Some thoughts on recent TV watching

[carbonel]

I like cop shows. In recent days, I've been watching them somewhat as an anodyne to recent events, rather like watching West Wing as a hopeful antidote to current politics.

I prefer shows that combine a long-term plot with shorter ones that are wrapped up in an episode or two. The ones that focus on one story for the entire season tend to have way too many unbelievable sub-plots tossed in to keep the story going. I much prefer serious to comedy. I couldn't watch Brooklyn 99. The Mysteries of Laura with Debra Messing was right on the line, and it was kind of a relief when it was canceled.

Yesterday, I finished watching City Homicide, an Australian cop show. It was just about perfect. Interesting characters with real lives, good plots, and a mix of long- and short-term stories. Also, Australia, so inherently interesting for that. Unfortunately, I've now watched all five seasons, so that's it for that one for at least a few years. The first four seasons are on Tubi, Hulu, and Amazon Prime; the fifth season only seems to be on Hulu.

Some years ago, I watched four seasons of Scott & Bailey, a British cop show with a focus on female characters. I recently discovered that there's a fifth season, and it's available on Amazon Prime, so I've started a complete rewatch, because it's been long enough that the plot descriptions from the early seasons didn't sound at all familiar -- and there are only thirty-three episodes in all.

I've heard good things about Vera, which would require an Acorn subscription that I don't currently have.

I'm also thinking about doing a rewatch of The Closer/Major Crimes, which would keep me busy for quite a while. Interestingly, one of the characters from that show seems to be a refugee from the comedy type of cop show -- except that underneath the clowning, he's experienced and competent. At least, when he's not screwing up for stupid plot reasons.

Any other recommendations?

In non-cop-show watching, I'm making continued slow process with my four-star movie project (now nearing the start of its third decade), having finished watching Shoeshine (Italian neo-realism) and listening to the commentary track. Next up is The Searchers, which should be equally cheerful (not) in a different way.

Comments

[philomytha]

I watch a fair number of police/crime dramas too. By the same writer as Scott & Bailey, there's Happy Valley, also a female-centric cop show, really good characters and plots and also grimly hilarious in places, though definitely not a comedy. Line of Duty is a really gripping show about a police anti-corruption squad uncovering dirty cops, there are a lot of seasons of it and after a while the plot starts to go round in circles, but it's good watching. That's all one overarching plot, but the seasons are short, I think 6 episodes. Unforgotten is a good show about uncovering cold cases, really gripping plots again and I liked the characters a lot. Cuffs is a one-season show that sadly got cancelled, but is notable for being set in Brighton and half the cast is LGBT, and I really loved it. I don't know if you like going more in the murder mysteries side of things, but obviously there's Morse, Lewis and Endeavour which can keep you in bizarre Oxford murder mysteries for the rest of 2020 all on its own, and for something completely different, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries which is not really a cop show but has police characters and is set in interwar Australia and is absolutely fantastic.