Mutation of the Television Police Drama through the Decades - Essay Example

?John Jones Marie Johnson Drama 101 23 October Mutation of the Television Police Drama Through the Decades Television has evolved in many ways since its humble beginnings in the late forties. The first TV’s had grainy black and white pictures on screens almost too tiny to see, with huge cathode ray tubes that constantly needed repair. One had to rely on “rabbit ears” antennas for reception, or very expensive outdoor aerials. Radio was still king in 1947 when there were only 44,000 televisions in the United States. They were also expensive; an advertisement from a New York store from ’47 shows the price for a twelve inch television to be $289.00. Based upon current adjustments that set would cost almost three thousand dollars today! It is interesting to note that same advert also listed prices for the above mentioned replacement tubes (Early Television). If it wasn’t already, the Kennedy assassination in 1963 showed the worthwhile effectiveness of TV. By then radio and television had done a flip-flop with one another, with radio becoming mainly a musical formal, while drama and other programming had become almost nonexistent. Television sets in America numbered in the millions and it is said that television caused LBJ not to seek reelection in ’68, stating in response to a CBS editorial on ending the Viet Nam war “If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America”. Color programming was prevalent by the late sixties. (Stephens) Yet neither of those eras would recognize the modern television, or even believe the new technology. The modern flat screen television is solid state and basically TV repair shops have gone away. Cable and satellite services with crisp pictures are the norm and even broadcast channels require a converter box on older sets. Even the set itself is said to be in danger, as those watching television shows via their computers have grown considerably in the first decade of this century. Even the programming itself has vastly changed. From Howdy Doody and Jack Benny in the forties, these days there is almost every kind of channel imaginable, for whatever subject one is interested in. Sports? Try ESPN, Outdoor Channel, and even specialty networks like the Golf Channel. Children are well represented also, as Disney, Nick, and Cartoon Network are all very popular. The Jack Benny style variety show is still around but quite different, with shows such as Saturday Night Live. History of the Cop Show. However, nowhere are things any more different than the police drama. The genre was pioneered on TV by Jack Webb, bringing his Dragnet from radio in 1951, and the show lasted for over twenty years. The show was indeed groundbreaking for its time with the show’s stars rotating between the various divisions. Dragnet was realistic because it was filmed in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Department provided advisors. Genres have come and gone but the police drama has been a constant. There has not been a season since 1951 that did not have at least one cop show. Indeed the genre is still popular, for the fall 2011 has eleven police dramas and one comedy featuring a police officer (Mike and Molly). This includes a hybrid mixture of the wildly popular reality series and gritty police drama, the long running Fox series Cops. In that show, a camera crew rides along with an actual police patrol and experiences the same comedy and moments of high tension that a policeman endures during his average patrol. Of course several of the most popular police dramas use a mixture of science and police work. Evidentiary procedure has come into the forefront of the American mindset, especially since the highly televised OJ Simpson murder trial. Therefore the crime scene investigator researching DNA and other scientific evidence to bring the killer to justice works along side the policemen on these shows. Some of the things that they show on the CSI type programs do seem a bit farfetched and police departments are quick to point out that crimes aren’t solved that easily or quickly. The real CSI rarely has a budget for expensive SUV’s and the equipment necessary for the quick DNA results. Usually it takes weeks for the matches that are miraculously done in a one hour show, which normally spans less than a week timeframe (Stine). Evolvement of Crime Itself. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has always also been a popular subject for the police drama with shows such as The FBI in the sixties and still is, as Criminal Minds being a well-liked and enduring show. As the Bureau doesn’t get involved in petty crime such as larceny, the shows have had to concentrate on Federal crimes. In the sixties it was mainly things like car theft, bank robbery and kidnapping, all popular offenses among the contemporary criminal. Although those offenses are still around, things in the public eye such as child molestation and terrorism occupy the attention of Hotch and his crew of profilers on Criminal Minds. Even the regular police shows delve into such newer crimes as stalking. That is another relatively new sub-genre, profiling. Half sociological science and half psychic ability, it allows the officer to narrow the list of suspects based upon behavior. That show is advised by a retired FBI profiler, something unheard of prior to J Edgar Hoover’s death. Hoover had to personally approve of all shows and items featuring the FBI during his lifetime (Holden). The Police Drama and the Social Conscience. In 1951, minorities were virtually nonexistent on most TV programming, although they were represented in the cop shows, as most of the villains. A “policewoman” could be seen at the station, either as an office clerk or a matron over the female prisoners. Very few of the police officers were shown to have any family. That began to slowly change in the sixties when Andy Griffith showed the sheriff as a widower. Now the police officers have the same happiness and tragedy as their real-life counterparts, divorce, death, and blossoming relationships. Blue Bloods, one of the newest cop dramas, takes that to a new level. Led by veteran cop actor Tom Selleck, the show explores the adventures and tribulations of an entire family of police officers and one DA. The 1951 police officer was svelte and well-built while the aforementioned Mike has an ongoing weight problem. Groundbreaking shows such as In the Heat of the Night and Law and Order have allowed the modern team of police officers to represent a cross section of society and minorities now are in charge and an integral part of the team. There are as many white criminals as there are others. Likewise, revolutionary shows such as Police Woman and Cagney and Lacey have shown that women are also capable police officers and there are many female supervisors. Violence is another aspect of social conscience where cop shows have been sensitive. In 1951, Joe Friday shot the bad guy; he fell, with no blood and normally no outcry. Yet even that was too graphic for the watch group and by the eighties such programs as the A Team were almost ridiculous in that hundreds of rounds were exchanged and nobody was hit. Now the pendulum has swung the other way once again. When the officer fires his weapon, sometimes the bad guy is hit and sometimes so is the cop. Police and villains both die as in real life and sometimes there is a lot of blood. In many ways that is a good thing. Children see life is not Tom and Jerry, when somebody gets shot or stabbed they don’t get back up. In conclusion, as our American society has grown over the years, the police drama has grown along with it. Everything can be in a neat little package and those who frighten us can be arrested and sometimes convicted in an hour. That way we can be entertained and secure in the knowledge that although these people are simply actors, there are thousands of their real-life counterparts who risk their lives on a daily basis. The fact that we admire them and their heroics are why the genre exists and is still popular even after sixty years. Early Television Foundation and Museum, September 26, 2011, http://www.earlytelevision.org/lafayette_flyer.html Stephens, Mitchell, History of Television as referenced in Grolier Encyclopedia, April 19, 2000, http://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of%20Television%20page.htm. Stine, Mara, CSI vs. Real Life, Portland Tribune Oct 30, 2009 http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=122671590561640000. Holden, Henry M, FBI, 100 Years, an Unofficial History, Minneapolis, Zenith Press, 2008, Print. Read More