Homicide, Law and Order, the Practice, Hill Street Blues, the Sopranos, NYPD Blue, even ER-- do you get into those types of Dramatic Series shows?

Which ones are your favorites?

Do you miss Cop Rock?

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

Answers

I used to like ER, but it lost me. I absolutely loathe cop shows, though. I can't understand what anyone sees in Law & Order -- I can't stand the superficial story lines, the facile characterizations, or the dumb ass plot twists. I want to tear off that female district attorney's arm and use it to beat her boss's head in. The only character I can remotely stand is the African American female cop, and then only because she reminds me of a school principal I used to know. I hate Jerry Whatsisname. I hate the bald guy. I hate the fact that the writers' view of American criminal justice is stuck some time in the 1970's. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

I also can't stand NYPD Blue because police brutality doesn't excite me. At least not in that way.

I did like Homicide the few times I saw it. Not enough to plan my Friday nights around it, unfortunately.

But Buffy is kind of like a cop show ...

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

i LOVE Homicide. But, sadly, I've only seen about 5 or 6 episodes start to finish. It's brilliant. Andre Bragher is why the crime show genre was invented. Did anyone see the one with Bruno Kirby? That scene at the end with him and Andre Bragher... I get chills just thinking about it.

If that show had been on Wednesday or Thursday nights instead of Fridays, it would have been more popular than NYPD.

The Sopranos, of course, is great. Somewhere along the way ER lost its spine. I just stopped caring. Benton, who was so interesting, became a softie. Clooney stopped womanizing and became a wuss instead of a morally challenged complexity and Dr. Greene was this great character, but then he started getting chicks and brooding and I lost my sympathy for him. Oh, and every week it was "what pained look is Gloria Rueben going to show us this week?" I think she's a great actress, but every week was just her being depressed about another setback.

West Wing looks pretty good... I wish I watched the Practice more than I do. Did anybody used to watch St. Elsewhere? Now THAT was a great show.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

Oh man...I usually am in line with Beth's worldview but not this time. How do I love Law & Order? Let me count the ways...

I think it's the best acting on tv, actually. When Michael Moriarty was on playing D.A. Ben Stone, it was so good I would watch re-runs I had seen several times. Of course, every single show was the same - I will admit that.

Act one: some horrible murder is committed and the detectives curmudgeonly (?) track down the suspect. Suspect confesses immediately.

Act two: Suspect gets bad-ass lawyer who has confession thrown out because it is inadmissable. Ben Stone makes an plea bargain offer and suspect says "You must be joking!" He answers with the classic: "Not unless you think 25 to life is a barrel of laughs, sir." Big boss D.A., Adam, tells his team that: they have no case, they're going to lose, it's election time and they've just ruined his chances, etc.

Act three: They go to court, Ben Stone pounds them all in his extraordinary way and they win. As they are leading the convict out, Ben shakes his head like "What is this world coming to?"

The end. Now no one ever has to watch another episode - because that is every episode. Nevertheless, I adore that show.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

I have every episode of Homicide on tape. It's an amazing show (except the last season). I've never had every episode of a show on tape before.

I like Law and Order all right. I don't really like other cop shows. Homicide wasn't really a cop show, or at least that's not why I liked it. I liked it because it's more about the characters than the cases, I think. And it had really great writing and acting.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

Andre was in Law and Order and then went to Homicide, I thought.

Homicide is the damn finest bit of programming ever put on television. It revolutionized camera use in drama, and television in general. The plots were excellent, acting superb.

Law and Order doesn't use plot twists because they use real-life stories. That's what is so cool about it. Though the new chick ADA is a bit annoying. The older episodes are a bit better.

NYPD Blue was good with the red-head.

Hill Street Blues.. well how can you knock a show with all those alum from my alma mater, CMU?

-rich http://www.inferiority.com

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

Ditto to everything Allison said.

I love Law & Order.

I watch rerun after rerun on A&E.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

I like the Practice, and the Sopranos, but what I loved most about Homicide was the writing. I just loved the scenes of Pembleton in the Box. Andre Braugher was always riveting.

Also living pretty close to Baltimore I was alway able to catch a few locations that I knew, which was always pretty cool.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

My name is Sean Locke, and I'm a Law-and-Order-aholic. It irritates me that I don't get home by five anymore to watch reruns on A&E. And I have to kinda disagree w/ whoever said she'd like to rip off the Asst. DA's arm off and beat her boss with it. We're talking about Miss Carmichael, right? She is kind of a hard case, but I still like her. Don't know why. Does anyone else want to call her "Mistress Charmichael?" Yowza.

And I fell in love w/ NYPD Blue when I watched the episode where Jimmy Smits' character died. Love that show, love the reruns. Don't really love Ricky Shroeder's ass, but hey. Different strokes. Oh, and the Emmys had a Felicity/NYPD Blue crossover/parody where Elena the Cop is interrogating Felicity the Perp:

ELENA: You want I should go bad on you? FELICITY: I don't even know what that means.

Never thought I'd laugh at an Emmy presentation, but there ya go. Nearly peed my pants.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

Do they have any other shows on TV besides the The Soprano's?

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

I love The Practice. I only started watching it this last season and I'm totally and completely hooked. I don't really like cop shows too much and I know Homicide is supposed to be pretty good but I just don't have the time in my life for another one-hour drama. Although, I think I might seriously consider giving up Ally McBeal this season. Calista gives me hives. And then Party of Five is becoming something of a lost cause so... maybe I can fit in another. Although I still have to watch Buffy and the X-Files as those two are looking like these will be last seasons.

What's getting me is all the good half-hour shows. If you're not watching Will & Grace, Dharma & Greg, The Drew Carey Show, Who's Line is it Anyway?, Everybody Loves Raymond, Simpsons, King of the Hill, Spin City, Friends, Frazier and Futurama then you are really missing out. And, if you're one of those people who are keeping shows like Veronica's Closet, Jesse, Becker, Two Guys and a Girl and some Pizza, King of Queens and Suddenly Susan on the air then would you please knock it off.

*phew*

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

I thought the episode where Jimmy Smits' character died was kind of lame. No emotion in it whatsoever. I sat there thinking, "What? Is he dead now?" Anyway, I am a nearly 20 year old female who happens to be addicted to the Sopranos and all action movies. I am a very atypical college girl. I also play Bond on playstation with all my guy friends. Did I metion I only have one really good girlfriend? I just get along better with guys. And they're the only ones who will watch "Bloodsport" and "Kickboxer" with me on a moment's notice. :)

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

You know Ky, you get cooler and cooler by the moment. ;)

T

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

I have to say once again that Everybody Loves Raymond just freakin' rocks. They showed four episodes in a row and I laughed out loud at least once at each one. I only laugh out loud at the Simpsons, Mr. Show and occasionally South Park. Great, great comedy. Check it out if you haven't already...

What channel does Homicide come on in syndication?

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

Oh Jesus! Homicide! Well, suffice it to say that Friday nights will just plain suck from here on in now that it's gone. I'm not a big fan of crime dramas in general. Law and Order is pretty good. NYPD Blue always annoyed me but from word go, I was hooked on Homicide. Alot of it has to do with me being from Baltimore, but I still maintain that it's the best TV show ever. And I will somewhat sheepishly admit that I have every episode on tape. And I swear it's just this one show. I'm not a Video freak. Oh, and I've found that the friends of mine who also love the show are all girls. See ya later. Mike

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

I posted the above before I read all the others because I was so excited to talk about Homicide. Now I'm so happy to find at least one other diehard fan who has all the episodes on tape. Way to go Kim! Mike

-- Anonymous, September 17, 1999

Law and Order is the best show on television.

It's okey dokey if you don't agree with me, because most of the critics do. It's compelling and well-written and extremely well- performed and I watch it constantly, since A&E kindly reruns it all the time.

I will admit to not seeing a single episode last year, because of time commitments that kept me away. Nothing will keep me away, though, now that Jesse L. Martin has joined the cast!

It won't be the golden days of Michael Moriarty, Chris Noth, and Jerry Orbach, but I'll be content again.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 1999

thanks, todd. :)

-- Anonymous, September 18, 1999

Er..well, I just wanted to point out, that as much as I *love* what I've seen of the U.S so far (Calif), there are actually non-U.S police drama shows existing, well, on this side of the planet, anyway. Oz dramas are pretty lame, and for cop shows, theres nothing in Oz to beat the Brit drama "The Bill". Very down to earth,though not without humor. I dont know if you can get it on BBC cable in the U.S, but its well worth a peek I think I'm the only one on the planet who hasnt seen an ep of "Homicide", "E.R", "NYPD Blue", et al. Nothing against any of them, "The Bill" is the only TV prog. I really watch religiously. Well, that and The Simpsons.

jacq

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999

"Homicide" rocked. I'm glad NBC stuck with it for as long as they did, 'cause they did some mighty fine TV with that show. It's almost total lack of Emmy awards is a shame. I tried to get almost everyone I know to watch "Homicide", but I could never get anyone to bite.

Is there anywhere to order tapes of the show?

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999

In addition to the great performances, what I love best about Homicide is what I liked about St. Elsewhere and Hill St; the fact that it assumed that the audience is intelligent. Unlike most television shows, Homicide expects people to pay attention to what is going on and rewards people for their attention. I think if it catered itself to short attention spans, like Nash Bridges (among many other shows), it'd probably still be on the air. As for the other shows, although I've liked the NYPD cast in other things; I initially thought that NYPD was just Homicide with curse words and ass - and I've seen nothing on the show to change that opinion. I like Law & Order, although the structure (1/2 hour on cops, 1/2 hour on lawyers) always seemed a little gimmick-y to me. The new Law & Order show that starts on Monday nights has Richard Belzer reprising his Homicide charater; so I'm hoping I enjoy that. I've never seen the Practice, so no opinion. Now that Homicide is off the air, my favorite show is The Sopranos (with Oz as a close second) - for many of the same reasons I loved Homicide (performance, writing, etc.) I wish I could say that I was suprised The Soprano's didnt win big at the Emmy's, but that seems to be the case for shows I like (Raymond, Friends, Sports Night, Homicide, etc.). I think it's part of Emmy regulations that Helen Hunt, Dennis Franz, and David Kelley HAVE to win. Nothing against these people, but enough is enough already. I guess Jimmy Smits is just going to have to become a white man to ever win an award and did anyone even WATCH Mad About You last year? I hope West Wing doesnt suck, but for some reason (Rob Lowe maybe...) I dont have very high expectations.

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999

FYI

for those who like St. Elsewhere, Homicide and Oz for the great writing, it's no wonder. They were all produced by Tom Fontana. Check out the interview on NPR's "Fresh Air"

http://whyy.org/cgi-bin/FAshowretrieve.cgi?2672

-- Anonymous, September 20, 1999

Law & Order. Ah, the McDLT of crime dramas; you keep the law side lawful and the order side orderly. I am addicted, though I only watch it on A&E, never on prime time. And that music- duh-duh!! Is it just me, or did the two female ADA's look almost exactly alike? It's like that Darren Bewitched thing. I also love Homicide. I agree that Andre is an incredible actor. And for whoever asked, it is now on Court TV, though I think they changed the time on me.

-- Anonymous, September 22, 1999