Topic: American Culture
"Dude, What's Up With These Cop and Spy Shows?"

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Seriously, there's over 20 current TV shows... what's up with them?

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by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
(libertarian)
Friday, April 10, 2009

I recently resigned my job in Shanghai, China and repatriated to Pennsylvania.  It has been a bit of a reverse culture shock, and I keep most of my posts on message, but this is a little weird.  

I don't watch TV, but my family does. Recently, I was trying to read while this cop show "The Mentalist" was on.  Someone wanted to switch channels and lo and behold it was just another cop show.  I got curious and started asking how many cop shows there were, and was surprised to hear a list of over 10 rattled off. Here's the results of a 2-minute brainstorm... geez.

1. 24 (FOX) – A Federal Agent can't afford to always play by the rules. As a member of a counter terrorist unit, he must stop bombs, viruses, assassination attempts, etc.
2. NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigation Service (USA) – Team operates outside of the military chain of command under a highly skilled investigator and interrogator who is smart, tough and willing to bend the rules to get the job done.
3. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS) - An elite team of police forensic evidence investigation experts work their cases in Las Vegas.
4. CSI: Miami (AETV) – Same as above but in Miami.  (Pete)
5. CSI: NY (SPIKE) – Same as above but in NYC.  (and Re-Pete)
6. Law & Order (TNT) - The show follows a crime, usually adapted from current headlines, from two separate vantage points police fieldwork and in the courtroom. (Fascinating.)
7. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (USA) - The crimes they deal with are painful, emotional, disturbing, horrific and scarring - and every day there's more of the same... (Sounds pretty boring)
8. Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA) – Stars a detective hellbent on getting inside the minds of the city's worst criminals in order to bring them to justice. (Booooring!)
9. Southland (NBC) – Stars a rookie cop intent on solving crime and adapting to life as a cop.  (Ooo, drama!)
10. Bones (FOX) - A cynical and lonely forensic anthropologist and a cocky FBI agent partner up to solve long-ago murders. (Now this sounds fun!)
11. Monk (USA/NBC) – A "defective detective" with a obsessive-compulsive disorder who investigates cases the police can't solve to pay the bills with a single mom.
12. Castle (ABC) - A famous mystery novelist who is initially called in to help the police solve a copy-cat murder based on his novels teams up to solve murder cases with a young, attractive female detective.
13. The Shield (SPIKE) - The story of an inner-city police precinct where some of the cops aren't above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.
14. Psych (USA) - A young crime consultant for a police department whose "heightened observational skills" and impressive detective instincts allow him to convince people that he is psychic.
15. The Mentalist (CBS) - A mentalist turned private investigator uses his skills to help the police.
16. Life (NBC) - A former police officer returns to the force after having been wrongly imprisoned for years.
17. In Plain Sight (USA) – US Marshals keep people in the Witness Protection Program alive.
18. Burn Notice (USA) - A spy recently disavowed by the US Government uses his Special Ops training to help others in trouble.
19. Chuck (NBC) - When a twenty-something computer geek inadvertently downloads critical government secrets into his brain, his former college friend turned CIA recruits him as a secret agent, all while keeping him out of evil hands.
20. Medium (NBC) – A wife and mother of three works at the District Attorney's office and uses her psychic abilities to help crack criminal cases.
21. Saving Grace (TNT) - An angel offers a jaded Oklahoma City police detective the chance to redeem her life.
22. The Closer (TNT) – A female police chief runs a homicide division with an unorthodox style and obtains confessions helps her and her team solve the city's toughest, most sensitive cases.
23. Cops (TRUTV) - Follows real-life law enforcement officers from various regions and departments.

I thought I would ask to see if any brave souls will tell me why there are at least 23 spy/cop TV shows on?  Is the viewing public supposed to be fearing for their collective safety?  Is this a result of content meeting consumer demand, or the mainstream media setting the tone for the population?

At least it's still an improvement over China.  There are only a few state channels but no matter what time of day it is, at the gym they always had on a pro-Communist military soap opera.  Usually the "valiant" forces of Mao overcoming the mighty Japanese "bastards" type of deal. What was a bit shocking was one day at a friend's home they turned on some scenes of trench warfare to occupy their 3-year-old son.  Geez.

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©2009 Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Friday, April 10, 2009
Last modified: Friday, April 10, 2009

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