This was a very good follow up episode. “Sometimes you’re funny, and then there’s now.” That was a great way to sum up Tergensen’s character, talk about a 180 degree turn from his roles on “Oz” and “Rescue Me.” Some suprisingly grizzly scenes between the one victim’s face being blown off and the dead bodies discovered in and around the pool. I also thought Cole’s advice to his son was well done and had a little more substance than the usual “Bullies are just crying for attention” type stuff you might see on other shows.
can’t believe people are suprised Gary Cole can pull off a non-comedic role…he was fantastic as the evil sheriff on American Gothic.
and I am glad I am not the only one that thinks that fellow looks like Phil Hartman!
I can’t be the only one who thinks that a couple of these actors are ruining a good concept. Some of the lines are so forced and some characters so poorly acted that it takes me right out of the show. I’m hoping it’ll be like my experience with Tilt. It had to grow on me. As the season wore on, the actors got more comfortable in their roles. I’m hoping this happens with Wanted.
F.T.W. Kid
Decent second show.
I’m warming up to the fast editing stuff (if thats going to be their thing).
Nice gore/violence for tv.
The chic is still hot.
I agree with you Moltisanti about the speech to the kid, handled well for a “message” moment.
Though FTW Kid is a kind of right, some of the acting, through bad dialouge, is kind of forced or lame, but I’ll give it a pass because it’s basic cable and not HBO (i know, i know, not infallible, can’t wait for Rome, hope it doesn’t suck. That just made me think, why doesn’t HBO have a show like this?).
They’ve got my interest for the season, unless they pull some weird crap.
**SPOILER** I like that unlike the show “COPS”, Wanted, at least this time, didn’t catch the bad guy. For a reality show COPS sure twists reality around sometimes. When is the last time you saw a criminal get away on COPS? During my internship with a sheriff’s office many people got away. **SPOLER**
The dialogue does stray into cheese territory at times, there is no denying that. But I think police drama has been perfected with THE SHIELD and there are more than enough cop shows either involving test tubes or tough as nails women. This type of cop show hasn’t been around in a while and there is a niche for it. But I am hoping the show can make some of the supporting cast seem more authentic and not as much of a cliche.
I also liked how one of the bank gunmen got away. It might be a bit tiresome to see that same old “establish and then catch the bad guys” at the end of every hour so leaving a few loose here and there is a good idea.
I didn’t see the premiere, but I caught the second episode last night with billylove. I told him I could see why he enjoyed it, as he likes playing those tactical S.W.A.T.-like games on the Xbox.
I certainly like Lee Tergesen a lot from his work on both Oz and the 90’s TV update of Weird Science, so seeing him on screen was good.
I am not exactly won over by the show, but I also never been a fan of cop dramas except for CSI, which I’ve been watching since the very beginning.
I think my viewership is also somewhat swayed by the fact that I’ve already got about 10-15 regular shows that I watch and record, so I don’t really need to get hooked into another, especially when several of them will be having their season premieres next month.
There’s an interesting article about the show and its creative process over at CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...ntv.wanted.ap/
Quote:
| LOS ANGELES, California (AP) – Wanted: a distinctive cop show. In a summer of usual suspects, Jorge Zamacona is on the case. The creator of TNT’s “Wanted” isn’t trying to “reinvent the cop wheel.” But he thinks his new Sunday series (10 p.m. ET), about an elite unit that tracks down the baddest guys in L.A., humanizes the relationships between cops. (TNT is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.) Armed with producing credentials that include the tough-minded “Homicide: Life on the Street” and the gritty prison drama “Oz,” Zamacona says his latest premise is “pretty simple, which I like: There’s a bad guy. We are going to get him!” “Wanted’s” cop squad, which is drawn from various enforcement agencies and assigned to nab the city’s 100 worst criminals, legally or otherwise, is headed by no-nonsense L.A. police SWAT officer Conrad Rose, played by Gary Cole. Cole, who starred in “Midnight Caller” from 1988-91 as a cop turned late night radio host, says he was attracted to the show’s “almost schizophrenic quality going between this real brutality and glimpses of my character’s domestic life.” He adds that later episodes are also exploring “some of the other characters’ personal lives, attitudes and values.” Cole credits Zamacona for setting the series apart. “It’s always all about writing and it just seemed these characters were very distinct,” he says. “Jorge is one of those guys who has an ear for dialogue that seems to be coming out of people’s mouths, as opposed to out of a typewriter.” Cole is waiting to shoot a scene in a seedy downtown alley for an upcoming episode called “Click, Click, Boom.” Working alongside his character are Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officer Jimmy McGloin (Ryan Hurst), FBI agent Tommy Rodriguez (Benjamin Benitez), LAPD high-tech expert Rodney Gronbeck (Josey Scott), and Carla Merced (Rashida Jones), a former Naval Intelligence officer who’s an expert hostage negotiator. Killed off in the July 31 premiere episode was Drug Enforcement Agency officer Joe Vacco, played by Brendan Kelly. His death in the line of duty was something Zamacona says he planned from the first draft of the script, “not for shock value, only because it’s a dangerous job these guys do. And I want it to be that from episode to episode – you don’t know what might happen.” The demise allowed room, beginning on next Sunday’s episode, for Lee Tergesen to join on as the anarchic Eddie Drake, a U.S. Marshal Service veteran who just happens to have had an affair with Rose’s estranged wife. Zamacona has been interested from the first in writing a role for Tergesen, memorable as abused and abusive inmate Tobias Beecher in “Oz.” But the actor was doing a play on Broadway when the pilot was being shot. “I needed a more sort of laconic, sarcastic, pain-in-the-arse guy, who could just upset the chemistry of everybody,” says Zamacona – referring to the character, not the actor. “Eddie Drake is sort of this loose cannon, funny, edgy guy, who has this really foolish, foolish mustache,” Tergesen grins, as he waits in his trailer for his day’s work to begin. He says his Fu Manchu-style facial hair was Zamacona’s idea – “and one of my rules is if you can’t act it, grow it.” Having worked on HBO’s rough and raw “Oz,” Tergesen admits that doing anything else on TV does feel a bit constricted. “That was really pushing things and outrageous. I’ll never get a script that will shock me the way those ‘Oz’ scripts used to shock me.” But he likes the “loose, seat-of-the-pants” methods of the “Wanted,” squad, and the cable series does give him some artistic latitude with its TV-MA rating for language, sex and violence. Zacamona was challenged at a recent press conference about TV’s escalating gruesomeness, and he says the question was upsetting. “I’m not after just sort of exploiting the misery of others to sell this show, or sell this team,” he says. “There is a violent world out there.” |
Watched the second episode last night. It enjoyed it.. I am gonna give this show a shot.
I too really enjoyed episode 2. So far, this show is a keeper.
They need to wipe out about half the squad, and they’ll be fine in the long run.
F.T.W. Kid
Slate’s Dana Stevens nails a big problem with this show:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2123638/?nav=navoa
Quote:
| If Wanted has one organizing theme—besides the casual deployment of graphic violence against children, which pops up conveniently whenever the show needs to up the emotional ante—it’s the show’s insistence that the members of its crack team operate outside of all known limits, and that anyone who has a problem with that is (and, usually, has) a pussy. Women on Wanted are consistently represented as the stick-in-the-mud party-spoilers whose talk of due process and civil rights is derided as so much touchy-feely psychobabble. After Rose performs an interrogation while holding the suspect’s testicles in a vise grip, a by-the-book DA (Karen Sillas) warns him that any information obtained via ball-crushing will be inadmissible in court. She accuses Rose’s team of “crossing jurisdictions and customizing state and local statutes on the fly.” “That’s actually a compliment,” Rose shoots back. |
Plus it’s poorly shot, acted and written.
Geez…its not fucking shakespeare.
Its obviously a testosterone driven show. As far as women’s role, the naval intelligence chick is holding her own and isnt just being the bitch that keeps the boys from having fun.
The seizure-like edits are bothersome, but all in all its decent.
I disagree about the acting though. Its serviceable. Its not going to win emmys but it gets the job done.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Fazer Its obviously a testosterone driven show. |
And when that becomes a replacement for characterization, you get Wanted.
Do you really want every cop show to play like a standard “Law & Order” procedural? That’s being done to death. The accusations made against “Wanted” are the same type of things that were said way back when DIRTY HARRY came out. “Miami Vice” was a great cop show and it was completely unrealistic. If anybody is watching “Wanted” looking to be informed on how law enforcement deals with “state and local statutes” they are watching the wrong show. I’d also say it’s a bit early to attack “Wanted’s” depiction of women after 2 episodes. The Naval Intelligence Woman is the one who figured out the motive behind the bank shooting long before her male partners in the last episode.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Moltisanti Do you really want every cop show to play like a standard “Law & Order” procedural? That’s being done to death. |
No, not at all. In fact, I’m no fan of procedurals. But I don’t see why a high-octane cop show necessarily needs to treat the law like a hindrance with no ramifications. And I’m not saying that cop shows shouldn’t explore that line. Just that Wanted does it spectacularly badly.
Quote:
| The accusations made against “Wanted” are the same type of things that were said way back when DIRTY HARRY came out. |
True, and, in some of those cases, they were on the mark. Dirty Harry managed to rise above those criticisms, though, because it was good. When you’re good, social criticisms roll right off. When you’re not, what else is there to talk about?
Quote:
| “Miami Vice” was a great cop show and it was completely unrealistic. |
However, it was not a great cop show because it was unrealistic. It was a great cop show because it was well shot and edited, comparatively well-acted, and fun. Wanted is none of those. It’s ugly and dour.
Quote:
| I’d also say it’s a bit early to attack “Wanted’s” depiction of women after 2 episodes. The Naval Intelligence Woman is the one who figured out the motive behind the bank shooting long before her male partners in the last episode. |
It’s not going to get any better. Trust me.
If you find it a poor show I can understand that. I doubt it’s ever going to get very deep or make the characters into more than they already are (though I’m fairly certain that the virgin cop will hook up with Naval Intel lady at some point). To attack it because of the writing or acting is worth doing, as it would be for every other show on the air. I just get a little bent out of shape when folks view shows like “Wanted” or even much better stuff like “The Sopranos” and look for underlying sociological slams they can make instead of judging its actual content.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Moltisanti I just get a little bent out of shape when folks view shows like “Wanted” or even much better stuff like “The Sopranos” and look for underlying sociological slams they can make instead of judging its actual content. |
I can understand that, but as I said in my later post (and as Stevens points out in the full article), the show wouldn’t even be worth talking about otherwise. And I don’t think that the point she was making is an unimportant one. The perception that due process is for “pussies” isn’t just prevalent in entertainment shows. I mean, fuck, that’s what Nancy Grace’s CNN show is completely based on.
And, again, I’m not against cop shows exploring the line between law and justice (I think the Shield does it quite well). But Wanted treats it like there is no debate. Like there are no possible ramifications of crossing that line, other than your job possibly being at risk. It’s irresponsible, and, in the absence of any artistic merit, it’s all that’s left to talk about.
I don’t think you can compare the fictional events in “Wanted” with the type of mentality seen on some of the various Cable news shows. “Wanted’s” portrayl of cops may be irresponsible but its not the show’s job to be responsible for sending a specific message, it’s only job is to be worth watching which is up to the viewer to decide. “Wanted” has so far established that its not about much more than tough talking cops and a lot of shootouts. Not every show should go THE SHIELD route, which is basically perfect already in regards to explaining the chain of command in law enforcement. But there is room for both in the exact same way that there is room for reading an Elmore Leonard novel while also enjoying a comic book.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Moltisanti But there is room for both in the exact same way that there is room for reading an Elmore Leonard novel while also enjoying a comic book. |
Speaking of pet peeves…I hate how “comic book” is the shorthand for “dumb”. Hell, I bought 5 comics this week that have better characterization than Wanted.
Anyway, you’re right, and I wouldn’t mind nearly so much if the show was actually, well, good.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by PodBayDoor Anyway, you’re right, and I wouldn’t mind nearly so much if the show was actually, well, good. |
That’s cool, the show will be judged as good or bad as it should be. Right now I think television is consistantly coming up with a lot of great shows with good writing and realistic characters. As much as I enjoy seeing those shows week in and week out I also welcome a program like “Wanted” which is trying to do nothing more than make you forget that the weekend is coming to a close.