Telly Talk: Jingle all the way

You know how really violent crime dramas end up on daytime TV? After watching the first episode of Rizzoli And Isles, I’ve got a theory. It’s the soundtrack. If you’ve got The Who screaming ‘Who Are You?’, there’s a bit of grit in your gunpowder. There’s sawdust on your floor, septicemia in your bloody wounds. However, cast your mind back to the soundtrack of Doogie Howser, M.D (YouTube it if you can’t remember) and that Casio mood reflector sets you straight that everything is really likely to be tied up within the 45 minute to an hour slot and you might even get a bit of learning and growing in there too. You could even tilt your head to one side with a finger pressed to the side of your chin to fully illustrate that really you’ve been thinking and now you’ll practically have a thought bubble over your head saying: ‘Ponder’. Yup, this is what Rizzoli And Isles does.

I did wonder how it was that a crime series based in Boston starring strong female leads from both Law & Order and NCIS could set the scene jogging in the park, meet up with award-winning television actress Lorraine Bracco, and then witness the assassination of a state senator – and still feel like everyone could happily burst into smiles at how cute the ‘ting’ on the microwave was. In actual fact they manage to incorporate a touch of flirting in the interrogation room, jolly joshing with colleagues and the casual information that the cultured one – for clearly one of these two law ladies is cultured and the other has street smarts – has a dad who’s a mob boss. You’d think it was a tad incongruous in the police stations we’ve become accustomed to thanks to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Homicide: Life On The Street and The Wire. Clearly this is a very different beast. It takes its moods from a Casio.

“Tell the writers not to pull a muscle stretching for that original dialogue”

With exchanges like: “I wrote about 100 emails to you when I was in the hospital, more when I was in recovery.”
“I never got them.”
“I never sent them.” – I want to tell the writers not to pull a muscle stretching for that original dialogue. But the cast aren’t bad. The plot, so far, is entertaining. And despite the fact that the soundtrack is overly invasive and almost threatens with an alternative option of ‘90s harpsichord it’s so old school keyboard, the opening episode was still engaging throughout. If very silly indeed.

Actually, that’s the thing. This is very silly, and not bad at being very silly – but it could be so much better. With this mob background, strong women in roles of power, and investigative police work that also raise social issues, my main problem is the shame that Lorraine Bracco, having just lost her peach of a long term co-star – albeit not for some time – in James Gandolfini, is now in this. That all of the cast and development people, now have this. It’s not bad, but it’s a shame. Now I finally understand those old school reports: Could do better.

Rizzoli And Isles, Alibi, Thursday 22 August 2013
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