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Sunday 10 January 2010

American TV part 2: Cop Shows

It's no longer enough to watch actors playing cops. Columbo, Starsky & Hutch, Inspector Morse, Frost, Inspector Wexford, Wycliffe. Yadda yadda, seen that. We need a new twist, an angle, a gimmick....a shtick.

So we now have a generation of Cop shows where the central character is not a cop, but works with the cops each week to solve the crime.

The Mentalist - the central character is an expert in "reading" people, he's an ex conman and hypnotist.
Medium - the central character communicates with the dead. Very handy for solving murders.
Castle - the central character is a crime novelist.
Monk - the central character has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. last time I checked he was working as a butler.

Some of these shows are pretty good, I really enjoy The Mentalist because there's a lot of humor in it, and my wife is a fan of Medium. I'm just worried what's going to happen when they apply the same "when is a cop not a cop?" shtick to hospital dramas.

3 comments:

  1. It's bound to happen: "Feather Silverheart--Medical Intuitive." Or something. Mark my words.

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  2. The first one out of the chute will probably be called The Healer and be some mix of New Age and Old Time Religion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Totally love your posts, M! Keep writing.

    ReplyDelete

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