I have always been a Dana Delany fan and I finally got around to sampling her new show, BODY OF PROOF. I was disappointed because I found in it the same sort of the over-the-top plotting that began for me with Law and Order, Special Victims Unit and has drifted into too many crime stories.
In this episode, it was not enough that a mother had nearly killed her child by withholding drugs, it had to go a step further and have her sister and a handyman join forces to murder the girl because she was changing her will. This type of plotting has an hysteria to it that I really hate.
This grab bag of motives plotting also allows the writers to skirt having a nice, tight plot. It's like a magician where he fools you by making you look at the wrong thing. Do you find it clever? It really annoys me. It's not just red herrings, which are part of the game.
Is there any traditional crime show that still manages to turn out a nice clean plot most of the time?
25 comments:
Patti, we tried the first episode of BODY OF PROOF and hated it as much as you did this one. Plus, they seem to think they get extra points for honesty (or something) by making Delany as obnoxious as a human being can be.
Bring back CHINA BEACH!
Oh, and just a warning - don't bother with ABC's summer show COMBAT HOSPITAL, which we saw last night. (Jackie is such a fan of medical dramas it was inevitable.) Think MASH crossed with GREY'S ANATOMY with lazy, obvious writing and a plot whose every "surprise" could be seen coming miles ahead.
SPOILER ALERT: when a soldier showed his "bruised" side and ignored advice to get it checked I immediately called out (correctly, as it transpired), "Ruptured spleen. He's dead." (END SPOILER)
The show is Canadian, by the way.
Jeff M.
Bring back ER and St. Elsewhere. I haven't liked a hospital show since those days.
Funny you should mention over-plotting and SVU. SVU never seems to know how long driving takes. I remember an episode a couple years back when Stabler found out that his suspect was giving chase on the other side of town and, yup, he took part in the chase and got to the guy first.
Though I like tough nasty books, the crime shows I like are light as a feather like Psych and Burn Notice, and I thought Monk was a lot of fun.
If it takes forever at the end to explain the crime, the coverup, and the motive, it's over-plotted for me. Example: the L&O when Liza Minnelli guested. Not a big hospital show fan but currently watching NURSE JACKIE season two and like it so far.
We gave up SHOWTIME and I miss Nurse Jackie. She is such a great actress, she can make you forgive her anything.
I like gritty crime shows well enough, but not the ones about a crime being solved through forensic means or through heavy plotting. I like JUSTIFIED-where it's character based rather than laboratory based or plot imposed.
You've summed up why I don't watch "traditional" crime shows anymore. JUSTIFIED is great, and The Beloved Spouse and I are working our way through THE WIRE again. We gave THE KILLING a six week shot, but left for many of the reasons you cite here: each episode was tailored to falsely point to a different suspect, until a new piece of evidence was found to prove their innocence. If a puzzle is the plan, lay out the relevant evidence so it can be sifted; don;t push me around and yank me back like that.
We gave up Showtime too, as NURSE JACKIE was the only show we were watching. We've seen Edie Falco on Broadway a couple of times.
I liked JUSTIFIED too. We did like (kind of) the American version of THE KILLING, which just finished on A&E.
I agree with Dan about BURN NOTICE, though occasionally it gets dark. Also on USA: IN PLAIN SIGHT (Marshals in the Witness Protection Program in Albuquerque) and COVERT AFFAIRS (very light CIA show).
On TNT, we watch THE CLOSER (soon to begin its last few shows), LEVERAGE (new season starts Sunday) and MEMPHIS BEAT (running now, on Tuesdays).
Jeff M.
I hear they are going to give Mary (Sorry can't remember her name) on THE CLOSER her own show-sort of along the same lines.
I watched all of THE KILLING but the ending made us angry. I don't mind a story line extending but this ending added all sorts of new questions.
BODY OF PROOF falls into the same lazy habit that the other forensic shows. Every week someone has a very rare disease that the protagonist instantly identifies, and that either implicates or exonerates a suspect.
On the other hand, Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan are such an embarrassment of riches that I can't stay away.
Another good blog topic: what shows or movies do you watch for the eye candy?
Sadly, most television shows have the same grab-bag plotting. It's lazy writing. A nice, tight plot requires real work.
Patti - I think that's one thing that's really put me off watching a lot of TV; the plotting is really just too over-the-top. I honestly couldn't think of a good series (except for those such as Vera, Inspector Lewis and other imports) where the focus is on good, focused plotting.
Mary McDonnell is getting the spinoff from THE CLOSER. If she's as annoying a character as she is currently, I'm not sure we'll keep watching. I wonder how many of the CLOSER actors will stay on.
Jeff M.
Prickly, isn't she? And sometimes I am not even sure what her point is.
I like that crew although some of them may have done their thing long enough. I'll miss the great shirts and ties they come up with.
It's not just television, it's all of mainstream fiction (books, TV, movies, music). To justify the expense and to get the biggest audience possible everything has to be HUGE and then because we deal in sequels, the next one has to be even bigger. I hate huge plotting. I like small stakes and character emotion. I don't think it's a coincidence that all of the shows people mentioned as enjoying are on smaller cable outlets rather than network television.
Oddly enough, one of the better plotted shows is CASTLE because the show is not plot dependent.
Hey Patti,
I don't find things over-plotted, but not plotted at all. It seems the emphasis is placed on fast cuts that require multiple storylines to cut between and then twists to justify the cuts and then sort of plot/solution that touches upon all these random elements to indicate the end.
Stephen
I wonder if its a matter of the writers feeling they have to add twist upon twist to keep the reader interested?
Patti, you can watch seasons 1-2 of NURSE JACKIE on amazon at 1.99 an episode. We use the Roku to access, and it's paid for itself mucho times over.
Can we watch them on the computer? We haven't mastered ROKU I'm afraid.
I'm with Bryan here. It's getting harder all the time to find things to read (I've pretty much given up on finding things to watch) because so much effort is expended in RAISING THE STAKES there's no room for anything like characterization or verisimilitude. I like my stories to be something I can reasonably believe actually happened, or could happen. There's too little of that today.
Body of Proof got a look from me but I already had low expectations from the commercials. For me, it was 'here comes the person who knows it all' and sure enough, there it was, her all encompassing knowledge. (I might have just been miffed that Detroit 187 got axed and Proof replaced it.)
The Killing had moments of brilliance but my wife and I kept saying, 'Don't make this Twin Peaks 2.' I would have preferred they wrapped with (_____________)and spent season two working on a new case. Otherwise, it's Dynasty meets The Closer.
I agree with all of this. DETROIT 187 was better than most any new crime show that debuted last year. Shame.
My favorite crime show once upon a time was HOMICIDE Life On the Street. I don't think there's ever been anything as good or at least anything that captured my interest as much. It had a great ensemble cast.
My brother is currently dive bombing non-stop through every episode of THE WIRE. But...I'm hesitating. I don't think I want to go any darker or nastier than HOMICIDE Life On the Street.
I still miss HILL STREET BLUES and that other long-running cop show on ABC - can't remember the title.
I no longer get cable - a purely monetary decision on my part - just didn't see the point.
But the newer shows show up eventually on Netflix or youtube or elsewhere and damn if I even bother to watch.
I would love to see a good private eye show come down the pike. Keep dreaming, Yvette.
Have you ever noticed that the writers of the Law and Order series and its spin-offs must HATE, absolutely HATE young people? They are depicted as sociopathic nut jobs whose only recourse to get what they want is murder. And they're always smirking superciliously at the cops when they're being interrogated. Rolling their eyes, displaying insolent attitudes. Seriously. What gives? Go through the history of all the shows (especially the past five ears or so) and you will come up with about 70% of the episodes with murderers who are under the age of 25. It's the Bad Seed syndrome gone overboard.
I prefer the BBC shows to the American ones. Monk did good traditional plots in its first couple of seasons, although they too tend lean to the bizarre.
Sp true. John. Every week was about the Mendez brothers.
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