My TV viewing anymore is pretty much limited to my various “reality” (sic) shows, plus a couple of dramas – but this is one of the few shows I look forward to each week.
I like the characters, and the little bits of their lives that we glimpse from time to time (who knew the captain was a Vietnam vet?), but also like that the main focus is on the stories. And I like the new female detective and the way they’re handling her entry into the team.
And I love the stories – the way they evoke a time and a place (and of course I love that the place is my beloved Philly – I geeked out totally last night when they were actually walking up Broad Street across from the Masonic Temple). They get a lot of the neighborhood stuff right, though there ain’t no freakin’ motels on Spring Garden.
And I like the time fades, of the people as they were then and as they are now – I thought it was gimmicky at first, but now I enjoy it. And I like the final montage of what happens to all the characters, not just the perp, after the case is solved.
I like the show, but don’t get attached to the brunette. She’s gone. (Unless you mean the young detective who is with narcotics now, the one who found the Vietnam POW bracelets.)
It’s the only cop show I watch, and it makes me mist up far too often, especially the one with the retarded young man and the bunny. sob
Nah, I meant the one from the Northeast who questioned the math teacher last night. Do you know or are you speculating that she’s not there permanently?
And, yeah, it can definitely be a tear-jerker – how about the one with all the brothers who kept getting killed because of the scooter the youngest brother won in a school essay contest?
I didn’t watch last night and TiVo didn’t record so I’m guessing it was a repeat? If it’s the season premier (with the baby in the trashcan) and there’s a brunette who Vera (the chubby detective) is cold-shouldering, then she’s the one who leaves after a handful of episodes. CBS chose to ditch her. I can’t think of her name or the actress’s name. I’m useless!
Aha – didn’t realize it was a repeat. Yes, it was baby in a trashcan. (Heh. Since one of my other regular shows is Medium [shut up!], I was thinking maybe you had some special pipeline to information here … )
I was wondering what happened to her. Was there an explanation? (Either in the show or in real life?)
The thing I like most about this show is that the characters actually seem to like one another. When I watch the CSI shows (especially Miami) or NCIS, the characters seem to hate working with each other, and are always looking for chances to score points. If I was working in that sort of environment, I’d be looking for another job. That brunette didn’t know how good she had it…
In the show, I think the boss guy (I can’t keep anyone’s name straight) says that she put in for some time off and then an episode later I think he says she requested a transfer. I could have this muddled, and they definitely didn’t spend much time on the explanation.
In real life, apparently the actor is annoyed because CBS just dumped her out of the blue. There were comments about it at television without pity. Sarah Brown is the name of the actress, Josie Sutton the character (thanks to imdb).
On the episode last week, there were too many unanswered questions (spoilers abound here):
How did the wife and remaining twin get away from the husband?
How did the policeman husband not hear about his daughter being found in the church?
Where did the wife go after that that her policeman husband couldn’t find her?
Wouldn’t the wife have heard about the policeman husband being killed and come out of hiding?
After he killed the policeman husband, couldn’t the boyfriend policeman have found the wife?
I agree completely with you, it’s a fine show, and glad you started a thread, as don’t recall it being discussed here before.
Began watching last year and feel so far it has kept up its quality this season too. Often very touching scenes and at the endings now and then I get something in my eye.
Clever plots, and the flashbacks seem very accurate for whatever time period they portray.
Often the likenesses of the young characters and how they look today are quite startling, but now and then it is amusing to see the older version of the character with entirely different ears. I read once that police always look at the ears in IDing people, as they never change and can’t be disguised.
i do enjoy this show. get the puffs plus ready, cold case is on.
so far the twin girls and the girl dying in the frat fire have gotten to me. i really hate, hate, hate, security bars. that episode really showed why they are a very bad idea.
there is a hotel on spring garden between 21st and 22nd. it has been there for ages and was called the ben franklin. it has changed hands quite a few times and now is a best western i believe. one wing is a dorm for temple during the school year. the other wing is always a hotel with the dorm wing becoming a hotel in the summer.
some people in fairmount get summer pool memberships there.
I often watch this show, and it’s pretty good. I like the ones that flashback to years when I was in high school, so I get to groove on that music again. But… it’s pretty formulaic (like most of the cop shows) and you can usually figure that the guilty party is the 3rd person they end up interviewing (or something like that).
I agree with the posters who are commenting on the “formula” – but hell, almost all cop shows have a formula. What makes this show different (from other stuff on US TV, though apparently not terribly different from shows on Canadian TV ) is the playing with the time element, which is what I enjoy so much – one episode is in the late '90s, the next in the '60s, the next in the mid-80s.
My beef is that they always seem to be able to find the people they need to talk to – no one has died or moved to Missouri. I tell myself that there are all kinds of cases the squad can’t close, and that they just don’t show us those, but it kind of bugs me.
Oops – and a big fat :smack: to rocking chair on the motel further out – I’d totally forgotten about that, I was thinking more of the stretch on the other side of Broad, down by Silk City and Poe House.
I like this show, but I’ve stopped watching it for a while. It’s just so sad. And there is no way that there will be an episode that isn’t sad. Anyway, I like the music…they usually pick appropriate music for the era of the episode. And the end where you see the murdered person’s ghost smilling and waving goodbye because justice has been done, well that’s just a nice touch.
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