Copping out
MANILA, Philippines - It’s ironic, but in such a fickle and cutthroat TV landscape, critically acclaimed shows are usually the first ones to get axed. Take Southland, for example.
A tale of cops in LA doing the sort of things cops in LA do, the series involves a bunch of characters working together — and sometimes not harmoniously — to rid the city of shady characters. The obvious entry-level draw here is Ben McKenzie (The OC’s Ryan Atwood), who plays a rookie policeman with wealthy parents. It’s not a cakewalk, and the veteran law enforcement agent (Michael Cudlitz) who takes him under his wing makes sure of that.
Shades of Training Day aside, Southland’s strength lies in the fact that the 10 or so fictional personalities dovetail just right, complementing each other and existing as a whole. Of course, the show has its flaws — cuss words are bleeped out in a cartoony manner — but at least it did not resort to clichéd cut-to-cut editing or shaky camera work. In fact, episodes — all seven of them — are often calmly paced, a nice foil to the gruesome goings-on in the City of Angels. To repurpose a line from the series, it’s like watching people “driving a glass-bottom boat through a sewer.”
But despite Southland’s strong storytelling and overwhelming likeability, NBC dropped it from its lineup. Fortunately, after several weeks of negotiations, cable channel TNT agreed to pick up the highly lauded program, which will air its sophomore season on Jan. 12, 2010.
Law And Disorder
The television industry as a whole may be going through historically tough times, but not everything is going dark on the small screen. One bright spot is Damages.
Now three seasons strong, FX’s legal drama is arguably the best show you’re not watching. Built on a foundation of ethical complexity and oscillating loyalties, Damages stars Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, a major league Manhattan attorney with a penchant for manipulation. As mentor and boss to Ellen (Rose Byrne), Hewes approximates then exceeds The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly in terms of wit and cunning. It’s fascinating to note Ellen’s metamorphosis given everything — murder, espionage, shady deals — that was apparently part of her job description.
The flashbacks may confound some viewers; fans, however, will see the semi-non-linear storyline as a huge plus. Damages isn’t middle-of-the-road fare and just when you think you have things figured out, the show blindsides you, forcing you to pick up your jaw from the floor. Who knew that the world of white-collar crime was one big gray area? I tell you, Damages is that good.
A Return To Scripted Shows
According to Entertainment Weekly’s Josh Wolk, FX is the fourth-ranked basic-cable network in viewers 18 to 49, a trend spurred by 2002’s The Shield. While HBO remains the golden standard for original programming (True Blood is only the latest in a string of hits for the channel), FX is quickly finding its own niche: gritty dramas that zoom in on shifting scruples.
Admittedly, Southland and Damages aren’t covering blisteringly new ground. But compared to behemoths like the CSI and Law & Order franchises — crime shows that debuted in the early 00s — the new breed of legal thrillers feels artsier and less commercial. I would even qualify these shows as boutique programming, sophisticated compared to reality TV but appealing enough to young viewers.
As I realize that I possess the attention span of a Cheerio, I’m always on the lookout for ways to waste my time when Glee and Gossip Girl prove to be too girly, accessible, and unchallenging. Right now, Southland and Damages — together with Bones, The Mentalist and Lie To Me — are doing it for me one richly layered and pleasantly twisted episode at a time. Canceling these shows would be, so to speak, criminal.
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