Three decades on TV with one character

Quote: odiousgambit

If it's Americans writing those reviews, what they want in their police shows is a lot of mindless brandishing of weapons. If the police bust into a room and point pistols about police academy style, it thrills to no end, apparently.

There's a show called Midsomer Murders that's
a Brit hit and I find unwatchable. Every episode
seems the same, the cops tripping over so
many dead bodies you lose count. The area
of Midsomer attracts every killer in England.
After 4 eps I gave up, way too dumb.

Quote: A Fond Farewell To `Inspector Morse' February 22, 2001|By John Koch, Boston Globe.

And here is the irony, or paradox, of Morse's popular and critical success.

Episode to episode, the plots aren't the most suspenseful or artfully fashioned mysteries on TV or movie screens. They're often riveting in the early going, but they can become too crazily webbed to make strong sense or sustain conventional crime fiction tension.

"Inspector Morse" is arguably the best character-driven detective series in the history of television.

By any standard, "Morse" is a classic, and there are many reasons why. High on the list, of course, is the perfectly tailored fit of actor to character, a combo that has created an illusion almost more real than life itself. "Morse" addicts know what I mean.

Colin Dexter, the novelist who invented the Morse character 12 years before John Thaw began to play him on TV was devoted to the actor. He would never permit another actor to play the part when Thaw died. Endeavor, features the character at a much younger age, so Dexter relented.

But Endeavor had a pilot in January 2012 and Morse's character died in The Remorseful Day (1999) while the actor John Thaw died shortly afterwards in 2000.

"Episode to episode, the plots aren't the most suspenseful or artfully fashioned mysteries on TV or movie screens. They're often riveting in the early going, but they can become too crazily webbed to make strong sense or sustain conventional crime fiction tension."

Not exactly a strong endorsement. It's what
I find at fault with Poirot. I enjoyed them at
first, but in mid series they become cookie
cutter-ish, it's hard to stay interested. I kept
wanting them to be over already, for Poirot
to sweep in and explain everything. I still
have at least 20 ep's to go, I don't know
if I'll ever get to them. It's very hard to
write mysteries and keep them fresh and
interesting. You almost need a gimmick,
like Columbo had.

I just started watching House on Nflix. It's
a different kind of mystery show, they have
to figure out how to save a patient every
episode. I watched 3 of them and am very
disappointed. There is a team of very young
cute doctors in their 20's, who seem to have
the experience of doctors in their 50's. Very
off putting.

Then there is a mean, nasty, crotchety Brit
actor with an American accent playing Dr
Know-it-all. He's rude and awful to everyone,
which is not in the least bit charming or
cool. All 3 ep's I saw were the same theme,
just different stories. People loved this show,
it's way too mindless for me, I actually FF'd
thru the last half of the 3rd ep I was so bored.
And I really wanted to like it.

Quote: Evenbob

"Episode to episode, the plots aren't the most suspenseful or artfully fashioned mysteries on TV or movie screens. They're often riveting in the early going, but they can become too crazily webbed to make strong sense or sustain conventional crime fiction tension."

They have far more characters than you would see on most cop shows in the USA. They also have a habit of running three or four stories that are disconnected at first, until the "reveal" when you find out that they are all related.

I think Simon Pegg was having a little fun with British conventions as well as American conventions in Hot Fuzz. At one point he is standing up in the police station shouting that all the deaths are connected and nobody sees it.

Quote: Pacomartin

They have far more characters than you would see on most cop shows in the USA. .

NCIS is a cop show. The reason for their
success is they keep the non regular
characters to a minimum, instead having
most of the spotlight on the stars of
the show. We're emotionally involved
with them, we care about them. We don't
care about people that show up and are
gone. The chemistry between the main
characters is what's kept it number one
for so many years.

It's what kept Poirot interesting, the relationship
between the inspector, his secretary, and his
detective. For some reason they got rid of
of them and the show was never the same.

Quote: Evenbob

they keep the non regular characters to a minimum,

Not the British detective shows. The last Lewis had three principal actors, a few recurring roles, and about 10 guest stars in the finale. It is difficult to keep track of all the new characters every episode.

Kevin Whately ... DI Robert Lewis - ALL EPISODES
Laurence Fox ... DI James Hathaway - ALL EPISODES
Clare Holman ... Dr Laura Hobson - ALL EPISODES
Angela Griffin ... DS Lizzie Maddox (12 episodes primary recurring character)
Steve Toussaint ... CS Joseph Moody (6 episodes minor recurring)
Nicholas Jones ... Philip Hathaway(3 episodes minor recurring)
Sally Scott ... Nell Hathaway (3 episodes minor recurring)

Mali Harries ... Sarah Alderwood
David Warner ... Donald Lockston
Oliver Lansley ... David Capstone
Tristam Summers ... Adam Capstone
Zoë Tapper ... Elizabeth Capstone

Ian Puleston-Davies ... Frank Guitteau
Lynda Rooke ... Joyce Guitteau
PeterDe Jersey ... Andrew Dimmock
Emerald O'Hanrahan ... Kate McMurdoch
Tosin Cole ... Djimon Adomakoh

Quote: Evenbob

"Episode to episode, the plots aren't the most suspenseful or artfully fashioned mysteries on TV or movie screens. They're often riveting in the early going, but they can become too crazily webbed to make strong sense or sustain conventional crime fiction tension."

Not exactly a strong endorsement. It's what
I find at fault with Poirot. I enjoyed them at
first, but in mid series they become cookie
cutter-ish, it's hard to stay interested. I kept
wanting them to be over already, for Poirot
to sweep in and explain everything. I still
have at least 20 ep's to go, I don't know
if I'll ever get to them. It's very hard to
write mysteries and keep them fresh and
interesting. You almost need a gimmick,
like Columbo had.

I just started watching House on Nflix. It's
a different kind of mystery show, they have
to figure out how to save a patient every
episode. I watched 3 of them and am very
disappointed. There is a team of very young
cute doctors in their 20's, who seem to have
the experience of doctors in their 50's. Very
off putting.

Then there is a mean, nasty, crotchety Brit
actor with an American accent playing Dr
Know-it-all. He's rude and awful to everyone,
which is not in the least bit charming or
cool. All 3 ep's I saw were the same theme,
just different stories. People loved this show,
it's way too mindless for me, I actually FF'd
thru the last half of the 3rd ep I was so bored.
And I really wanted to like it.

House is the very definition of cookie-cutter mysteries. Every episode has much the same formula. I found them okay TV, but really not designed for binge watching at all... it became super obvious how similar each 'mystery' is each time.

Morse is a slightly creepy, lonely man. The shows are slow-paced and cerebral. I think Morse fails and makes far more mistakes than what was typical of a lead detective at the time, and he does have a penchant of 'chatting up' people aligned to the case; and getting involved when he really shouldn't. Some of the episodes have definitely become dated, but I enjoyed them none the less.

Cookie cutter or no, you can't not like House. Jesus Christ, my whole world is falling apart here.

Even if you're a bit put off, at least stick it out through season 4. You will be greatly rewarded...

Quote: TheCesspit

House is the very definition of cookie-cutter mysteries. Every episode has much the same formula. I found them okay TV, but really not designed for binge watching at all... it became super obvious how similar each 'mystery' is each time.

The main story line was about the relationship between House and Wilson. To a lesser degree, the relationships with the other characters as well, especially Cuddy.

The mystery was just their job.

Oh, the surprise is that House ends up being a rather good friend.

Quote: Face

Cookie cutter or no, you can't not like House.

It's worth watching, no question. Once. I didn't find it compelling enough to watch reruns.

For an illustration of the cookie cutter nature of the mysteries, see the Simpsons ep when Homer gets a wind turbine to power the house. There's a scene where there's no wind, so Bart is up on the roof moving the blades, asking Lisa when it's his turn to watch TV. Lisa answers something like "When House finds out what's wrong with his third diagnosis and moves on to the right diagnosis" or something like that.