I have just about watched all the way through Chicago Fire, which I turned after Chicago PD. (I have to say I like the firehouse far more than the bullpen of the Intelligence Unit) I am on the hunt for my new thing to “watch” while I am on the treadmill, or doing my weight routine.
There are two prerequisites a mystery, or a crime story needs, to hold my interest for any length of time.
The first is a sense of locale. I like to feel I am moving through an actual place. I used to watch NCIS New Orleans because I enjoyed the glimpses, most often from aerial shots and street scenes, of the Crescent City that I have visited and loved. I did not expect realism in the stories- after all it was an American primetime cop show, but there were occasional moments of “I know that part of Armstrong Park, or yes, I bought a beignet there!”.
I’ve never been to Australia, but while running, and huffing and puffing through the first three episodes of NCIS Sydney I appreciated the shots of the harbour.
The second thing I need, in any kind of story, is for at least one character, often the protagonist, to present, or represent an interesting way of looking at the world that seems to be a factor in their decision-making. Simply put, the character has to have “character”, and be driven by a code, or a set of values.
Jethro Leroy Gibbs, in the earliest iteration NCIS had that in heaps. We heard about it weekly, in the rules he recited to his trainees. The guy had a code, and his broodiness left the impression each tenet was learned the hard way. (I wrote that in the past tense, revealing I gave up on that show years ago- but did enjoy it, back in the day.)
TV showrunners and writers often seem to mistake misanthropy- an apparent dislike of other humans, for depth of character. Most cop shows have at least one really crabby investigator, who turns out, over time, to have “good reason” for apparently being sour on most all other people. This short-cut will hold me for a while, but if I don’t see hints of an actual back-story, or an interesting point-of-view in the present, they will lose me.
The most interesting character to me, in NCIS Sydney is medical examiner Dr. Roy Penrose, played by William McInnes, who also played my favourite character on the long running Australian cop show Blueheelers.
In Blueheelers, McInnes played “Sgt. Schultz”- and yes there were occasional Hogan’s Heroes references. Schultz was a tragically widowed officer who drew on his well of grief to show great empathy for victims of crime, expecially children.
In NCIS Sydney, McInnes plays the broody and slightly disengaged medical examiner who seems to have suffered loss. He is presented in one scene listening to melancholy music that sounds like a lament for a lost wife.
I wonder if the American casting crew knew about Schultz.
So many great mysteries on British TV. Now for me it's Brit Box and my favourite is Vera. Then comes Shetland.
Your theme is so resonant ... I find myself watching anything with an Aotearoa/New Zealand setting because of a remarkable month as a scholar in residence (I know it sounds pretentious. It wasn't) I go to be there. Also agree on long ago Gibbs. Gave up regular TV when we moved so Sydney will have to wait until some streaming service picks it up.