Yeah, I think if I were a crime scene investigator, I'd hate that series, and I'd probably drink, too.
I'm not a crime scene investigator, but I do drink and, while I don't particularly hate the shows, I don't particularly like them, either.
On a macro level, it's bad enough that the growth of unnecessarily grotesque and violent crime shows on prime time has got everybody in a wild, unjustified state of paranoia over the odds of them being victimized, but now here's a franchise of shows that provide them with a wild, unjustifiable belief that Big Brother can solve any crime.
I'd rather they were watching The First 48, where they'd learn that most murders are tawdry and sad, and that real police work is systematic and tedious and doesn't always result in a conviction. And that most investigators are dedicated and hard working but not particularly telegenic, with one obvious exception.
On a micro level, the CSI shows aren't fantastic enough to be sci-fi, but they're way too ridiculous to be straight crime fiction, either, and the intense, sudden zooming in on microscopic evidence reminds me of Dr. Tongue's 3D House of Stewardesses.
And, on a comic level, Pros & Cons cartoonist Kieran Meehan has begun doing story arcs in which the gags are less made to put you on the floor each day than to build a structure of absurdity that increases through the week. You ought to be reading this strip every day anyway, but these arcs really improve if you come in at the beginning so you can enjoy the growing lunacy.
Kieran is one of the best talents out there!
Posted by: Sandra | 05/23/2011 at 09:42 AM