Post by Naj on Oct 11, 2004 8:07:10 GMT -5
Neal Justin Star Tribune
Neal Justin: 'Cold Case' will give you the shivers
Neal Justin, Star Tribune
October 8, 2004 NEAL1008
Crime shows currently clog 17 hours of prime-time network real estate, showcasing nosy coroners, shapely superspies, precocious teenagers and countless graduates of the Joe Friday School of Etiquette.
So why should you watch "Cold Case"?
Because it's the most effective downer on the market. Say you're feeling too giddy to sleep, or you accidentally OD'd on Red Bull. Just spend an hour with these graveside-mannered cops and you'll find yourself in the fetal position, sobbing yourself to sleep, in no time.
The mood is set by Lilly Rush, the lone female on the Philadelphia homicide squad, assigned to look into cases that have gone unsolved for decades. She's played by Kathryn Morris, a cutie-pie actress with a schoolgirl voice and crinkly eyes on the verge of giving you a big wink. But any desire to flirt is offset by her tousled hair, badly in need of a clip, and a wardrobe showing off the latest in drab. Rush almost always wears a dark-blue suit with a light shirt. Maybe she's allergic to red.
Kathryn Morris stars as a graveside-mannered homicide detective in “Cold Case.”She's not exactly shot in the most flattering light, either. The drama switches back and forth in time. To reflect the past, the directors use grainy black-and-white footage that looks like it's been run over 52 times by a bicycle.
Modern-day sets are as washed out and colorless as Rush's closet. It looks like the camera lens could use a few sprays of Windex.
Executive producer Jonathan Littman said the dark atmosphere sets the drama apart.
"If you're just flat and bright, you're not mesmerizing," he said.
Detectives Will Jeffries (Thom Barry) and Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris) look into unsolved cases.It is distinctive -- and cheap. A few camera tricks can't disguise the fact that all the "nostalgia" scenes are filmed on a studio lot. A 1970s disco from an episode last season looked less genuine than Greg Brady's attic bedroom. The police station is so white and pristine, it could double as a fluorescent-light store.
The producers have coughed up the bucks for music rights, using songs from such big-ticket artists as Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and Nine Inch Nails. But those artists mainly are invited to the party to help bring it down. An upcoming episode about a 1968 prison murder features tunes from Mr. Pep himself, Johnny Cash.
One could argue that "Cold Case" leaves you with a shiny-happy-people vibe since Rush and her team always solve the case and loved ones come to some closure, represented by Rush's fantasy scenes of ghosts reuniting with their families. I just find it really creepy.
One of these times, as Rush forces a sickly smile over the dream proceedings, her head is going to turn around, fire will erupt from her nostrils and she'll start chanting some undecipherable mantra or, worse, dialogue from the final episodes of "Twin Peaks."
Morris understands that she's not vying to be the next the one who's name we shall not say Jessica Parker.
"You know, cold cases are not exactly the most chipper kind of work," Morris said in an interview earlier this year. "She's not that perky about it because it's very serious."
Audiences have responded. Last year, "Cold Case" finished as the top new network drama, and CBS leapfrogged from fourth to first among 25-to-54-year-old viewers. Personally, I can't join the bandwagon, or should I say funeral line? If I'm going to spend an hour with dour detectives, I'll take David Caruso's Lt. Horatio Crane ("CSI: Miami"), whose heavy breathing is either hilarious or sexy (I can't decide which) or Jill Hennessy's Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh ("Crossing Jordan"), who uses her manic depression as comic patter, or Dennis Farina's Det. Joe Fontana ("Law & Order"), a welcome addition to the old-school drama, bringing a touch of charm to the beat.
Life is too short to add another crime show to the must-see list -- and I fear it'll even get shorter if that show is "Cold Case."
Neal Justin is at njustin@startribune.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Cold Case"
** out of four stars
When: 7 p.m. Sundays.
Where: WCCO, Ch. 4.
Neal Justin: 'Cold Case' will give you the shivers
Neal Justin, Star Tribune
October 8, 2004 NEAL1008
Crime shows currently clog 17 hours of prime-time network real estate, showcasing nosy coroners, shapely superspies, precocious teenagers and countless graduates of the Joe Friday School of Etiquette.
So why should you watch "Cold Case"?
Because it's the most effective downer on the market. Say you're feeling too giddy to sleep, or you accidentally OD'd on Red Bull. Just spend an hour with these graveside-mannered cops and you'll find yourself in the fetal position, sobbing yourself to sleep, in no time.
The mood is set by Lilly Rush, the lone female on the Philadelphia homicide squad, assigned to look into cases that have gone unsolved for decades. She's played by Kathryn Morris, a cutie-pie actress with a schoolgirl voice and crinkly eyes on the verge of giving you a big wink. But any desire to flirt is offset by her tousled hair, badly in need of a clip, and a wardrobe showing off the latest in drab. Rush almost always wears a dark-blue suit with a light shirt. Maybe she's allergic to red.
Kathryn Morris stars as a graveside-mannered homicide detective in “Cold Case.”She's not exactly shot in the most flattering light, either. The drama switches back and forth in time. To reflect the past, the directors use grainy black-and-white footage that looks like it's been run over 52 times by a bicycle.
Modern-day sets are as washed out and colorless as Rush's closet. It looks like the camera lens could use a few sprays of Windex.
Executive producer Jonathan Littman said the dark atmosphere sets the drama apart.
"If you're just flat and bright, you're not mesmerizing," he said.
Detectives Will Jeffries (Thom Barry) and Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris) look into unsolved cases.It is distinctive -- and cheap. A few camera tricks can't disguise the fact that all the "nostalgia" scenes are filmed on a studio lot. A 1970s disco from an episode last season looked less genuine than Greg Brady's attic bedroom. The police station is so white and pristine, it could double as a fluorescent-light store.
The producers have coughed up the bucks for music rights, using songs from such big-ticket artists as Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and Nine Inch Nails. But those artists mainly are invited to the party to help bring it down. An upcoming episode about a 1968 prison murder features tunes from Mr. Pep himself, Johnny Cash.
One could argue that "Cold Case" leaves you with a shiny-happy-people vibe since Rush and her team always solve the case and loved ones come to some closure, represented by Rush's fantasy scenes of ghosts reuniting with their families. I just find it really creepy.
One of these times, as Rush forces a sickly smile over the dream proceedings, her head is going to turn around, fire will erupt from her nostrils and she'll start chanting some undecipherable mantra or, worse, dialogue from the final episodes of "Twin Peaks."
Morris understands that she's not vying to be the next the one who's name we shall not say Jessica Parker.
"You know, cold cases are not exactly the most chipper kind of work," Morris said in an interview earlier this year. "She's not that perky about it because it's very serious."
Audiences have responded. Last year, "Cold Case" finished as the top new network drama, and CBS leapfrogged from fourth to first among 25-to-54-year-old viewers. Personally, I can't join the bandwagon, or should I say funeral line? If I'm going to spend an hour with dour detectives, I'll take David Caruso's Lt. Horatio Crane ("CSI: Miami"), whose heavy breathing is either hilarious or sexy (I can't decide which) or Jill Hennessy's Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh ("Crossing Jordan"), who uses her manic depression as comic patter, or Dennis Farina's Det. Joe Fontana ("Law & Order"), a welcome addition to the old-school drama, bringing a touch of charm to the beat.
Life is too short to add another crime show to the must-see list -- and I fear it'll even get shorter if that show is "Cold Case."
Neal Justin is at njustin@startribune.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Cold Case"
** out of four stars
When: 7 p.m. Sundays.
Where: WCCO, Ch. 4.
