crime

I've never seen the show, but everything I've heard about the show - from people whose opinion I trust in these matters - rave about it. Every single review of the show uses the words "brilliant" and "great writing" and "great cast," and the writiers and directors on the show (including David Simon, who also worked on Homicide, and crime novelists George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane) are an interesting bunch. So why doesn't the show get the same massive buzz that The Sopranos and Deadwood do?

The Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall has a long essay about what makes The Wire so great. It makes me want to watch the show (I guess it did its job), and that's a good thing, since it looks like a final, fifth season will depend on how many viewers tune in to the long-delayed fourth season, which starts September 10.

So you say you're a fan of the series Homicide: Life on the Street and you've got about three hundred dollars sitting around you don't know what to do with? Well A&E must have heard your plea, because on November 14 they're releasing the entire series in one gigantic DVD set, and it'll retail for $299.95. That's 35 discs with 122 original episodes, the original Homicide movie, and three crossover episodes of Law and Order (the crossovers were not included in original DVD releases of Homicide). TV Shows on DVD has all the information on the new set, which comes in a lovely little "file cabinet" package. The series, which was partly based on the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon, aired from 1993 to 1999.

I heard this many years ago, and now TV Guide's Televisionary talks about it after getting a question from a reader.

When Columbo first started in the late 60s (first as the movie Prescription Murder, and then as part of the NBC Mystery Movie in the 70s), they never said what Columbo's first name was. He was always just "Lt. Columbo" or "Columbo,"  and they never even played with the audience in any way, like showing a piece of paper with a thumb blocking his first name or anything like that. They just never addressed it. But when a spinoff show was made in the 80s (yes, there was a spinoff to Columbo), Kate Columbo, they finally revealed his name as "Philip." The spinoff did what Columbo did, only in reverse: they showed his wife all the time, solving mysteries, but they never showed her husband. I remember seeing this show, and it wasn't that great. Later they even changed the name of the show to get rid of the Columbo connection.

Now, this doesn't mean that his first name was "officially" Philip. It might be one of those cases where some other show answered a question, but it was never made official, sort of like how the new Superman movie pretends that Superman III and IV never happened. But it's a cool trivia question to ask your friends.

Update: As reader Bill points out in the comments, check out the Wikipedia page on Columbo for more clues about his first name.

(S01E19) This wasn't the most engaging episode, but I really liked what it set up for the remainder of the season. I may be reading into it too much but I think we have a lot in store for Hotch before the season finale.

Before I get to that, may as well talk about the case a little. The team had to go to Mexico to help hunt down a rapist/murderer that the local authorities were convinced didn't even exist. But it worked out just fine because everyone they ran into from the lowliest village peasant to the District Attorney General was bi-lingual. That always makes it easy when you're trying to find a man dressed like a woman in a foreign country.

Whoopi Goldberg will be returning to television for the first time since Whoopi was on NBC a couple years ago. She'll be guest starring in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent for May sweeps in a role that will most likely be recurring. Goldberg will play Chelsey Watkins, an evil foster mother who goes up against Detective Mike Logan, played by Chris Noth. Goldberg seems to be playing this up, insisting her role will be the baddest ever on Criminal Intent. I assume she means the character will be bad, not her acting. Though maybe she did mean her acting, and she's going for some kind of award for bad acting. You never really know, you know? This sounds promising, but Criminal Intent still remains my least favorite series of the Law and Order franchise.

Here's a question. What does that logo on the right remind you of? Anyone?

Well, if you're around my age, it might remind you of a cartoon from the 80s called Thundercats. In fact, it looks a lot like the Thundercats logo. So what is it for? Is there some brand new Thundercats cartoon coming our way? Perhaps a movie? For the love of god, someone help me, I can't stop ending my sentences with question marks? I'm serious, I can't stop?

Sorry, got lost there for a second. Anyway, the logo has nothing to do with Thundercats, it was created for the UK's new crime prevention organization, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca). The resemblance is coincedental, but you have to admit if they had the same weapons and resources the Thundercats did, they'd be able to take out all the bad guys in the world within a year. Not to mention they'd be prepared for any unforseen mummy attacks. 

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I caught this episode when it aired a couple of weeks ago, and I hadn't planned on writing anything up about it. In fact, even after seeing the episode, I wasn't so sure I wanted to write about it. But since we've gotten a few requests, I figured it was time to post some of my thoughts on the pilot episode of this new series.

I actually talked about this show a bit on the last APB podcast with Ryan, siting some of my issues with it. I agreed with Ryan's assessment of Orlando Jones -- he deserves a show. He's come a long way from 7-UP commercials, and I really think he should have what it takes to lead or co-lead a series, though I think drama's not his forte, no matter how many quirky lines he's handed.

Maybe I'm just lazy or I lack initiative, but if I were going to commit a crime, I don't think it would be bigamy. Trying to juggle that many secret lives just takes way too much effort, you know? I'm just saying.

Anyway, a man who appeared on an episode of Dr. Phil was arrested recently for bigamy. Charles Edward Hicks had been married seven times in forty years. The show focused on two women who had learned recently they had both been married to Hicks. What Hicks didn't count on was that the sister of his girlfriend was watching the show and called authorities. He'll be sentenced on May 8 and could face as much as ten years in prison.

One of the great things about Monk is how its protagonist is able to solve crimes that seem to have airtight alibis. Granted, sometimes the solutions are a bit far-fetched, but that's part of the show's charm.

Last night's episode focused on a famous astronaut who Monk is convinced murdered a woman he had an affair with five years ago. The only problem is, the astronaut was in outer space when the murder (made to look like a suicide by hanging) took place. The astronaut is cool, confident, calm under pressure, everything Adrian Monk isn't. Monk's constituents in the police department are awestruck by the famous man, and can't believe Monk's theory that somehow he was able to commit a murder while floating around deep space.

A lot of times, Monk focuses hard on Monk's phobias, but once in a while an episode will peel back a few more layers. The "murder mystery" aspect of the episode was intriguing as always, but what was really interesting was how Monk was forced to deal with someone whom he felt inferior to, and by doing so had to summon up whatever small amount of courage he had within him. When he chases down a jet plane, stands in front of it, and refuses to move when several rifles are pointed at him, he proves to himself he's not the "muss" (a word he made up combining "man" and "wuss") he thought he was. Monk works best when it's able to combine the quirky with the serious. Last night's episode was the best I've seen in awhile.

Out of the all the newer shows on Adult Swim, you don't hear too much about Stroker and Hoop. I chose to ignore it myself until a friend of mine mentioned it was one of his favorites, so I've been setting the ol' Tivo and playing catch up. Think of the show as an homage to CHiPs, Starsky and Hutch, and other 70s crime TV, but with the added bonus that this is a cartoon, for adults, that can get away with things a live-action show could never dream of. Stroker and Hoop are private investigators with a talking car (C.A.R.R.) who may or may not solve your case and also may or may not leave a trail of blood and carnage when they do. In the episode titled "Ninja Worrier aka Chopping Spree" Hoop, once afraid to even shoot a suspect, goes on a rampage killing ninjas. As it turns out, none of the people he kills are actually ninjas, they're just regular people. If raunchy humor and people burning alive inside conventional ovens is your cup of tea, by all means check it out.

After Oprah tore James Frey apart on her show last week, I was left to wonder what would be next for the author.

I should've known.

A Manhattan social worker was the first to file a lawsuit against Random House, the publisher of Frey's fictitious memoir about overcoming drug and alcohol addiction. The plaintiff, Jennifer Cohn, said she recommended Frey's book to a number of clients who were struggling with the same addiction. Another New York reader filed a class action lawsuit, asking for her $14.95 back. There are also lawsuits in state and federal courts in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

So...what's worse? Ripping apart the author on nationwide television or suing an author because his memoir is packed with lies?

You know all of those cool aspects of the CSI shows that got you interested in them in the first place? The teeny bits of cloth left behind by suspects. Tiny drops of blood leftover from a bleach cleanup. Who would've thought that the detail that goes into these shows, and how the fictional murders executed their plans, would actually wind up helping, or even encouraging, real murderers?

One recent case had the suspect cleaning blood from his hands with bleach, lining his car with blankets (to protect it from blood when transferring bodies) and meticulously cleaning up evidence. He was caught, however, when he tried to throw the murder weapon - a crowbar - into a lake. According to the affidavit, "The lake was frozen though and he shouted a profanity when the crowbar remained on the surface." I guess having CSI based in Nevada didn't teach him everything he needed to know.

Cynthia Watros, who plays Libby on Lost, apologized to a judge for drinking and driving. She pleaded guilty to DUI, after being picked up by police in Hawaii on December 1st. Watros had to pay a $370 fine, have her driver's license suspended for 90 days, and attend alcohol counseling. Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Ana Lucia on Lost, was also picked up for drunk driving on the same night. She has chosen to fight the charge and will go on trial in March. If convicted, she could be sent to prison in California for violating her probation for drunk driving charges in that state. Maybe the outcome of that trial will determine whether Ana Lucia lives or dies at the end of this season... or maybe that's already decided.