katee sackhoff: why bother

Recognizing what has been obvious to Battlestar Galactica fans for some time, NBC has OK'd Katee Sackhoff as the lead for a pilot, knowing that Sackhoff has what it takes to be front and center for a series. The problem is the series itself: a Dick "Law and Order" Wolf production about "an offbeat female LAPD detective" who can't get along with her superiors.

Sackhoff has a quirky quality that needs room to move outside the norm ... she needs something actually offbeat, not generically offbeat, and let's face it, recalcitrant detectives are nothing but a stereotype. Even the female angle is nothing new any longer ... when I used Sara Paretsky as the focus for the final chapter of my dissertation, it was with the understanding that the female heroine transformed the genre. But Paretsky's first novel came out in 1982, and the female heroine is no longer unusual (definitely not on TV, where a lot of terrific middle-aged actresses like Glenn Close, Kyra Sedgwick, and Holly Hunter are finding homes even as the sexist/ageist situation continues in American films). In short, a series about "an offbeat female detective" who "butts heads" with "higher-ups" is the exact opposite of "offbeat."

Sackhoff's BSG character, Starbuck, is itself an offbeat female character, and you could argue that Starbuck is pretty generic herself. But the BSG series is complex and ambitious ... Starbuck is only one element in that show, and because she exists within a fictional environment that places traditional elements in unusual circumstances, she works more as a commentary on the angry young hero than as simply a generic example of the type. Also, while women in roles previously taken by men is old news in the world of detectives (literary and televised), Starbuck's gender was actually an "offbeat," even controversial move, since in the original series, Starbuck was very much a man and the fan community wasn't happy with the gender switch at first. Starbuck is fascinating in the context of Battlestar Galactica ... a similar character in Yet Another Dick Wolf Series is terribly mundane, even for someone like me who has every confidence that Sackhoff can pull it off and deserves her own series.

If NBC wants to copy Sackhoff's past, they ought to look at their crappy Bionic Woman remake from last season. Pretty much the only good thing about the show was Sackhoff as a demented alternate bionic woman ... she stole every scene she was in, and made the actual lead actress seem as dull as unbuttered toast. Give Sackhoff a role that is more than "offbeat" ... let her be a complex, even disturbed, individual, let Sackhoff run with it ... she showed on Bionic Woman that she has a remarkable ability to make us want to watch her, even when she's being unlikable.

I love what I've seen of Katee Sackhoff. But she's not very traditional in her appeal. She's very pretty, but not perfect (like the Bionic lead was, for instance) ... she's got a huge mouth and a great laugh that, combined, really wins me over but which gives her an exaggerated look, offbeat if you will. She's a wonderful blend of butch and femme ... you believe that the same person could kick your ass and prance around in an evening gown. She's like an American Michelle Yeoh, if Michelle had added swimming to her accomplishments as a dancer, resulting in a more muscular upper body.

I'm going to watch this new show if it ever makes it to the screen, but my expectations are limited. I shouldn't complain before anything has actually been made, but I sure wish the powers that be could come up with something more interesting than this show. But then, The Shield looked pretty generic when it was first announced, and they've managed to produce one of the great cop shows ever, so I'll shut up and withhold judgment for now.

Comments

[You Know I'm Still Pathetically Out of Work]

Don’t you just adore it when replies are longer than your actual blog entries? Good: long ramble ahead.

Whenever I hear about a cop show featuring a quirky lead, Lady Blue pops instantly to mind. Remember that? Me neither, really—never watched it, plus it lasted half a season. Starred Jamie Rose, who later wound up in... geez... Chicago Hope, maybe? I can’t remember. The WikiPedia entry says it all: “Katy Mahoney is a female homicide detective in Chicago that tracks down delinquents and other suspicious characters, using harsh methods that are not entirely ethical, but get the job done.”

That sucker ran over 20 years ago, so couldn’t we say by now that this genre has been heavily worked over? I like “quirky,” “homicide detective,” and, even more so, “female,” but (a) without the quirks, shows of this nature tend to have a cookie-cutter quality, and (b) the quirks have gotten to be awfully “samey” also.

Like you, I like cop shows—courtroom dramas, too, and combinations of the two. And I tend to best like them “gritty.” I get the sense, though, that you and I have maybe a 50 percent overlap in the cop/lawyer shows we watch. Hill Street Blues was terrific, to the point where I actually trusted L.A. Law to be equally good—one key difference between the two being that the former never really got silly, except on purpose. And though I like Dennis Franz a lot, I’ve never watched NYPD Blue. I don’t know why, and I don’t feel as though I’ve seriously missed out. (It should go without saying that I never took a look at Cop Rock, either.)

For the last, I dunno, five years, I’ve spent a lot of time watching the Law & Order shows, even the really awful Trial By Jury incarnation, and while I still like them—well, the other three—they clearly aren’t as good as they used to be. One thing that seems to happen a lot is, the cops will say stuff about procedure—forensics stuff, for instance—that should be pretty well known to the viewer. I can’t think of a specific example, but it’s as if, during every broadcast, a baseball announcer told you that a two-strike foul ball isn’t a strike, unless it’s a bunt.

Recently I’ve started watching the CSI shows, but I’m pretty sure that’s ’cause I’ve watched the L&O shows to death. The CSIs are... okay. The forensics stuff is cool if often improbable, and sometimes the stories are interesting, but the shows themselves feel awfully—for want of a better phrase—soft. And yet, I’ve never watched The Shield and certain others (that can’t be described as soft), usually because something in the previews turned me off. (And, only on your recommendation, I watched the first season of The Wire a few months ago, and indeed it was very, very good, but I haven’t had a yen to watch subsequent seasons.)

As I’ve told you, a lot of the cop shows I watch are the U.K. ones that show up on BBC America or KTEH, and often the main characters are people who work with the police, such as Cracker or Wire in the Blood, which I think are brilliant. For whatever the reason, they seem to understand “quirky, gritty cop show“ over there better than we do over here. (Also, it feels like there’ve been maybe 100 actors in the history of U.K. TV and movies, so after a while, I’ll find a series with two or three actors I know I like, and watch it on that basis. But I digress.)

Now, one thing I’d like to know is, do people like both The Closer AND Saving Grace? I know you’re big on Holly Hunter, but she sets my teeth on edge, so I’ve never watched her show; and yet, I’d never cared for Kyra Sedgewick before The Closer—I mean, she‘s good in her role—so go figure. I like her supporting cast as well, especially J.K. Simmons, who’s in everything anymore.

But my main point—and here you were, wondering if I’d ever get to a point of any kind—is, when networks produce shows based apparently on the assumption that “quirky female detective butts heads with brass” equals “hit series,” you’d think that part of the initial creative process would involve somebody somewhere sitting down with several other shows fitting that description and make lists like:

a. Stuff that works: Consider using some of these elements
b. Stuff that doesn’t work: AVOID
c. Stuff that has been done to death: AVOID

Granted, I don’t know what would work in the sense of being quirky in a new and interesting way. The aforementioned Wire in the Blood works partly because of compelling storylines, but mostly because of the somewhat complex and uncomfortable relationship between the male lead, a psychologist and profiler, and the female lead, a detective he works with who’s in charge of lots of other detectives. The characters aren’t simple: the guy’s not merely Brilliant But Weird (though he is both), and the gal’s not merely Tough But Tender (though she is both). What seems to happen too often with other shows is that the characters just don’t have enough facets, and even a great storyline often isn’t enough to save a show.

[Steven]

I suspect most network execs think A and B, but ignore C ... they don't care if it's been done to death, until it reaches the B level of no longer working.

I like Holly Hunter, but I gave up on Saving Grace ... cop show too basic, religious angle not my cuppa tea. Watched The Closer for five minutes once, got turned off by Kyra Sedgwick's accent, never went back.

[You Know I'm Still Pathetically Out of Work]

Oddly, that’s part of the reason I don’t like Hunter: the accent, which she’s tried to disguise in some movies but can’t. (Her actual voice tone, plus the talking-out-of-the-side-of-the-mouth thing... also nul points.) I too can live without the accent Sedgwick (you’re right: one E) uses, and I don’t see a strong reason for the character to be from the Deep South, except to reinforce the fish-out-of-water angle, which probably would still be clear if she had only come from Omaha or Indianapolis or somewhere a bit less accent-dependent. They also have the character’s parents on from time to time, which is a bad idea in this case.

By the way, I was thinking about the show In the Heat of the Night, which I watched for a couple of seasons because Carroll O’Connor was such a good actor. But this led me to think about the movie, which I’ve seen maybe twice. At the time, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to rent it, because both Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger have the same effect on my wife and me. That is, they’re very good and all... but so intense, and for some reason this just cracks us up. We often react the same way, since you asked, to Ron Silver, Avery Brooks, Mandy Patinkin, and others I can’t think of.

[Steven]

I liked Avery Brooks in Spenser for Hire.

[You Know I'm Still Pathetically Out of Work]

Spenser is one of those I never, ever watched. Ditto MacGyver. No doubt I could think of a few dozen others that everybody else in the world has seen. Weird, considering the sheer amount of TV I watch....