Rob Hall Posted April 16, 2018 Posted April 16, 2018 As a long time fan of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch LAPD detective novels, I've been a fan of the 'Bosch' series that streams on Amazon...now in it's 4th season. I binge watched the 10 episodes over the past weekend since it was rainy and cold outside; it became available last Friday. I love how Michael Connelly uses LA environments so effectively in his novels and the TV series. Great characters and stories. Other than the 'Breaking Bad' prequel 'Better Call Saul', its about the only US TV show I really like currently. One American crime drama from a few years ago that I really liked also was 'Southland'. I also watch a lot of British and Scandinavian crime shows/police procedural series. I recently binge watched on the MhZ streaming service the Swedish cop series 'Beck'---6 seasons over 20 years.. great show, great characters. I also like 'The Bridge'--the Danish/Swedish crime drama, along with many British crime dramas and detective shows like "Waking the Dead', 'Touching Evil', 'Unforgotten', 'Broadchurch', 'Inspector Morse' and it's prequel 'Endeavour', 'Prime Suspect', 'Hinterland', and 'George Gently'. I get these through Amazon Prime, Acorn, Hulu and other streaming services. Not sure why, but I've long had a fascination w/ crime dramas...going back to watching 'Police Story' as a kid in the 70s, and the movies of Michael Mann like 'Manhunter', 'Heat', and 'Collateral'..
PowerPlant Posted April 16, 2018 Posted April 16, 2018 (edited) If you haven't yet, check out the Netflix show Mindhunter, directed by David Fincher... It's about how FBI developed profiling and criminal science in investigating murder cases, especially serial killers. Edited April 16, 2018 by PowerPlant
LDO Posted April 17, 2018 Posted April 17, 2018 I like Law and Order Criminal Intent. Pretty much just the episodes with Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe. They are great actors and great together. Bummer that it had to end.
Agent G Posted April 17, 2018 Posted April 17, 2018 "Barney Miller" Best depiction of a big city detective bureau on tv ever. G
iamsuperdan Posted April 17, 2018 Posted April 17, 2018 Does The X-Files count? I don't really watch crime/police shows, unless you count Brooklyn 99.
Snake45 Posted April 17, 2018 Posted April 17, 2018 I guess the closest thing to this thread's subject that I watch would be The Blacklist. Lucifer doesn't really count. Lucifer is just Castle if Castle were The Devil. Since every episode is written to the same formula, you can figger out "whodunit" in the first twelve minutes, so it's only worth watching for the eye-candy, which is abundant. And Lucifer's cool black '62 Corvette.
PierreR89 Posted April 17, 2018 Posted April 17, 2018 20 hours ago, Rob Hall said: As a long time fan of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch LAPD detective novels, I've been a fan of the 'Bosch' series that streams on Amazon...now in it's 4th season. I binge watched the 10 episodes over the past weekend since it was rainy and cold outside; it became available last Friday. I love how Michael Connelly uses LA environments so effectively in his novels and the TV series. Great characters and stories. Other than the 'Breaking Bad' prequel 'Better Call Saul', its about the only US TV show I really like currently. One American crime drama from a few years ago that I really liked also was 'Southland'. I also watch a lot of British and Scandinavian crime shows/police procedural series. I recently binge watched on the MhZ streaming service the Swedish cop series 'Beck'---6 seasons over 20 years.. great show, great characters. I also like 'The Bridge'--the Danish/Swedish crime drama, along with many British crime dramas and detective shows like "Waking the Dead', 'Touching Evil', 'Unforgotten', 'Broadchurch', 'Inspector Morse' and it's prequel 'Endeavour', 'Prime Suspect', 'Hinterland', and 'George Gently'. I get these through Amazon Prime, Acorn, Hulu and other streaming services. Not sure why, but I've long had a fascination w/ crime dramas...going back to watching 'Police Story' as a kid in the 70s, and the movies of Michael Mann like 'Manhunter', 'Heat', and 'Collateral'.. Have you also seen The bridge 2 ? If you have, did you notice that in some episodes of that there was an old Chevy truck being used? If you did that was mine, the productioncompany that filmed the bridge 2 borrowed it from me when they were filming it.
Brett Barrow Posted April 17, 2018 Posted April 17, 2018 The Fall, on Netflix. A London Met Police Detective (Gillian Anderson) gets called in to lead the hunt for a serial killer (Jaime Dornan) in Northern Ireland. You know he's the killer from the start and see things from his view, how he hides behind a family man persona. Great show. Super dark. I think it's her best ever role.
Rob Hall Posted April 18, 2018 Author Posted April 18, 2018 15 hours ago, PierreR89 said: Have you also seen The bridge 2 ? If you have, did you notice that in some episodes of that there was an old Chevy truck being used? If you did that was mine, the productioncompany that filmed the bridge 2 borrowed it from me when they were filming it. Cool...yeah, I remember that..
Danno Posted April 21, 2018 Posted April 21, 2018 On 4/16/2018 at 10:02 PM, Agent G said: "Barney Miller" Best depiction of a big city detective bureau on tv ever. Amen, Brother G.
Snake45 Posted April 21, 2018 Posted April 21, 2018 On 4/17/2018 at 1:02 AM, Agent G said: "Barney Miller" Best depiction of a big city detective bureau on tv ever. G I've heard a number of cops say the same thing. But it's a sitcom, not either a "police procedural" or a "crime drama."
Agent G Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 Well compared to everything else on the boob tube nowadays, Barney Miller surpasses them all as a crime drama/police procedural. Even the "live" shows are edited to hell and back for content. If you have a basic understanding of the law enforcement profession, you'd know that the job is essentially 8 hours of boredom interrupted by seconds of sheer terror. Detective work is BORING. I have been assigned to various bureaus and while I loved every minute of it, it was basically mundane day to day foot slogging. As far as Barney Miller is concerned in all this, you actually have to watch it, pay attention and understand what is taking place. The comedy is a by product of the interaction of the characters during their crime fighting activities. This taking place in a big city, within an old building. The personalities involved are quite accurate and reflect the diversity found in a large department. I have had some funny stuff happen in my nearly 39 years on the job. I'm gone from "the Lou" 11 years as of today. I miss the people, but not the place. That said I'd go back in a heartbeat for the right salary. So to summarize. While billed as a sitcom, it is still the best depiction of what real police detectives deal with in their day to day activities. I'd call the "procedural" any day. G
OldTrucker Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 Wayne, we lived next door to a retired NYC Detective about 6 years ago. He said that Barney Miller WAS his precinct to a T! Said that I would not believe how diverse the department really is! He made a point that on these "police dramas" they see more action n 60 minutes that real defectives see in a year! Said in his 35 years his gun was only out of it's holster maybe half a dozen times! He put 30 years in the NYC department them retired and moved yo IL. and took a job as a Police Chief for a mid sized town.. He said he saw more "excitement" in those four years as a Police Chief than he did in his 35 in NYC, 20 of it as a detective!
Agent G Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 19 minutes ago, OldTrucker said: Wayne, we lived next door to a retired NYC Detective about 6 years ago. He said that Barney Miller WAS his precinct to a T! Said that I would not believe how diverse the department really is! He made a point that on these "police dramas" they see more action n 60 minutes that real defectives see in a year! Said in his 35 years his gun was only out of it's holster maybe half a dozen times! He put 30 years in the NYC department them retired and moved yo IL. and took a job as a Police Chief for a mid sized town.. He said he saw more "excitement" in those four years as a Police Chief than he did in his 35 in NYC, 20 of it as a detective! and there it is, from the source. G
Snake45 Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Agent G said: Well compared to everything else on the boob tube nowadays, Barney Miller surpasses them all as a crime drama/police procedural. Even the "live" shows are edited to hell and back for content. If you have a basic understanding of the law enforcement profession, you'd know that the job is essentially 8 hours of boredom interrupted by seconds of sheer terror. So to summarize. While billed as a sitcom, it is still the best depiction of what real police detectives deal with in their day to day activities. I'd call the "procedural" any day. G I watched and enjoyed every episode of Barney Miller, and have conceded it is probably the most accurate depiction of police life ever on TV. But it was/is a sitcom (pretty funny one, too), not a police procedural as that genre is defined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_procedural And notice that it's not on the list of police procedurals, even though such light entertainment as Castle and Lucifer are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Police_procedural_television_series
SfanGoch Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 Talk to anyone who was "on the job" during that time and, to a person, they'll tell you that's an accurate depiction of a typical day in a detective squad room. Oldtimers would say that "Naked City" nailed it as well.
Snake45 Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 13 minutes ago, SfanGoch said: Talk to anyone who was "on the job" during that time and, to a person, they'll tell you that's an accurate depiction of a typical day in a detective squad room. Not saying different. But that doesn't make it a member of the police procedural genre.
Rob Hall Posted April 30, 2018 Author Posted April 30, 2018 (edited) I remember Barney Miller, but that was 40 years ago. I haven't seen 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine', but that seems to be a similar sitcom-in-a-police-station series. For more recent police dramas, I like 'The Wire', 'Southland' and 'Bosch'. Gritty w/ good acting all around, iMO. Edited April 30, 2018 by Rob Hall
peter31a Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 Would Adam-12 and Dragnet qualify? Because they were among my favourites and they were about police work not all the useless interpersonal drama all these other shows have these days.
Snake45 Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 1 hour ago, peter31a said: Would Adam-12 and Dragnet qualify? Because they were among my favourites and they were about police work not all the useless interpersonal drama all these other shows have these days. They're both on the "official" list I posted above, so, yes, they meet the definition.
Agent G Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 Did you ever stop and think that we really don't care about any "official list" ? G
OldTrucker Posted April 30, 2018 Posted April 30, 2018 Rich, you need to get out and talk to those on the front lines about this thing you call procedural and they will tell you how much of what they show is BS! They take a stab at the generality of procedure and then embellish it to absurd degrees!
Snake45 Posted May 1, 2018 Posted May 1, 2018 2 hours ago, Agent G said: Did you ever stop and think that we really don't care about any "official list" ? G Nor definitions either, apparently.
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