During the latter part of the nineteenth century, those with mental illnesses were considered to be “alienated” from their true selves, and the doctors who studied them were therefore known as Alienists. The Alienist in this excellent TV show is Dr. Lazlo Kreitzer.
Murder in the First is a new TV drama that aired on TNT a few weeks ago. The series was created by Steven Bochco, and Eric Lodal.
The show explores one crime through ten episodes, going from the commission of the crime, through the investigation, to the arrest and trial.
Damn, I really wanted to like this show. It’s a great set-up: two former, tarnished Secret Service Agents now partner as private investigators. Jon Tenney as Sean King was enough to draw me in. As Fritz Howard on The Closer he was ironic, smart, strong and sexy. On Brothers & Sisters he used those same characteristics to good effect as a con-man doctor going after Nora Walker’s affections and checkbook.
When The Closer started, it launched with a bang and the arrival of Brenda Leigh Johnson--all sweater sets and southern accent--a fish out of water in LA. She was tough but vulnerable and came in with a background at the CIA and with Will Pope, her new boss. In the first episode, all the detectives submitted their resignations but by the end of the hour, they were in awe of her and settled in to solve crimes. She lured people into underestimating her and then she took them down.
TNT’s new series Perception (Monday night, 10 p.m.) stars Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) as Dr. Daniel Pierce, a likable neuroscience professor with paranoid schizophrenia who helps FBI agent Kate Moretti (a former student played by Rachael Leigh Cook) solve crimes. Sure he has hallucinations, but they bring messages from his subconscious to help him spot clues that a normal mind would miss. Perception was behind only Dallas and its 6.9 million viewers among summer debuts and tied the Rizzoli & Isles' season opener.
Fans of Rizzoli & Isles came from all over the world to celebrate the first ever RizzlesCon held in Anaheim July 20th-22. From Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, Iceland, North Carolina and Sunnyvale, mostly women but more than a few men, found themselves in the midst of murder not far from the happiest place on earth.
Too often our favorite literary sleuths, lawyers and LEOs (law enforcement officers) don’t make the jump to TV and movies with their personalities intact. John Sandford’s Certain Prey is a recent cringe-inducing example in spite of Mark Harmon in the leading role.
On Monday July 11, 2011 the TNT series The Closer began its seventh season. Kyra Sedgwick is Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective and former CIA interrogator brought to LA to lead what has evolved from the Priority Murder Squad (PMS-really?), later renamed Priority Homicide Division and currently called the Major Crimes Division.
Last year TV fans got an amazing treat with the return of Angie Harmon in Rizzoli & Isles, a show about cop Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and her best friend Medical Examiner, Maura Isles( Sasha Alexander) solving cases in Boston. Sounds like a tired formula, but surprisingly Sasha Alexander and Angie Harmon have amazing chemistry that makes the show more about their friendship than the cases.
