K-ville premiere
Yes, we watched it. And, frankly, I thought it was pretty good. But keep in mind I don’t usually watch prime-time TV. I also have to remember that what passes for reality here in New Orleans would be considered usually far too bizarre for acceptance by a larger TV audience. What we accept daily would be erased, fixed, rejected or otherwise considered out of bounds nearly anywhere else by mainstream society in the US. It’s one of the main reasons we live here.
My 21-year-old son has come up with a drinking game to go along with the show. Basically, the viewer has to take a drihk when:
1) Someone utters a New Orleans idiom (” Where y’at?” “Yeah, you right,” etc) — one drink tonight for using “neutral ground.”
2) When a car chase goes impossibly from one area to another much faster than really possible (such as tonight’s chase from the FQ to Algiers in like 40 seconds).
3) Whenever Katrina or “the storm” is mentioned.
4) Whenever devastated neighborhoods are shown
5) Whenever gunfire erupts (multiple shots from the same gun don’t count).
6) Whenever Louisiana food is presented or mentioned.
There are a few other rules I forget for now. But I counted 14 drinks in tonight’s show (not that I took them all. Really).
Anyway, I liked the episode and will watch again (though it will conflict with the Saints game next Monday night). There was enough reality in it (or at least plausibility) that it’s worth it for now. They’re contributing to the local economy and keeping things out there, so it’s okay by me. I just hope they don’t overdo it.
Most unbelievable scene tonight: a drive-by shooting at Jackson Square and the crooks get away. C’mon — in Real Life, they’d have become hopelessly clogged up behind misdirected tourists, an RTA bus and a carriage horse taking a dump on Decatur. Do you know there are River Road mansions literally around the corner from the CBD? That streetcars run to the Lower Ninth?
Most believable scene: NOPD officer drinking a double bourbon while on duty.
Related posts:
How did they get from the Quarter to Algiers with the Gretna Police Deaprtment blocking the bridge.
Yeah, it was packed with bad cliches (which I love) and logistical impossibilities. but it was also full of references that are far too obscure for the mainstream american audience to understand, which goes with what you’re saying about it being too bizarre for a regular TV audience.
Unfortunately I think once you strip away all the local points of reference, good location shots, interesting scenery, and all the other New Orleans “flavor,” you’re left with a pretty bad cop show. Oh well. I just hope I get to be an extra on it before it’s cancelled.
P.S. Jazzy voodoo gumbo gris gris po boy neutral ground.
I liked the “momenim” reference early on. That was good.
Jambalaya, dude. Etouffee.
Are you really suggesting that “..they’d have become hopelessly clogged up behind misdirected tourists, an RTA bus and a carriage horse taking a dump on Decatur.” means the NOPD could actually catch them? You must be assuming that the cops wouldn’t be sitting in their cruiser’s A/C talking on a cell phone and would actually get out of the car or do something.
If they show really wanted to be realistic, then, assuming they catch someone at the end of an episode, then next episode should start with the suspect from the previous episode being released. The same suspect could be in every third or fourth episode for several seasons. They could even cut production costs by reusing footage since things won’t change that much.
I’m just sayin’.
There was lots with which to quibble (and some to like - Anthony Anderson is a good actor, and I liked his relationship with his family in Atlanta), but the biggest false note was…fat.
C’mon, Hollywood. We are a People of Size. On the real NOPD, Anthony Anderson would be a middleweight, but all the other cops on the show had 33″ inch waists. At the fancy party, everyone was slim and in their 20s.
You know us, with all our “gumbo parties” - we could all use a little Jenny Craig. Particularly now that we’re all carrying around the Katrina 15.
I damn do double sure thank you for shooting this in New Orleans, and not trying to tart up Toronto with some Spanish moss and pass it off as Louisiana. Just for doing that, you’re aces in my book.
But…realistic body sizes. Yeah. And while you’re at it, throw some Creole folks in there.
Love the drinking game idea! My favorite when I was in college was the Iron Chef drinking game.
http://attheparade.blogspot.com/2007/09/branding-of-city.html
From what I understand this first episode was just to draw viewers in; for the rest of the season they’re going for what the producers describe as “absolute gritty realism.” The plotline for episodes 2-8 involves Anthony Anderson and his partner sitting at the Fontainebleu/S. Broad/Napoleon three-way and giving bogus traffic tickets to anyone with out-of-state plates, with a subplot concerning a long, bitter disagreement with their supervisor about overtime authorizations. They will spend about half of each episode sitting and filling out redundant paperwork by hand, because there are no working computers. For the season finale they go to a GUMBO PARTY and get drunk and shoot their guns in the air.
I got a kick out of the “BlackRiver” mercenaries; that was a pretty thinly veiled jab.
i must be the only soul that can’t muster up the ‘umff’ to watch it.
i just can’t. i’m a weenie. :(
Ummm. Community Coffee muffuletta. Um. Streetcar.
Skinner: He’s gradually getting away, Chief.
Wiggum: Ah, let him go. I have the feeling we’ll meet again, each and every week. Always in more sexy and exciting ways.