After a week of watching some excellent British crime TV shows--Part One of Good-bye, Jane (aka Prime Suspect 487) and the less-heralded but even more memorable Vincent--I’m moved to ask why they’re so much better than American series.
Is it the acting? Certainly a Helen Mirren or a Ray Winstone would think thrice before signing on for a season of CSI: Liverpool. And neither Frank Finlay nor the sadly late Tom Bell would be the first choice for a Law & Order guest shot (as Chevy Chase recently was).
Is it the writing? There are some sharply scripted series on American television (although their names escape me at the moment), but when it comes to crime, the predictability and the cuteness seem to overwhelm any chance of originality.
Better minds than mine have grappled with the problem. What does anyone else think? Are you listening, Lee Goldberg? Why is The Wire such a clusterbomb of racial clichés, Mr. Pelecanos, when your books are exactly the opposite?
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think a large part of it is that series seem to have as many episodes as the creative team wants them to. (Or at least the standard seems to be six, not twenty-two.)
Also, there is much less emphasis on physical beauty in casting. Allowing the actors to be merely attractive, rather than cookie-cutter perfection, allows for a level of realism not seen in Hollywood. It also means the pool of acting talent is much deeper. I am constantly amazed by the quality of actors in bit parts in British TV.
Watching Helen Mirren last night, my husband and I noted that she was amazing, and that no American actress would allow herself to be photographed as harshly. And thus would never be as believable as a month away from retirement long-time alcoholic.
The Wire, a clusterbomb of racial cliches? Surely one of the sharpest written shows on television along with Deadwood, a show with a genuine sense of conflicted morality and socio-political commentary?
Here's what confuses me, you can bash The Wire and yet you've happened to mention two of the most egregiously cliched crime shows on Brit telly for a long time. Really, an alcoholic copper who's a bit edgy? A PI solving murders - SERIAL murders - in Britain?
I'll stick the American stuff, thanks.
I think LAW AND ORDER:SVU is the best cop show on television...and that much of the British stuff is ponderous. If they aren't dull, drawing-room mysteries, then they are serial-killer cliches, mistaking darkness and gore for inventiveness.
Yes, the original CRACKER, PRIME SUSPECT and INSPECTOR MORSE shows were damn good. Exceptions, though, and hardly the norm.
Most of the UK two hour crime shows -- like WAKING THE DEAD and REBUS -- could and SHOULD be cut into a single hour. And even then, they aren't exactly breaking new ground.
I haven't seen the final PRIME SUSPECT. But while it may have been cutting edge when it first started, it has become a cliche...one that they have repeating over and over. I gave up on PS two or three movies back...and critics have not been kind to this one(though they praise Mirren's performance). And I hear the final CRACKER is a dog.
Post a Comment