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.

Set Pieces

• The Laboratory scenes where it's more from CSI than shows like Luther

1.  In the laboratory scenes the things that mostly occur are the investigation on evidence picked up from the murder scenes or autopsy could tie into this. Most of the technology is based around the laboratory where small evidence that can find the murderers are investigated.
2. The laboratory plays a part where it shows the technical side of investigations where more intelligence is needed to analyse evidence. Sherlock encounters the laboratory only once during the three episodes in the series and that was for a small section of time so not all detectives use the laboratory
3. The iconography used is that mainly scientists would be found in the laboratories
4. The audience pleasures here are that you know they are close to cracking the case because they have enough evidence to take to the laboratory, analyse, and hopefully find a few suspects
5. Formal language would be used in the laboratories since it consists of more intelligent, mind thrown apparatus and machinery.

Sherlock
• The Interrogation scenes

1.  There is always a tense moment in the interrogation scenes, whether the suspect is smart themselves in this case seen in Luther & Sherlock, or somebody who tells a pack of lies to the detectives.
2. The interrogation plays the part of creating multiple suspects which makes the audience think of who else could be involved in the murders and how they carried them out.
3.  
4. The audience feel tension and step into the detectives shoes too because they begin to tangle clues together to try and crack the case themselves whilst behind the television screen.
5. Formal and informal language could be used in this case. Mainly formal by the detective and a recurring use of informal language by the suspects

Sherlock
• The Eureka moments which is seen in crime dramas like Colombo

1. In these scenes the detectives usually seem thrilled with themselves and are happy they've found a piece of evidence
2. It plays the part of bringing the case to a halt and beginning to know now that the case is over and they have found who has the the murder(s). In some cases this can string between several episodes until the murderer(s) are found.
3.  
4. Sometimes the audience were right on who the murderer(s) were and that emphasises the point that not only do the characters get engaged, but the audience does too. The eureka moment illustrates a sign of success to the audience and they feel happier in themselves in a way that the case is over
5. Informal/formal language is used

• The initial crime scene investigation

1.  There is usually a dead body found by the investigation team and there would be police, doctors, pass-by's and detectives around the scenes. The main detectives (e.g. Luther, Sherlock, Horatio) are usually around the dead body, investigating on the spot how they were killed
2. This is usually at the beginning where the investigation begins and the tension builds up rapidly between the death and the suspects.

• The arrest/confession
• Crime flash backs

• The chase/action sequence

• Notification and next of kin
• Autopsy mainly in CSI because they're more on the technology side

• Press conference

28/2/12 Dexter

Dexter has now been getting help from Jordan Chase who is practically his guru. They're spending more time together to get use to each others and having an insight in each others lives. His life is turned upside down however with the sudden arrival of his step-daughter Astor and her friend Olivia. They're drunk and have lied about where they are. Astor is refusing to tell Dexter what she is up to or why she is acting in such a bad of being drunk. She is also convinced that Lumen is Dexter's new girlfriend. Lumen has a conversation with Olivia that puts the girls in a new manner to escape from the house. When the girls disappear from his house, he fears that Chase is on to them and the girls have been kidnapped. Dexter is forced to reveal to his colleagues that he's been seeing Chase and they also learn about Lumen, who Dexter describes as his new flat mate. At the station meanwhile, Debra has been assigned to work in the filing room and comes across some startling information about the barrel girl murders. She also learns about Quinn's suspicions of her brother. Quinn has his own problems with Stan Liddy, who refuses to spill the beans. Dexter is an anti hero similar to Luther. He has a sense of anger some of the time and is very smart when it comes to cases. He is an intelligent detective too similar to Sherlock because he thinks of the technical side and has a different approach to finding murderers in comparison to people like Horatio.

21/2/12 NCIS

The Naval Academy's grand graduation was just about to fall that night when NCIS special agent Lara Macy's body is found near a campfire on the beach.

The agent, officially had her throat slit. She was apparently focusing upon a suspicious officer Kaylen Burrows who, according to Macy's laptop, was an uncooperative rape victim.

College student Tyler, son of Randall Hammond, was a prime suspect to the murder. His alibi didn't make any sense and then Burrows was beaten up by Burrows' fellow service members which put the case on the Hammond's even more. Tyler and Randall Hammond both harassed and assaulted Burrows but didn't kill anyone since they then found out that Macy was killed by an army knife so it wasn't tied in to her rape suspicions either.

This clicks straight to main man Gibbs and he realises that he dealt with a case that could be tied to this one also so he calculates who will be their next victim: Mike Franks. Gibbs quickly heads to the bar where Franks would be going and on his way stumbles into a body in the sand. But was it Franks? No, but Merton Bell. He suddenly gets cornered and disarmed by Lieutenant Dean who was Bell's right hand man and was linked to the death of Macy. Gibbs ends the episode by saying "Who are you really working for?"

7/2/12 The Wire

At this point in The Wire, a man named Omar Little who is homosexual with three partners during the show but this ironically doesn't hold back his status because Omar is one of the most feared people in West Baltimore, where most of the Barksdale Organization operate. The Barksdale Organization is a gang ran by Avon Barksdale which eventually gets folded and turns into Stanfield's Organization.

Little is a man who takes the drugs off people in the street and throws it away for the better but hates and wants to kill Marlo Stanfield, the leader of Stanfield's Organization. In this episode you see Omar walk down a road of drug dealers and they all run, leaving their drugs, so Omar puts all that in the bin and calls out for Marlo to come out so he can kill him.

Prior to that Omar Little walked past a few kids around a stray cat, teasing it. But Omar didn't care and just walked off but all the kids ran away from Omar apart from one, Little Kenard. Kenard is a part of Namond Brice's little circle of friends also known as the Fayette Street Mafia who used to run under Barksdale's Organization.

Omar walked in to the local chemist and as he was talking to the shopkeeper, Little Kenard comes in and shoots Omar Little in his head, immediately falling dead. Kenard looks shocked and fearful so he checks if Little is dead. He realises he's killed him and drops the gun in horror and runs away from the scene.

On the government side of things during this episode, the Major Crime Unit & Homocide Unit try to cut down on Marlo Stanfield to get more information to indict him.