I Was Looking Forward to "The Chicago Code". Now, I'm Just Pissed Off.

Cafe Society
1

The Chicago Code is a show that will air on Fox (where else?) in February.

While cop dramas are not tops on my list, I was actually looking forward to this show. I’m a Chicagoan, and it’s being filmed here, and I always love seeing my city on TV. It also promised some down and dirty corruption porn, which is fun sometimes.

So, I took a closer look at a trailer of the show today.

One of the hooks is that the new Chicago Police Commissioner is a woman.

Now, before I go typing all sorts of unpronounceable sounds of frustration and anger, I want explain myself fully by asking you to reason to yourself, if Chicago were to choose a woman Police Commissioner, what would she look like?

Would she be a short and raspy-voiced battle-scarred police veteran of about fifty who looks like Florence Halop from Night Court?

Would she be a rotund but wise earth mother type in her forties like S. Epatha Merkerson who’s been on Law & Order forever?

Or would she be some twenty-something model bimbo who spends three hours a day on make-up alone?
Well, guess who’s the new Commissioner?
Now for my unpronounceable sounds of frustration and anger:

AAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGRRRRRRNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!! YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCNNNNNNGGGGGGGGAAAAAARRRRRGG!!! WHY CAN’T JUST FOR ONCE YOOOUURRRRRRGGGGHHHNHHNNNNFFFFFFF!!! FUCK!

There, that’s out of the way.

I write this piece in a futile effort to highlight the supreme insult that average looking women are unworthy of media attention, and therefore do not exist.

Fuck you, Hollywood. If you stopped masturbating for just one minute, you’d realize that Police Commissioners generally don’t look like “Hustler” fodder, and they certainly aren’t twenty-five years old. Quit fucking up my suspension of disbelief!
P.S. Yes, I realize Jody Weis is not a bad looking guy, but at least he has beady little rat eyes and fake hair. Besides, he’s an outsider, not a Chicagoan.

2

Jennifer Beals is a few years shy of 50. Nice try though. And big bonus points for the arrrrrgh, I really felt the oppression of women for a second there.

3

:confused:

…Jennifer Beals is 47. Do you think that is an unrealistic age to be a commissioner?

You could have at least named her in your OP instead of making people google search and make guesses.

4

To further make your OP look like a pile of insane ramblings, Jennifer Beals is also a native Chicagoan.

5

It does sound young, but not unrealisticly so.

6

She still looks like a bimbo.

And she must be doing a LOT of maintenance to look like that at 47.

7

…so you accept that she is not "twenty-something model " hustler fodder then? Jennifer Beals is a great actress: I just watched the trailer and was wondering what made you think “bimbo” because I’m not seeing it.

8

Jennifer Beals neither looks nor sounds like a bimbo. She’s an intelligent, Academy Award-winning actress who is, yes, beautiful, but who also looks like she could beat the shit out of criminals and snot-nosed OPs.

9

At least they make the point in the previews that she was appointed to the post because the big bad guy thought that she would be light on substance and easy to control. Maybe that doesn’t assuage your irritation with having Beals in the role, but I’m always happier when at least an attempt at an in-universe explanation is made.

10

Hey, she’s attractive and of a reasonable age for the role. That seems like a win-win to me.

11

Whatever. 47 year old bimbo.

Excuse me, I must now go picture Phil Cline in a thong in order to balance out reality.

12

She seems like a fine choice for the role. I like her in Lie to Me.

But, what did she win an Academy Award for? Nothing shows up on her IMDB page. I don’t remember her having an Oscar type movie role. Of course, I didn’t connect her to Flashdance based on the appearances on Lie To Me. In fact, I didn’t realize the ex from Lie to Me was the same actress from Flashdance, until I read this thread and looked up Jennifer Beals. Crazy! So, I might have missed something over the years.

13

Ah, I screwed up, it wasn’t Jennifer Beals I was thinking of (please don’t ask how I brain-damagingly got Marlee Matlin and Jennifer Beals mixed up, the answer won’t make sense). Looking at her IMDB page, I’ve only seen 6 movies she’s been in (My Bodyguard, Flashdance, Vampire’s Kiss, Devil In A Blue Dress, Roger Dodger and The Book of Eli).

She still seems like a good actress, and tough.

14

Jennifer Beals is starring in this new program? Count me in as a future viewer.

I love that gal! However, I was disappointed that her character in “The L Word” never showed her breasts on-screen. Drat!

15

It is true that S. Epatha Merkerson was in her forties when she started on Law and Order, but by the time the series ended she was pushing 60 (and looked it, I’d say).

But yes, TV (especially American TV) is sodden with “lookism.” Who knew?

16

On the age question as point of reference:

Kathleen O’Toole was 50 when made commissioner in Boston.
Heather Fong was 48 when she got the top job in San Francisco.
Ella Bully-Cummings was 46 when she became chief of the Detroit Police Department.
Cathy L. Lanier was 37 when she became chief of police in Washington, D.C.

So 47 seems fine.

17

She also co-starred in “The Bride” with Sting, which was an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”

18

Others have cleared up the issue of Beals’ age. So I’ll add that she’s a Yale graduate.

Her bimbo credentials seem pretty slight.

19

Nope, still a bimbo. Bimbos can be smart. Bimbos are all about the look, and how their looks affect how they get what they want.

20

Here’s a set photo. Certainly screams “bimbo” to me.

Sure, she’s more attractive there than the average human female, but almost everybody (even the “ugly” ones) on TV is more attractive than the average human of their gender. But we’re not talking L&O ADA territory.