Three very different types of cop shows, but only one of them good (guess which one ahead of time and win a free click on one of my advertisers)…
Chicago PD…Another generic cop show, but hey “this one’s got a twist!” What’s the twist? The lead cop might be a bad cop! Of course, he only breaks the rules for justice, and not for profit or selfish motives, so that makes him the broadcast network drama version of a bad cop, and not in any way a realistic one. Nothing about this show is fresh or original, and it honestly expects us to believe the girl from One Tree Hill (Sophia Bush, all of 80 pounds soaking wet and after a heavy lunch of grapes and crackers) is a butt-kicking cop. Grade: D
Killer Women…This generic cop show has a little bit more style and a little bit more Texas sass, but is still wholesale horseshit. The best thing about it is Tricia Helfer (finally in a lead role!…just wish it was a better one) who can believably play the world’s most glamorous and genetically gifted law enforcement officer. I just wish the show around her was better, and I kept thinking of NBC’s ignored (and cancelled) Texas procedural “Chase” which was a little less ridiculous and predictable. Grade: C-
Justified…At long last, a show that can create a believable sense of place. Chicago PD could be set in any generic city, and Killer Women thinks intricate Texas detail is slapping a cowboy hat on someone. However, Justified nailed the deceptively placid hills of Kentucky in the first episode, and the season 5 premiere included finely detailed side-trips to the Florida everglades and ruined Detroit. It’s too soon to tell whether Michael Rappaport (the rare non-Southerner to be cast as one…one more reason to love Justified’s authenticity) will work out as this season’s heavy, but I’m interested in seeing more of the Florida Crowe family stirring up trouble in Kentucky, and exactly how Boyd’s heroin business will adapt to moving their connection from Canada to Mexico. As always, Walton Goggins remains slyly awesome.