27/3/12 Starsky & Hutch

The last crime drama I watched was Starsky and Hutch: Season 2, Episode 1 and it was surprisingly enjoyable and more drawing than other crime dramas like CSI. The introduction into the show is rather slow because the title sequence is around 2 minutes long, and for the fact the title sequence is before the actual murder is committed doesn't give off that sense of suspense other crime dramas achieve. It is very similar to Columbo due to the fact it's slow paced, there is no technology at-all used and they all are independent. The relationship between Starsky and Hutch is compared to brothers/twins: wherever you see one, the other one is not far away. There is no restrictive narrative so this engages the audience to feel as if they have a role in the show and try to pick up clues as they watch to also try and figure out who the murderer was. Furthermore the settings are always in upper-class, glamorous areas for instance, in this episode the murder itself was set in Las Vegas. Then the legendary chase scene in their Ford muscle car occurs and they capture the murderer. The episodes are usually an hour long so there is a small storyline being played in the middle alongside trying to figure out who the murderer was. In this episode this occurred when Starsky and Hutch were in the Casino and then got into a fight and ended up in jail.

20/3/12 Numb3rs

Numb3rs is one of the shows where you do not know who did the crime from the beginning but you know what sort of murder just occurred. This show is completely different to shows labelled and the only possible shows I can link this the slightest to is CSI and The Mentalist due to the fact the law are involved and empowered over individuals. Rob Morrow who plays Don Eppes and David Krumholtz who plays Charles Eppes are the two main protagonists in the show, both of which have different effective attributes. Don Eppes is an FBI Special Agent however Charles Eppes is a doctor who is a mathematical genius and psychologically helps to figure out who did murders, similar to the mind construction of Sherlock and/or Luther. Numb3rs is a pretty slow paced programme, leaving the whole show to find the murderer. There are many professionals including the police, lawyers, judges, the press, detectives and investigators.The setting is similar to that of CSI where it's glamorous and mainly set in busy areas. There is not many unique points to Numb3rs apart from that mathematics holds a key part when solving crimes etc.

13/3/12 Columbo

Prior to the previous weeks where there has been more action, modern series of crime dramas, this week I had a look at some old crime dramas, this time Columbo. Columbo, which starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, was a rather prime crime drama to influence many with Columbo's wit and intelligence to out-smarten and intimidate suspects. I think some shows such as Sherlock and Luther were influenced by Columbo with them being singular to themselves when cracking a murder. Columbo is different in many ways to these shows since it doesn't consist of whodunit's and the audience are already known of the murderer from the start, it's just the enjoyment of how Columbo cracks the case which is what makes the show so unique. The professionals involved Lieutenants (Columbo being one), Investigators, Medics, Lawyers & Police. Professionals such as SWAT team were not present at the time to take action as they do nowadays. The murders committed vary but are frequently homicide. A lab is not used to track evidence to the murderer, but more intimidation and using the mind is powered over technology. There is a restrictive narrative since we know who the murderer is before Columbo does. I would say the tone is humorous and glamorous because the streets are busy and mostly businessmen or people of importance are the ones committing the crimes. The pace of the show is rather slow because although we find who murdered the characters beforehand, the time it takes Columbo to solve the mystery creates tension throughout the entire show that extends the pace of the show.

Setting

The setting is significant to the crime drama because it displays the immediate sense of what sort of crime drama it is. When the setting is glamourous like CSI: Miami, the use of discovering the murderer is usually technology based however if the setting is gritty then most things are done independently with a group of people, hardly including technology and more use of the mind is involved. When thinking of a gritty setting it would connotate dirt, independence and anger. More violent, satisfied murders would happen in a gritty setting because of the fact the bodies would be harder to find and there wouldn't be as many suspects to call the police and catch the murderer. TV Crime Dramas like CSI consist of glamourous settings and murders are less frequent but are significant. When you think of places like Miami you instantly think of the beach, relaxing and having fun but when a murder occurs it is big news to a place like this. Miami is a successful city including many professions whereas a gritty area wouldn't have major jobs, but issues jobs like teachers and shopkeepers.

6/3/12 CSI: NY

This week I watched the crime drama csi new york, created by the same people of csi: miami. Mac Taylor is the main co-protagonist played by Gary Sinise, alongside Stella Bonasera & Jo Danville. Csi is a rather fast paced show because the crime committed occurs right at the beginning of the show and the rest of the show consists of the professionals trying to find out what and who killed the victim. There is always a recurrence of multiple suspects in csi to keep the audiences suspense in action and builds the tension up when there is a lot of clues and evidence found. There are many flashbacks where it re-constructs the murder of the victim and sometimes shows why some evidence was left and how it got there. Csi is more glamorous and stylish in comparison to fellow crime dramas like Sherlock and Luther and the setting of csi being in the city differs from the gritty, rural areas that consist in Sherlock. The professionals in Csi NY are the police, investigators, detectives, medics, lawyers, the press & judges. Many montages of murders occur during the show too. It is technology over everything, even human interaction in csi so there is only a slight chance of sight to see practical work done by the actual detectives rather than the technology taking the role of the detectives.