Talkin' 'Boardwalk Empire'

By PAUL RUSSELL

TV Talkin' Blog Duke of Depreciation

 

“Boardwalk Empire” is the show that is probably grabbing the most buzz this fall TV season. That is by design, HBO will spend money on an extravagant show as the people who order HBO are spending sizable entertainment dollar for the purpose of experience something grand, something to talk about at the water cooler or eating out. HBO shows such as “Rome" or the “Sopranos” or “Deadwood” were equally big splashes. “True Blood” has been a hit but not a extravagant production. “Empire” is a response to the success of shows on AMC and FX.

“Empire” has a huge boardwalk set and it provides beautiful sets. Martin Scorsese directs the pilot and the cinematography, the costumes, and technical elements feel movie quality. Episode two, directed by Terrence Winter, the creator feels just as good, perhaps absent a few Scorsese flourishes but no matter.

As far as the show itself, it is a historical depiction of the rise of the mob in the prohibition set chiefly in Atlantic City.  New York and Chicago mob interests are shown as well as the G-men assigned to combat them. It almost feels easier to describe “Empire” in terms of its HBO predecessors. I am as big a fan of HBO as I am loathe to appreciate facts. Steve Buscemi is as good here as he was in the "Sopranos." He plays many roles here and well but that should be no surprise as I feel he was nuanced in "Sopranos" as well. The cast and plot is cluttered as the show begins while still enjoyable, much like "The Wire" felt confusing to know characters but that would not prevent you from being interested in them. “Empire” has some of the same dark humor and frontier violence of “Deadwood,” a personal favorite. The acting feels strong across the board.

The only actor I want to mention is Kelly Macdonald, the actress who plays wife to a drunk half employed baker. Hers is an interesting character and I am not sure where it is going. Most gangster shows are filled with gangster anti-heros, their women who have to embrace their lifestyle and the men pursuing them. Her husband is killed early on, she loses her baby from a beating from him and she rejects mob leaders Buscemi’s offer of money…although she seems willing to accept a job and feels a certain attraction to him. Her character is the lone figure that represents the perils of drinking and Sopranos had few innocents so I am curious where she fits in. I enjoyed her work as the young wife in “No Country for Old Men” and the new servant in Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park”, both roles where she kind of represents the innocent newcomer or the audience perhaps. I look forward to her performances.

Talkin' TV fall TV cop shows

We might as well put a picture of a hot chick on top of the blog. That's as likely to get somebody to click on this thing as actual researsh, reporting and writing. Ethics are for journalism students.

Paul: Dano!

Dan: Hey pal, Want to talk cop shows?

Paul: Much like the five-tool player or the "war of five kings" in George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire Fantasy" series. (Soon to be on HBO.) 

Dan: Geez. Do you get a kickback every time you mention HBO on this blog or in conversation with me? If so, I want a piece of that.

Paul: Fine, we will discuss your five new cop shows.

Dan: "OK, I tried "Hawaii Five-0," "Chase," "Law & Order: Los Angeles," "Detroit 1-8-7" and "Blue Bloods."

Paul: OK. Most cop shows are procedurals. Which of these has the best story framework.

Dan: I should say that as a consequence of my work, I have trouble with most cop shows because they are so patently unbelievable.

Paul: Sure. In college, Noc and my physics roomate's pharmacy girlfriend would dissect "ER."

Dan: So, for a cop show to work for me, it's got to have a fantasy level that engages me beyond the standard cliches. This is why I could enjoy "24" even though it's plots were increasingly absurd.

Paul: That makes me think "Hawaii Five-0" works.

Dan: You're right.

Paul: It is illogigical, but the theme song is cool. James Caan's son, Scott Caan, is charaismatic like his dad. There is a hot Asian chick.

Dan: "Hawaii Five-0" makes a small action movie every week.It's replete with buddy cop one-liners, explosions, car chases and bikinis. This is all that a man can ask for from a television show.

Paul: these guys are having fun. So you enjoy it. "Chase," on the other hand, is she having fun?

Dan: "Chase" is godawful. The lead woman is brooding and hard-faced.The shows cliches — such as it taking forever to trace a telephone call — just add to its failure as fiction.

  I can almost see the writers' meeting. "I know, let's have a hot chick star in a cop show." After that, the thinking pretty much stopped. That show is junk. It's like an off-brand cereal. You wanted delicious Lucky Charmes, buy you got the tasteless Magic Oats.

Paul: OK, what about "Blue Bloods?" I believe you found this surprisingly enjoyable.
 

Dan: Yes. There are a lot of cop families. That's a believable premise. I'm sort of tired of shows about crime families. Tom Seleck plays a good grizzled patriarch who juggles being a father of cops and the chief of police. The supporting cast is believable and the tensions between family members are played out honestly. In the pilot, there's a Sunday dinner in which the family end up arguing about work. Two or three family members storm out of the room. Selleck says, "Well, I've got a good piece of hind quarters here" holding up pork roast on a fork. 

Paul: OK. So how are the cop cases in "Blue Bloods?" 

Dan: OK. In the pilot, there is a kidnapping. One of the son's, a detective, beat up a suspect to find out where the girl was hidden. The assistant d.a., which is a daughter in the family and the cop's sister, can't prosecute because his confession was obtained illegally. This leads to a big argument at Sunday dinner.

Paul: It is a good storyline for moral ambiguity.

Dan: It's an issues story that's discussed evenhandedly and thoughtfully with both sides divided within the same family at the same table. That's politics in 21st century America if I've ever seen it.

 Dan: A subplot in the episode involves the youngest son becoming a cop even though his older brother was shot and killed in the line of duty. The youngest cop is approached by internal affairs agents to help investigate a secret society within the police department that may have had his brother killed.

Paul: Good grief. That feels like a little too much going on.

Dan: Yeah, I sometimes felt a little overwhelmed. Not every case in the department centers around this family.

Paul: OK. We like “Five-O.” “Chase” can go chase it’s own tale. “Blue Bloods” is good, solid fare, like a good Sunday pot roast dinner. “Detroit 1-8-7?”

Dan: The problem with "1-8-7" is that I've seen "The Wire." I know what a cop show set in a decaying American city looks like. It isn't "Detroit1-8-7." The police force and the city has cartoonish racial diversity. More than 65 percent of Detroit cops are black. Why doesn’t the show reflect that? It’s almost as bad as marketing materials from a college in which you see three minority kids smiling with one white kid. There’s an Indian guy, a black guy on the verge of retirement (oddly, not played by Danny Glover) and some quirky white guy who has interpersonal problems. The first episode is about a white spree killer. This happens in the world, but more than 75 percent of all homicides go unsolved in Detroit. I would watch a show about a department who can barely keep up with homicides. Real drama is how cops handle the pressure to solve crimes and a crumbling city infrastructure, budget and so on.

Paul: That show was called "Homicide"

Dan: And "The Wire."

Paul: Right. Both by the same guys set in another decaying city, Baltimore.

Dan: This is a show that plays quasi-Motown blues music over montages of generic streets and has the case-of-the-week flavor of "Law & Order" without the accompanying entertainment. “Detroit 1-8-7” just insults me. The world doesn't look like this. It doesn't work like this. If you're going to use the name Detroit, then act like the city. Don't give me some ordinary garbage and pretend it’s special because Detroit is in the name. This show is so weak it could set in Des Moines.

Paul: OK. “Law & Order: Los Angeles.”

Dan: I like it the way I like "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: SVU." Why? Because I like fish sandwiches from McDonald's. I know exactly what they are. I know exactly how they taste. And it doesn't really matter where I get them, whether its New York or L.A. or Des Moines.

Paul: Dick Woolf is an old pro. Alan Sepinwall, my idol, claims the cast is uninteresting. “Law & Order” embraced New York. L.A. is too pretty to have crime. If I want to watch hot people in a crime show, “Hawaii Five-0" is a better bet.

Dan: I stand by my McLaw&Order take.

Paul: So, in the final analysis, are you going to watch any of these shows going forward?

Dan: “Hawaii Five-0” is a certainty. “Blue Bloods,” too. “Chase” and “Detroit 1-8-7” were dead on arrival for me. I’ll probably just watch “Law & Order: Los Angeles” in a TNT marathon some Sunday. And there’s always Retro TV reruns of my favorite cop show of all time, “Adam-12.”