'Chicago Code' cracked
I was sorry to hear that “Chicago Code” is about to be axed, as Luis Arroyave reports. It’s not because the show offered such a true-to-life depiction of Chicago police and politics (It didn’t).
I enjoyed the program mainly because I am a fan of Jennifer Beals. I've been rooting for her ever since she was one of the students I met at a Goodman Theater high school workshop to which I lectured many moons ago. Even then she was a standout talent.
She’s had a great career from “Flashdance” to “The L Word.” But in my view, she deserves better scripts than “Chicago Code” provides. Compared to the real cops and pols I’ve covered for a few decades, the dialogue and situations sound like they were dreamed up by a Los Angelean. Fuh-gedda-bow-dit.
For a less tone-deaf portrayal, check out “The Fugitive,” starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones--and directed by real Chicagoan Andrew Davis. It even weaves a real Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade into the action--or vice versa. Watch for Roland Burris, then Illinois attorney general, with Mayor Richard M. Daley marching in the background. Ah, the good ol’ days.
One "uh-oh" question, as you watch this YouTube video of the parade scene: What happened to Harrison Ford’s coat?
UPDATE: My long-time friend and colleague Mary Schmich reports a movement afoot to save the Code. I wish them luck, but I disagree with her sense that Mike Royko would have approved. I can just imagine the field day Slats Grobnik would have had recounting everything that's wrong with the show's depiction of the city Royko loved better than anyplace else.
(Photo: Fox)
I watched the last two episodes just to see what all the fuss was about.
Lame story lines. Casting unbelievable actors in roles that should be filled from the overweight and unattractive book.
And is anyone else, anyone at all, getting really really really tired of cop shows where law enforcement types take the laws into their own hands and mete out justice according to their takes on the situation? When did the law first start not applying to the cops of NCIS, CSI and now in Chicago Code? Was Dirty Harry the start of 'cops above the law'?
Posted by: kylie | May 22, 2011 at 08:11 AM