Fav TV Cop Show

[movieman1957]

Some of my favs include:
[bHomicide: Life on the Streets
Inspector Morse
[/b]r

"Homicide" was a great show and used its Baltimore locations to its benefit.

I like the "Morse" films and an=m currently working my way through them. There is an occasional miss but overall I enjoy them. I also like "Foyle's War" and "Midsommer Murders" to round out the British police dramas.

Have you watched any of the "Inspector Lewis" series?

[klondike]

"Homicide" was a great show and used its Baltimore locations to its benefit.

Didn't Richard Belzer's character of Det. John Munch on "Law & Order SVU" originate on "Homicide", and guess-star in cross-overs on the original "Law & Order" series back in the Dzundza days ?

[movieman1957]

Belzer did start on "Homicide." He also did the crossovers but they were when Jerry Orbach was on. Dzunda lasted only the first year.

[MichiganJ]

Didn't Richard Belzer's character of Det. John Munch on "Law & Order SVU" originate on "Homicide", and guess-star in cross-overs on the original "Law & Order" series back in the Dzundza days ?

Yup, I think he's the first character to move, not only from one series to another, but from one network to another. He also appeared as Munch in an episode of The Wire, which also takes place in Baltimore. Could be a conspiracy.

[klondike]

What memories on youse guys!!
Does Dick Wolf call when he gets crossed-up? Maybe he oughtta!

[movieman1957]

If he called me it would only be because he dialed a wrong number. But I bet I could help.

[jdb1]

I find the British mysteries to be much of a muchness, but I like seeing someplace other than America (and New York in particular - every US series seems to want to be in NYC these days, and if they don't tell it like it is, I have no patience with them). I also find the differences in police procedure and the legal system adds an element of interest.

I don't really like Inspector Morse all that much. As irrascible as John Thaw plays him, Morse is far more difficult and interesting in the books (also not anywhere near as attractive as Thaw). And Lewis in the books is a contemporary of Morse, not a younger man. It always poses a problem for existing fans of any book when someone else's visual conception of the characters doesn't match the author's or the reader's.

[rohanaka]

On the original I've thought they go many different places with a story even if the formula doesn't really change. One of the odd things about it was rarely getting into anyone's private life and you almost never see family members but you still get a strong sense of who they are. I always thought they had a real gift for finding some of the best "unknown" talent as well.

Hiya Mr. Movieman,

I have always liked the orginal L&O since I first came across it (in reruns during the middle of the afternoon on A&E about 12 yrs or so ago) I missed the first couple of seasons when they ran originally... I just did not seem to pay attention to them when they first came out.. but then after discovering them in reruns... I became a big fan. And you are right about the characters and how they are presented... ha.. the first couple of months I watched that show almost every day and I could not tell you any of the characters names.. but I LIKED them so much, it did not matter. ha.

My fave team has always been Brisco and Curtis.. I really liked the two of them together the best.. but I have yet to be disappointed by any of the pair ups they have had. But gee.. I sure do miss that Lenny. What a mouth. ha.

I have noticed some not so subtle changes in the last couple of seasons.. it seems to me they have gone the way of a lot of the other shows and gotten a bit more graphic w/ what they show (in terms of violence) I saw the two episodes they showed this week back to back.. and both of them had kids that had been murdered... and they spent way too much time showing what the bodies looked like.(one was stabbed, the other burned) I don't need that sort of "ick' factor... I guess it was inevitable, though with all the other shows out there. (and PS, I am with you on not being as "big" on the spin offs.. although I do like the Jeff Goldblum character on the Criminal Intent show sometimes.

One show that has been mentioned on here by some that I also am a big fan of is The Closer. I L-O-V-E love that Brenda Leigh. ha. (talk about "the mouth from the south, ha) She is like a female, southern belle, Columbo. I like that she is not "perfect" either. She has a TON of character flaws... but she is one heck of crimefighter.. all while wearing her high heels and floppy hats. ha. I wish the seasons for that show were a bit more regular... they have a lot of gaps between new and old repeat episodes. Or at least it seems like that to me.

[ken123]

Da team I favored on L&O was Brisco & Logan. SVU is good also.

[srowley75]

I guess of the older shows I have to choose Barney Miller. That precinct held the most intriguing group of unusual personages ever gathered together.

I concur with Barney Miller. I've recently watched a few episodes on American Life (or Nostalgia or one of those networks) and fallen in love with it again.

My sister and mother are addicted to Criminal Minds.

[JackFavell]

I still remember when the Barney Miller show went into more serious emotional territory - I think the first time they did that was my favorite episode - when Chano (Gregory Sierra) had to shoot a man. Instead of showing him moving on immediately like most of the cop shows of it's time, we saw a portrait of a man having a breakdown - a normal human reaction to having killed someone for the first time. It broke my heart.

[klondike]

My sister and mother are addicted to Criminal Minds.

Me too!
And let me tell ya, I resisted - at first it all seemed so big-format, and rigidly formulaic, and, I don't know - so post-Quinn-Martin-CBS . .
But I gotta admit, once the winning-over began (first the characters, then the scripts, then multi-episode subplots . . ), I found myself surrendering pretty quickly.
And I kept asking myself, what's CM's legacy?
Where had it descended from that helps it feel so fresh, and yet also, somehow, tauntingly nostalgic . . as if from a forgotten little path through the woods . .
Then I remembered . . . "UnSub" in the late 80's, "Profiler" in the mid-90's . .
Now it all makes sense!

[stuart.uk]

Some British Ones, some not known in America

The Sweeney with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman
New Tricks with Amanda Redman, Dennis Waterman, Alun Armstrong and James Bollam
Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren
A Touch Of Frost with David Jason
The Professionals with Gordon Jackson, Lewis Collins and Martin Shaw
The Gentle Touch with Jill Gascoine as widowed Inspector Maggie Forbes, who leaves the force to work as a private detective, who does jobs for The Home Office in spy thriller sequel Cats Eyes
Heartbeat, or shall I say the early ones with Nick Berry and Niamh Cusack (one of the Cusack's Irish acting dynasty)Cyril her father)as a London couple, he a Constable, she a Doctor move to a small village in the early 1960s. Nick sings the old buddy Holly song as the theme tune