CBS debuted “Cold Case” last night. A female detective in Philadelphia finds herself assigned to “cold cases,” cases which are old and going nowhere for whatever reason. In the debut it was mostly because the detective assigned the case originally died. The case was ripped from two years’ ago’s headlines, the murder of a teenage girl with suspicion falling on the scion of a wealthy and influential family (Martha Moxley anyone?).
Stuff I liked was that the lead had pretty much no softness about her at all. Usually female leads on investigative shows are “hard on the outside, soft on the inside.” c.f. Cavanaugh, Jordan from “Crossing Jordan” for a prototypical example. I guess the audience won’t find them “likable” if they’re not cuddly and vulnerable inside. No softness showing on this chica. She’s as cold as the cases, which is great. Loved it when she walked up to the mother of the victim and said “so you’re just going to forget about her?” Sweet.
Stuff I didn’t like was the intercutting of the younger with the older actors portraying the same character. It seemed gimmicky and forced, and I hope it’s not something that’s going to continue.
Stuff that surprised me was the level of language used on a show on CBS that aired at 8:00 eastern. The dialog included “jacking off,” “prick,” “asshole” and a character flipped off another character. I’ve never heard those words in prime time except on NYPD Blue and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use that gesture on network TV, certainly not on a show airing that early.
I think I’ll give this one a couple of more weeks based pretty much entirely on the lead actress. Anyone else?
I watched it since it was set in Philly – but it was glaringly clear that the people making the show came through town, shot a little stock footage, and left again. For instance, you don’t go downtown in Philly, you go into center city.
I thought it was okay with the potential to be interesting – I’ll watch it a few more times to see how it gels. It’s on against “American Dreams” (also set in Philly), which is one of those shows I watched regularly without being invested in, so if it doesn’t grab me, I’ve got a default show for that timeslot.
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*Originally posted by Otto *
**Stuff I didn’t like was the intercutting of the younger with the older actors portraying the same character. It seemed gimmicky and forced, and I hope it’s not something that’s going to continue.
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**I kind of liked that, and if they keep it to a minimum, I think it’ll be okay. I’m talking about the little morphing bits when Lily first meets the characters… it showed them as they were when the murder took place and then they turn into their older self. I thought it was kind of clever, and if it’s not overdone, it could be a nice touch.
No fucking kidding. I had the captioning on, and the “jacking off” bit was captioned as “jerking off” if that makes any difference. I know they’ve used the phrase “ass” before, but “asshole”? Especially on a show at 8:00? I don’t ever remember that one on network TV. That was a bit harsh. Also the gratuitously bloody triple murder right at the beginning. I caould hardly believe all this on a “family hour” show.
That said, I thought it was pretty good. I really liked all the 70s music, from Boston’s “Long Time” at the beginning, to CCR’s “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” at the end.
I’m really not a fan of the “ripped from the headlines” type of storylines at all, and from the previews, it was painfully obvious that this was just a rehashing of the Martha Moxley murder case. I think they better come up with some original stories, or people are going to get sick of it.
Sunday evenings are “Laundry Folding Time” for me, and since there’s nothing much else on, I’ll give it a few more weeks.
One minor nitpick: My dad lives in Philly, in Chestnut Hill, where this murder was supposed to have taken place. There really aren’t homes like that in Chestnut Hill. That type of huge home, on acres of land with tennis courts and pools are more Main Line type of homes. Ever see The Philadelphia Story?
I live in Philly and they shot the scene where the lead lady meets the mother on the street right off my street. They shut down 24th street for an entire sunday and gave us free parking for the day.
As for the show, I thought it was OK, but just a bit boring
I like “ripped from the headlines” shows (ie Law and Order) and overall I think it’s too soon to tell if it’s a good show or not but Kathryn Morris is so damn cute I couldn’t change the channel. I liked her powerful “I don’t take shit from anybody” attitude.
I am a little disappointed in seeing from the posts that they didn’t bother with accuracy in portraying Philly. That’s pretty damned half-assed.
I’ll keep watching and try to figure out if I have a school girl crush on Morris or if I really like the show.
The thing that got me was that the investigation of the case was spurred by a new witness, but her story didn’t help solve the case at all. All it was good for was to get someone to look things over again. It seemed like it should have been more important, not just a bland plot device.
I also expected the dead detectives theory of the case to be all messed up, requiring our heroine to find out who the real bad guy was. So I was surprised as it became obvious he’d been right all those years ago, and was just unable to prove it.
The closing montage, with music playing and rain falling, in which the two brothers were marched up the stairs to the courthouse while everyone there kept flashing back and forth from 40-something to teenager, was way, way too long. It gave the impression that she solved the thing too quickly, and they needed to fill out the hour.
I’ll give it a chance, but this one wasn’t too enchanting.
Jeez, was I the only person who found it laugh-out-loud bad? Maybe I expect too much … I do the same with CSI, but I thought this was considerably worse.
Yeah, that was a little odd. I kept thinking, “What about the maid?” All she did was say, “I saw a murder” and then we never saw her again. It seemed like she pretty much saw exactly who did it, but we never really saw her again till the very end.
I was expecting a twist, with maybe Melanie (the best friend, now wife of the boyfriend) to be the real killer.
Haven’t watched “Cold Squad” but I have watched a British version on BBC America (which is called “Waking The Dead”). The Brit version is much more a team effort, involving multiple investigators, a profiler who I find annoying in truly epic proportions and a two-hour format.
I agree. Also, I kept thinking “why don’t they have umbrellas?” I guess umbrellas would’ve spoiled the effect. And there were too many people standing around, I don’t think too many people would’ve known about the arrest yet.
I kept getting the two brothers mixed up. They didn’t give those characters enough personality.
The scene in the parking lot was riddiculous. What detective in their right mind would tell the lead suspect that they’re on to them, and as soon as they get a warrant, they’re going to search his Aunt’s property for the murder weapon?!?!
And then… What suspect in his right mind, would just throw his hands up and say, “okay, you got me. I’ll go make a statement”.
He should’ve hightailed to his aunt’s house and got rid of the murder weapon. Or even better, killed the detective! Then that would be the end of this silly show.
I thought the ending montage was too long and the music wasn’t really appropriate anyway. “Who’ll Stop the Rain” has as much to do with rain that falls from the sky as saltwater taffy has to do with the ocean.
Hey, Otto, I liked it for the lead but for (not surprisingly) reasons that differ from yours. Actually, haven’t watched all of it yet but it has potential to fit in the desert that is 8/7 Central Mondays (a slot that makes timeshifting from Sunday worthwhile). I am greatly relieved that she has “no softness about her at all” because I feared that slot on CBS would give us “Touched by an Angel” meets “CSI.”
I liked the lead character. The case was way too easy, and I really didn’t understand the flashbacks with the younger actors. The mom of the dead girl never flashed back. That bugged me, since I was all expecting flashing back!
I think my husband liked it more than I did, so we’ll probably stick around for at least a few episodes.
She told him that there were police watching the aunt’s place (“we’ll have a warrant in the morning and we’re sitting on it right now”) so he wouldn’t have the opportunity. They were standing in the parking lot of police headquarters so killing her was really not an option. Brother one made the statement to incriminate brother two and get himself off the hook, not knowing that brother two kept the letter jacket with brother one and the victim’s blood on it.
I made my husband watch it. He hated it, he said “what the heck did she do for that case? Nothing! She didn’t do anything!” and he is quite right!!
I found the show a bit boring too. I’ll give it another shot as I too, think it was bad to start with that type of a story (headline crap).
Was 8 pm it’s real time? I was surprised it was that early.
If it were a child’s drawing, it would have “stink lines” coming off of it.
Ridiculously contrived. Three characters seperately and spontaneously bring up little brother lettering in wrestling one year? Outside of the obvious connection to the smoking-gun evidence, why exactly does this seem important enough to mention in the context of a homicide investigation?
The production values are better than Cold Squad, but in every other regard it’s a poor imitation.
