[jdmcdonald]

ABC's Dragnet showed signs of problems last night. Friday's regular

sidekick was gone, replaced by a black woman. I suspect tinkering

for demographic reasons. This did not improve the show.


Also, the plots are clearly shoing signs of a rarther cramped formula:

they always need a second murder to solve the crime. Too bad ...

it had great promise to be a better police drama. with a real logical

plot line.


Doug McDonald

 

[ahintz]

I can't speak to the plot lines, but I read somewhere (Variety? Futon Critic?) that Ethan Embry , the sidekick on Dragnet, broke his ankle on set and would be missing a few episodes, and that a female detective would be brought in to take his place for those eps. Take this as you will.


--Andrew

 

[ender21]

Personally I like the show. Granted it's yet another cop show, but I like the Ed O'Neill narration... he takes an educative tone, letting us know what he's looking for as a detective, what he's seen, and explaining various things the audience might not know about police work.

 

[Bradtothebone]

Quote:

Originally posted by ahintz I can't speak to the plot lines, but I read somewhere (Variety? Futon Critic?) that Ethan Embry , the sidekick on Dragnet, broke his ankle on set and would be missing a few episodes, and that a female detective would be brought in to take his place for those eps. Take this as you will. --Andrew

I read the same thing. I wonder if the female detective will stick around after Detective Smith gets back?


Overall, it's a pretty good "wind up the weekend" show, and the PQ is usually good - especially so last night.


Brad

 

[asterix2112]

In the scenes from the all new episode next week, Ethen Embry was back. I think it was just for 1 show.

- John

 

[vfxproducer]

Quote:

Originally posted by jdmcdonald Also, the plots are clearly shoing signs of a rarther cramped formula:

Not surprising, since it is from the same creator as the Law and Order series. You can set your watch by the standard plot turns in Law and Order:


Body found

Potential perp caught

Trial begins

Plea bargain debate

Plot twist where it turns out somebody else was killer *or* the first perp was the real killer, but for some really unsuspected motive.


I had to stop watching after a while, since it seemed like basically they took the same six scripts and changed the names and minor events to fill out the formula.

 

[junkman]

I think larger problem is that all the show on TV are trying to keep it fresh by using the "taken from real actual crimes" but in effect since everyone is doing it, it just seems really stale.


When Dragnet, Boomtown and even Boston Public all have had stories about staged Bum Fights this season, it has to seem like its overused. And that's from only the show I watch (FYI, I don't regularly watch the CSIs or the Law and Order(s).)


The TV market is just way too saturated with cop/lawyer dramas right now.

 

[ender21]

junkman - agreed.


Although there's no "trial begins" phase in Dragnet. It's not *that* much a takeoff of Law & Order. It's more of a NYPD Blue or Homicide: Life on the Streets. It's pretty much strictly about the crime(s) and apprehension of the perp(s).

 

[Tony_Dee]

Quote:

Originally posted by ender21 Personally I like the show. Granted it's yet another cop show, but I like the Ed O'Neill narration... he takes an educative tone, letting us know what he's looking for as a detective, what he's seen, and explaining various things the audience might not know about police work.

I like the show, too. I specifically watched the premiere because I wanted to see if Ed O'neill could shake the Al Bundy character. I'd say he did, which is a real accomplishment as Bundy is such a pop culture figure. However, the narration, while necessary for any show called Dragnet is the one area where Ed "becomes" Bundy again. I say this because there was a specific Married... ep where the cast is role playing a Clue type murder mystery and Bundy is a detective. His narration in that ep is EXACTLY the same as his in Dragnet. One particular scene where Bundy narrates, out loud, a statement to Traci Lords which was somewhat sexist, then he says "woops, I was only supposed to THINK that, wasn't I". I'm just waiting for Friday to do something similar.

 

[thehud2112]

So far, Dragnet hasn't been too bad. I actually liked the new detective that replaced Ethan Embry for this one episode. She played a prison doctor in the HBO show OZ. But I can't wait to get Ethan Embry back, he is doing awesome.