No, I haven’t run out of original title ideas. As some of you may have seen, I recently wrote a similar post about the plight of the highly rated but severely overlooked NCIS. The truth is that your response to my article left me pleasantly surprised, while at the same time thinking about all of the other shows still being left out in the cold. I know that you were, too. So, I figured, why don’t we shine the spotlight on some of our other favorite shows that we tune into week after week, but don’t really think about in between?
First up is Cold Case on CBS. Like with NCIS, my wife and I were late to the Cold Case phenomenon, but very quickly became serious fans. Two or three summers ago, with little or nothing to watch on TV, we set about trying new shows, recording reruns of a variety of comedies, dramas and procedurals. We joined Cold Case in the middle, but thanks to TNT marathons, we saw about 100 episodes in a ridiculously short span of time. Sure, the cases can get cumbersome, and they use the term “cold” rather loosely, but just as with NCIS, it’s the team that makes the show go boom (!).
I love Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris). Paler than Casper on his deathbed, Lilly is just an all around knockout-punch of a character. Until very recently, I never felt as if they were feeding her story-lines just to give her something to do. Except for this thing with her father, her watching him, following him; all of a sudden they pretended as if she’s been obsessed with him all along. It was not introduced very well. But beyond that, what’s not to love? (Sorry, honey, I mean feel strongly positive about.) First of all, she’s a little slutty. Okay, totally makes sense with her being the daughter of an alcoholic single mom who paraded men through their home all the time. Her fear of commitment? Thank you, MIA dad. Even when she was in a serious relationship, it was dark and unhealthy, and when that wasn’t the fault of the guy, it was the fault of the inappropriate nature of their commingling (like with Kite the A.D.A., or that criminal biker.) But when she’s on the job, no one does it better. In fact, I’d love to see her team up with Hotch from Criminal Minds, just to see how well they’d run a case together. Or maybe Reid. Hmm … Sorry, where was I?
Don’t get me wrong; I have no complaints about the other members of the cold case squad. Lil’s partner, Scotty Valens (Danny Pino), is her perfect equal. And, Valens and Pino are both terrific at what they do. By the way, anyone ever see the movie Eurotrip? Well, even though Valens grew up hard, there are a lot of times when he shows his naivete, when “Scotty doesn’t know.” That’s okay. Because even if he doesn’t know … And talk about dark and unhealthy relationships! Hello crazy suicidal chick, hello Lil’s sister, hello married lady (seeing Tania Raymonde from Lost on the show is just weird.) Hey, maybe Scotty does know something.
Every lead and her man need backup, and Cold Case does not disappoint, with three detectives and their Lieutenant rounding out the main cast. You know, I don’t know where he’s been hiding, but someone needs to “discover” John Finn, who plays Lt. John Stillman. Dude’s awesome. I mean, I enjoy a good Captain Cragen (SVU), but he doesn’t hold a candle to Stillman. When he “retired”? I was seriously depressed. Couldn’t leave the house for weeks. Upon his return, I stood up and proudly said, “Oh Captain, my Captain.” Um, Lieutenant. Well, whatever. I didn’t actually do it, but you get the point.
For some reason, these police shows always have an odd number of supporting detectives. I guess they mix and match depending on the situation? I don’t know. But unlike the revolving door on SVU, the Cold Case three have been a pretty stable crop since day one. There’s Nick Vera (Jeremy Ratchford), grizzled at a young-ish age, who always sounds as if he just needs to clear his throat. Or buy a lozenge, or something. But no, I happen to really like his gravely intonations. Although, it’s interesting, because you’d expect the sound to be coming out of Will Jeffries’ (Thom Barry) mouth. The man must be something like 150 (looking 40), and you can just imagine him sitting down on a stage somewhere and playing the meanest trumpet, blues guitar or harmonica that you’ve ever heard. This guy looks and acts like he stepped out of the 1930s. And, he interacts with Stillman as if he’s been on the job 40 years longer than the Loo. Cool guy, just a bit of an enigma.
And then there’s Kat, played by the lovely and amazingly talented singer, Tracie Thoms. Every time she appears on screen, I wait for her to start having a sing-off with Idina Menzel (Thoms was in the movie version of Rent, for those of you shamefully scratching your heads.) While I think that Thoms is (unfortunately) often the odd-man out, I did appreciate the writers exploring her back-story in the last year, with a visit from her ex-con ex-boyfriend from back in her undercover days.
And not to give Vera short shrift: he happens to be one of my favorite characters on the show. His arc with the fantastic Sonja Sohn (Kima from The Wire) was inspired. We really saw what kind of man Vera was, more so than during the few scenes between him and the wife who started the series already on the way out. I think Vera’s relationship with Toni (Sohn) could have been really great for the show, and the potential between him and Toni’s son Andre (Oren Williams) was limitless. Actually, the last time we saw Toni, Vera was going back to her after a long time apart. We definitely didn’t receive any closure there as far as I can remember.
Beyond the core six, the consistency gets thin. There are few other characters who carry over from episode to episode, but that never really feels wrong. Sure, there would be other cops who worked at the PPD all that time, but who cares? Like on Criminal Minds and NCIS, this is an independent unit that needs little from anyone outside. Lilly’s men come and go (Kite was okay, but I can’t look at Bobby Cannavale anymore without seeing his character from Will & Grace, whom I did not enjoy), as do Scotty’s women (did the mystery behind Elisa’s death ever get solved? Because it’ll be “cold” soon enough, if not), but no one from the outside has ever really staked a claim to a significant role on the show. And there ain’t nothing wrong with that.
The other great thing about the show is that you don’t have to really be watching to be watching. Most often the case is ancillary to what’s really enjoyable about Cold Case; the cast. And the crew. Because, while they may not fully understand the meaning of “cold”, the show makes the “case” that it’s one of the most solid hours of television around, week in and week out. (Eww, that was ugly.) And you can Rush that all the way to the … aw, forget it.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 30, 2009 @ 17:00 EST5EDT
