Small details that made me lose big chunks of respect for the show
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Monknificent — 9 years ago(December 02, 2016 02:56 PM)
Yes, I do agree that Fontana is portrayed as a bit thick - in fact, I even added this very point before I had refreshed the page to see your own post saying just that.
As for "splatter", it did occur to me that it was an actorly mistake and they just didn't bother/didn't have the time for a re-do.
I wouldn't quite call either of those "black stains", I know I said "big chunks of respect", but I suppose the respect I lose is mostly limited to those episodes, and it may be temporary, after all, I did score the show a 9, and I do call it excellent.
Look, people, I know I am perhaps being over picky, and I have been spoiled for quality television, particularly over the last couple of decades, but this is actually a mark of the high regard I have for the show, and the high standards I hold it to.
I may be overly exacting at times, but I do feel details are important, and sometimes they matter to an extraordinary degree, so let this post serve as a reminder of that.
"It's too late Always has been, always will be
Too late." -
maryrosenkranz — 9 years ago(December 02, 2016 11:39 AM)
Wow. If what you add to your list are like what you have already listed, I ask "why the he** do you watch any fictional tv at all?" For these very minor "infractions" there will be a hundred great moments from this series. Writers are not God. They will have missteps.
I agree with Dreamsville's point about Fontana. He was the type who really could give a flying piece of crap what the technical term would have been for that criminal. He was making a "point". As for Green, he's a detective, & this wasn't CSI. If you watch CSI, there were times when they would throw out the right terms, & the detectives would look at them like they were aliens. They don't care what the right term is supposed to be, it's not their job.
How many CSI's are there? Uh, none. They're all reruns now. I really think you should be looking at the fact that you're comparing apples & oranges. There are "forensic" type series, & there are "police/detective/law" series. The pros from one group do not do the jobs from the other group-as they will tell each other many times. Thus using the correct terminology probably won't happen. -
Monknificent — 9 years ago(December 02, 2016 03:53 PM)
Yes, of course that "for these very minor "infractions" there are hundreds of great moments from this series." - I have practically said as much when I called this show excellent. I hold the show in very high regard, and because of that, I hold it to a very high standard.
"Writers are not God. They will have missteps" I know this. I agree with this. I just have perhaps overly exacting standards, and I know that sometimes, small details matter to an extreme degree - not in fictionalized artforms, perhaps, but in real life, and I can't help it if I notice details others don't, or if they grate on me more than on others. Perhaps it's a gift. Perhaps it's a gift
and
a curse.
"I agree with Dreamsville's point about Fontana." - I do too, actually. I even said that Fontana was making a point. You saw that, right? And I now added that I do believe this may be a bit in character for Fontana, as he is sometimes portrayed as not the brightest, and not a subtle man, definitely not overly given to details - unless they're to do with the fripperies of a limited sector of men's fashion. He's no Robert Goren, that's for sure.
When I was mentioning CSI, I wasn't praising that show. CSI is an affront to intelligence, in particular the incredibly patronising and completely awful and clumsy way they chose to remind their audience in practically EVERY EPISODE of the name, purpose and technique of even the simplest and most common of forensic procedures that they had performed again and again in every episode ("Let me get the luminol spray" -"Oh, you mean the solution that glows under a blacklight in the presence of organic matter, such as blood?" -"Yes, that's the one, if by blacklight, you mean a UV lamp" -"Yes, that's right, a UV, or Ultra-Violet light. Please pass it, it's in my bag" /// "Have you tested for GSR on the suspect's sleeves?" -"Oh, you mean gun shot residue, the hard-to-remove trace powder that is left behind after shooting a gun?" -"Yes, that's the one." Etc, etc), not trusting their feeble-minded viewers (in their evident opinion) with even the simplest of recall tasks, and in doing so, they ultimately ensured that this became a self-fulfilling prophesy, as the audience they deserved steadily became the audience they got.
"It's too late Always has been, always will be
Too late." -
scrabbler1 — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 09:17 AM)
The only times such goofs irk me are when they play more than a passing role in the overall plot of the episode. I recall an episode where they mentioned an intersection between two streets which didn't exist because the two streets ran parallel and never intersected.
The worst editing in an episode was the opening sequence in Season One's "Subterranean Homeboy Blues," based on the 1984 Bernie Goetz subway shooting They showed several random clips of different subway trains and platforms and stations and pieced them together in a shoddy manner that made me laugh out loud as it progressed.
But I am also impressed when they get key references correct, especially when it matters a lot in the overall plot. In that episode about the gay cop who got hung out to dry in a shooting, Cragen mentioned how a wrong address played a role in the shooting. The wrong address was about 40 blocks away, as he said. -
fiero-49251 — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 11:43 AM)
The wrong address was mentioned by the cops who didn't want to be bothered backing up that gay cop! Funny how the "blue wall" turns "yellow" over something that shouldn't concern them! Just saw a
"Blue Bloods"
episode where a "1-13," "officer in trouble with shots fired" and several nearby cops ignored the call! She had testified against her partner who choked out a prisoner! Who would want to be bothered with such a mindset of idiots?http://www.childrenofrassilon.com/fiero425.html
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Xeliou66 — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 01:11 PM)
Yeah that is why no one respects cops and why most people hate them. Most of them are sheep who cover for dirty cops and when a cop does the moral thing and turns in dirty cops the police turn on the whistle blower instead of turning on the dirty cop. This is why police forces are so corrupt and abuse their power regularly, and it needs to change
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fiero-49251 — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 01:30 PM)
That is so strange, but it extends to family members! Some mother was being interviewed in the audience of an old
Oprah
show and when she brought up her cop son was a "good boy" for not ratting out his corrupt partner, I just shook my head! You are right; that's why it's so hard to trust cops and the system when it's so openly hypocritical!http://www.childrenofrassilon.com/fiero425.html
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Dreamsville — 9 years ago(December 04, 2016 04:03 PM)
I recall an episode where they mentioned an intersection between two streets which didn't exist because the two streets ran parallel and never intersected.
The worst editing in an episode was the opening sequence in Season One's "Subterranean Homeboy Blues," based on the 1984 Bernie Goetz subway shooting They showed several random clips of different subway trains and platforms and stations and pieced them together in a shoddy manner that made me laugh out loud as it progressed.
L & O
's concept of New York City geography is quite hilarious at times. But as you said, if it's not something that's a crucial element to the story, then it really doesn't make a difference.
And actually, the most glaring geographical "mistake" the show makes is in its premise of having the detectives from the fictional "27" investigate homicides committed all over Manhattan, as if Manhattan was one big precinct unto itself. In reality Manhattan has 22 precincts, each covering a smallish section of the island (one precinct consists entirely of just Central Park), so realistically the detectives should be investigating crimes originating within a much narrower geographical area of the city. But hey - that wouldn't be nearly as much fun to watch.
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darkavenger77 — 9 years ago(December 02, 2016 05:33 PM)
I liked the recurring catchphrases used by two of my favorite detectives you mentioned:
Fontana: We're authorized.
Green: Sit your ass down!
The small stuff doesn't bother me. IMO,
L&O
was far better for realism than nearly every other cop show from the past 20 years.
Ignoring politics doesn't mean politics will ignore you.
-Pericles paraphrased in <100 characters -
Monknificent — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 11:30 AM)
Haha, yep, those two catchphrases do represent them pretty perfectly, and they immediately echoed in my head in their own voices as I read them.
It still doesn't quite seem real that Farina passed away, he always struck me as one of those people that would live until they slowly faded away, like Gene Wilder - but then so did Michael Jackson, Prince, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman
On the flip side of that terrible coin, I bet Trump will live on to make millions (if not billions!) of lives miserable for many, many years to come. I wish I hadn't said that now, as I half-jokingly predicted he'd win. OK, let me make another prediction: he will die of stress in the first month of the presidency after the first run of a few continuous days of work he will have done in his entire life. But that still leaves Pence. A stray asteroid?
"It's too late Always has been, always will be
Too late." -
Doug-Oh — 9 years ago(December 04, 2016 04:42 PM)
On the flip side of that terrible coin, I bet Trump will live on to make millions (if not billions!) of lives miserable for many, many years to come. I wish I hadn't said that now, as I half-jokingly predicted he'd win. OK, let me make another prediction: he will die of stress in the first month of the presidency after the first run of a few continuous days of work he will have done in his entire life. But that still leaves Pence. A stray asteroid?
Please don't turn this board into a political discussion.
AFAIK, Trump never appeared in nor was the subject of an L&O episode.
I'd post the same if the post focused on Hillary or the other side.