace" -- the number of popular, well-loved crime shows on TV right now boggles the mind. So I'm going to have to shelve my prejudices and take a long-delayed look at some of the crime shows airing this summer. It's hard to review formulaic dramas when more exciting stuff like deadly sharks and crazy dog people are grabbing my attention, but this week it's time to face facts: These summer cable shows are smarter, more original and more addictive than most of their regular-season counterparts.
Closing time
I hate to join the chorus, because most of these shows are covered to death by the press while quality programming like "Big Brother 10" and "Gs to Gents" languishes in obscurity.
Of course I'm joking, but honestly, do you need me to tell you that TNT's "The Closer" (9 p.m. EDT Mondays on TNT) is a good show? I don't think so. Besides, I can't say that I've found this show all that compelling over the years. Yes, in the glutted field of procedural dramas, a cable show with an original spin and an original lead character certainly demands our attention. Police chief Brenda Johnson, played by Kyra Sedgwick, fits the bill with her heavy Southern accent and her hot-pink trench coat and her desk drawer full of Moon Pies. Yes, Brenda is a respectable but plucky genius who can close any case by manipulating the suspect into a confession. She's odd but intimidating, off-kilter but formidable, and the whole package feels reasonably authentic, thanks in no small part to Sedgwick's fine acting.
Even so, what are we offered in the way of cases? The first episode of this fourth season featured a mysterious fire and a well-known arsonist as a suspect, but as soon as we met the injured fireman who successfully dodged the fire, we knew he was our perp. The second episode was immediately recognizable as a crime that occurred in Los Angeles: Two older women were taking out life insurance policies on homeless men, then running them over in their cars and collecting the benefits. Are we supposed to be fascinated by a mystery that directly mirrors the headlines?
That said, last week's episode was dramatically compelling from start to finish. Brenda investigates the suicide (or was it a murder?) of a high school girl who was rumored to have been raped a week earlier by a guy named Darren, the son of a commander in the LAPD. As Brenda speaks with Darren's friends she learns that they had a "cherry picking" club to see who could sleep with the most virgins. As one friend tells Brenda that Darren used drugs on the girls as a "shortcut," you can see her rage building. She grits her teeth and cocks her head and forces out a crooked smile, but you can see that she really wants to strangle someone with her bare hands. Yes, Darren clearly raped the girl. But did he kill her?
It all explodes in the last scene, when we learn that Brenda pursued a murder investigation merely to back Darren into a corner and get him to confess to the rape -- which of course he promptly does.
Nothing is better on this show than Brenda's little nanny-nanny-boo-boo moment with the victim. "You're under arrest for the sexual assault of Michelle Clark," she tells Darren, practically hissing at him. "And if you think that being the son of a sheriff's commander made you popular at school, just wait until you get to prison. [Shifting to a playful tone] Convicts play some of the same games as you and your best buds! I imagine you'll end up in their cherry-picking club in no time at all." The little jerk's lower lip quivers in raw fear. Ah yes, this is why we watch procedural dramas: to see scumbags get trapped, tagged and tortured by the right hand of the law!
I also love Brenda's home life with her fiancé, FBI agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), which is a nice mix of playful, dismissive, quarrelsome and sexy. Fritz plays more of the wifey role -- wrangling Brenda's cat, throwing his back out and lying around alone at home, giving Brenda feedback on her cases. Yes, behind every strong woman, there's a sensitive, errand-running man.
Without a doubt, "The Closer" is one of the best procedural dramas on TV right now. But even the smart touches and Sedgwick's wonderful performances may not be enough to keep those of us who are allergic to the genre coming back for more.