Reviewing Movies

Recently I finished watching the first season of this show currently offered at $19.99 the set. Police actioners have been a staple of broadcast TV practically from its inception. What is unique about this series is that it combines storylines that follow the lives of five officers from a single precinct with those of 2 paramedic squads as we have seen in Emergency and their brother fire station under the umbrella of Station 55. Yes, we get to see police chase scenes on foot and in vehicles, we hear plenty of sirens and see fires, we get down and dirty with the paramedics; but we also follow the lives of the patients who get treated and the perps who get arrested. More particularly we get to see the human and not so heroic side of the personnel in all three services and the effects their work has on their personal lives.

To provide us a window into the action we get to follow the experiences of a rookie Cop, Ty who is following in the footsteps of his father who was killed on the job as he is paired with his father's former partner and begins to learn that his father may have been a dirty cop—on the take. Also a rookie paramedic who in a profession that cares for people is totally self-centred and without compassion for the patients he treats. For the action junkies this series has more than its share of drama but it also has its share of babe-magnets who frequently strut their stuff in and out of uniform. There are no naked buns as are famously displayed in other shows but bedroom and shower scenes aplenty. It also has actors no one would account as sexy.

What made this series unique is the fact that it showed its characters as ordinary human beings who can be called upon to perform heroic acts despite their very human foibles. They have gambling addictions, child care issues, and marriage breakdowns. They have problems getting dates and the challenges their shifts provide maintaining relationships. They also work in professions where injury is always a present danger and since they drive emergency vehicles encounter drivers who fail to yield. In one scene someone parks in front of the fire hall entrance and all to frequently they smash out the windows of a vehicle blocking a fire hydrant to establish a connection.

Nor was this series shy about confronting police corruption, unnecessary force, and conflicts with internal affairs. We see street prostitution and drugs from the point of view of enforcement and the paramedics who have to deal with overdoses and the victims of rough sex. The city of New York is definitely one of the characters in this piece and we often get to see her at her worst. People in 'nice' neighbourhoods don't usually have brothels next door or tenement fires, drop by the fire hall for medical treatment, or have drug dealers on their sidewalks.

It was the humanity of this show that drew one into the lives of its ensemble cast and the fact that they were presented as fully developed human characters not paper actors. Despite its large cast the effort to keep track of all these people seemed worth the effort. All these characters had continuing story lines which successive episodes built upon. Police stories have come a long way since Officer Friday neatly wrapped up a case in 15 minutes or half an hour each week.

I just finished watching Season 9 of The Waltons. Having passed through the neighbourhood where this show is set it has special significance for me. Finishing the series makes me feel like I lost a group of friends I've known for years. In this last season a great many people are missing.

Richard Thomas disappeared from the series a couple seasons ago and given that he represents the narrator onscreen putting a new face, however more handsome, to his character strikes a jarring note. Grandpa and Grandma are long gone, Olivia was removed from the scene by sending her off to a sanatorium where she fails to recover and in this last season even John Sr. leaves to join her. With that mountain of flesh that was Rose off on her honeymoon the kitchen looks rather spacious and the third generation of Waltons are left to fend for themselves.

What we get here are the lives and loves of this new generation of Waltons. John-Boy's struggle to escape the sophomore jinks of his second novel. Mary-Ellen's determination to overcome the challenges of being a single widowed mother to study medicine. Jason takes over the Dew Drop Inn and shocks the family with the revelation that his girl friend is Jewish. Ben, having returned from the war with a new-found sense of independence finds himself drawn back to his father's mill. Erin struggles to find love and assert her autonomy as JD Picket's right-hand-man. Jim-Bob returns from war determined to party hearty and make up for lost time until he and his buddy find fulfillment starting a garage. Erin finds herself on the cusp of adulthood discovering that she is too old for childish games and too young to join her older siblings in more adult pursuits and lacking the opportunity to confide in her mother. The Baldwin sisters begin to confront their mortality while the miss-matched pair of Ike and Cora-Beth Godsey continue their battle of the sexes.

As folksy and down-home as this series has always been we have always been confronted with an ideal to which we can all wish our own families had aspired. When this series ruled the airwaves a more rural society made it wildly popular and one wanders how it would fare today. The writing on this show was always fresh and original and that quality was maintained to the very end. The show ends with little sense of closure when the series was not renewed. We are left wondering about John-Boy's next novel, whether Mary-Ellen ever becomes a doctor, will Jason marry his Jewish Sweetheart and will he be satisfied to remain a publican, will Erin strike out on her own and leave Pickets and find a suitable husband, what will Erin become. In the end I suppose it is better that a show ends with its audience wanting more rather than that they abandon it in boredom.