The Chicago Code

The problem with Chicago Code and the other dramas getting the axe? Well, this story doesn't come out and say it, but if you read between the lines, the problem is America is getting dumber. So dumb, in fact, that we're scared off in droves by 30-second show-explainers off the top:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-0512-drama-20110512,0,7051380.story

 

This is true for me. In fact, I often found myself getting lost during The Chicago Code when I would do this. I thought the show stuffed a lot in to 40 minutes. Now, I would just pay a little bit more attention to the show rather than give up on it.

But plenty of shows people liked were canceled before their time well before the Internet distracted everyone. The Chicago Code was promoted more than the Royal Wedding and placed in a great time slot. It just wasn't good enough.

 

I do think American television viewers have, sadly, gotten dumber. That explains why many terrific TV shows are canceled before they should've been -- Studio 60 is, in my opinion a good example of this, but many disagree that it was a quality show -- but this is a chicken-and-egg phenomenon, at least in part.

Great TV shows won't let you be distracted. Try to play iPad Scrabble or chat on Google Talk while watching The Wire or Breaking Bad. I've started watching a great show while fiddling with my phone or laptop, then put the device away after the show grabs me. If it doesn't grab me, then it's more an indictment of the show or that particular episode than, I think, me.

Rather, I think it was Chicago code itself that had to be dumbed down for Fox, which, yes, is a byproduct of the dumbing down of American TV viewers. Therefore, to a viewer more accustomed with quality on cable channels, its slow development leads us to reach for another distraction to pass the slow time ... which then causes us to miss vital parts of the story, become bored or confused, and then to give up.

I am firmly in that generation in which something must be happening at all times to keep my attention, but I simply don't have that problem if the show is good (well-written, well-acted and actually has a beginning, middle and end to the season/series, not just an episode). I didn't think Chicago Code was good enough, and in this case, I don't think it was America's fault -- at least not directly.

 

If the Code was written as a 13-ep season for basic cable I think it would have done better. The political intrigue did seem dumbed down, hell they barely scratched the surface of Chicago, Northside v. Southside, Catholic v. Protestant... I was really hoping it would go deeper than it did. After reading a biography of Richard Daly (the original - American Pharoah) - you really had a sense of the city.

 

Can anyone that watched last night's episode tell me what happened to the third Irish mobster in the warehouse kicking the shit out of the undercover cop? Wisosky shot one of them, his partner shot another, and they never showed what happened to the third. Did he just run away and escape or is it something they conveniently forgot to show us, hoping we'd not notice?

 

One surrendered and another went with the daughter to the hospital.

 

I really hope Chicago Code gets picked up on cable (FX, anyone?). I just think it has a lot of potential.

 

I read something that said it was too costly to be picked up. Apparently, a decent portion of it is shot in Chicago, which I guess is rare and expensive.

 

Shawn Ryan has tweeted that they've been trying, but not getting their hopes up.

Too bad, because that last episode was solid. Of course, it came right after the show got the axe.

 

i'm not at all embarrassed to admit i'm gonna miss this show. so character-driven dramas only begin hitting their stride after 13 eps. flawed? sure. but the acting was so stellar, the characters were becoming so compelling, i'm among those hopeless romantics clinging to whatever shred of possibilities remain that 'chicago code' gets a second life from f/x or showtime or wherever.

so much better than 90 percent of the drek we're offered.

 

Shawn Ryan says F/X won't pick it up - they are all about creating their own programming and not picking up other shows. No idea who else he might be pitching it to, but he tweeted that they needed to get a good rating for the finale to have any kind of chance.

 

The finale was indeed solid.
I'd love for them to get a second season to see where they take it.