TV choices

[owlmoose]

So the TV show I finished watching in its entirety most recently was Elementary, and I enjoyed it very well, even the uneven and rushed last season; I started writing up a review that I'd planned to post last week. But beyond the fact that it feels frivolous to be writing about TV at all right now, in this moment it seems even more wrong to share my enthusiasm for a TV show that is, at its heart, a police procedural.

Many people have written many words about how problematic it is that police procedurals dominate the metaphorical airwaves (I recommend this article and this article, to start), and I a) barely ever watch standard law enforcement procedurals and b) am not the intended target of state-sponsored police brutality, so I'm not the one to write more about the topic. But it did get me thinking about how many of the speculative tv shows I've watched and enjoyed are either procedurals with an SFnal twist (Person of Interest, Fringe, Sleepy Hollow...) or procedural-adjacent, a category where I would put most superhero shows. The Flash, Arrow, and Luke Cage all feature superhero characters who are also cops; on other shows, the supers tend to be involved with imaginary law enforcement agencies such as SHIELD, the DEO, and the Time Bureau. I'm trying to think of any superhero show where the heroes don't have regular contact with a law enforcement agency, real-world or invented, and I'm coming up empty. (Jessica Jones and Daredevil, maybe? Do lawyers count? Private detectives? They still connect to the criminal justice system, just different arms of it.) And then we have space shows, which almost always have a military or quasi-military aspect (Star Trek, of course, but most of the others, too), and while not technically law enforcement, it's on the same spectrum.

It probably shouldn't have taken me so long to notice this, and I'm not yet ready to make any kind of statement about what it means, if anything. But it's made me think. And I do wonder if the events of the last week will cause the decision makers in Hollywood to rethink anything. The entire industry is on a forced hiatus right now, due to the pandemic; it would be nice if they took this moment to be an opportunity for change.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah I've been thinking about it too.

I think change is going to have to come from indie and individual creators first, we need to reinvent and expand these genres, so that the mainstream shifts to follow.

[owlmoose]

I think you're likely right. That's how it usually happens -- indie creators push the envelope, so the mainstream has to move along to keep up.

[lea_hazel]

Abigail Nussbaum had a great post a couple of years ago on authoritarianism in Supergirl and how it relates to the superhero genre in general, in TV and movies, filling the niche that in the 90s had been taken up with endless cop shows. I'll try and find a link for you.

[owlmoose]

I think I remember that piece, but if you find the link I'd be very interested to revisit it. Thanks!

[lea_hazel]

I got distracted, so this reply is a bit late, but here it is. It's about three years old, but it could have been written this week.

[xyzzysqrl]

I was going to start rewatching Due South recently, because I've found that show something of a comfort.

I'm, uhm... re-evaluating whether exactly I would find it remotely comforting right now, and to what extent.

So you're not the only one having Hesitations.

(Stargirl, so far, has no contact with law enforcement whatsoever. I sort of wonder if that will change.)

[owlmoose]

Glad to hear it's not just me. I haven't tried Stargirl yet -- how is it?

[xyzzysqrl]

"Muddled", I think, is how I would describe it. It's a teen school drama with a surprisingly high body count so far. The main character has that "I have absolutely no knowledge of my own genre" style that Barry had, meaning there's an average of one forehead-slap a show as she muddles things out. There's a very strong focus on LEGACY as a buzzword, everyone is someone's hand-me-down.

I am hoping with all my heart this show does not fritter and waste the talent of Amy Smart as so many shows and films have before, but so far not a lot of luck.

So far, four episodes in, I'm enjoying it more than I expected to. I like it very much, but I do not love it.

[schneefink]

One of my favorite Flash fics is An Internal Affair, this is what I would like more of in canons and fic about the relationships between superheroes and cops and the public.

[owlmoose]

Interesting! I will take a look.