I love me some police procedurals. That’s the technical term for shows like CSI, NCIS, Cold Case, Law & Order, etc. Given that there is one airing just about every minute of the day if you have enough channels, I’d say plenty of other people love them too. So I have the same questions I had about celebrities: why are we attracted to these shows? Every one has a gimmick – the crime scene stuff, the military stuff, the legal stuff, the cops’ personalities (David Caruso, I’m looking at you), even the medical stuff in some cases. These shows are so damn popular! Is it that they’re actually good? I don’t think so, they can’t all be that good. Sure, CSI (and spinoffs) is done well, so is L&O (and spinoffs). But Cold Case? NCIS? How have these been going for several seasons already when other shows with potential get canceled right away?
What really makes me laugh is that all the programs have a “deaf” episode. On Cold Case, it was . On the original CSI, it was , plus Grissom’s running hearing loss storyline. On NCIS, they haven’t had a deaf episode, but sign language pops up often because one of the characters has deaf parents. On L&O:CI the episode was called . On CSI:NY it was . On and on! I just love the deaf episodes. Somebody should collect them and sell the DVD with burned in subtitles or open captions.
I like those shows too! I didn’t know they had a technical term! I watch NCIS, CSI, and cold case.
I wonder if procedurals give us a sense that the world makes sense, that people know what they’re doing, that even in the face of horrible evil there are steps we can follow to deal with it.
I dunno. I just know I can have L&O on in the background 24×7, given the opportunity. It’s like popcorn, interesting sometimes, but generally unchallenging. And maybe that’s it — there’s a fixed structure to the shows (L&O, at least) that they can more or less rely upon.
(Just a wandering Blogathonner dropping you a comment.)
Thanks for the comment! And that is brilliant analysis IMHO. They let us feel that if something goes wrong, we’ll be found, it will be investigated, and someone will be brought to justice. Most episodes of all the shows end “happily” in some manner, and that lets us feel that somebody is in control, like you said.
Thanks for stopping by!