Did you ever look back on something and realize your opinion of it has drastically changed? In the entertainment world, it's not uncommon. Sometimes we just don't have all the pieces; sometimes we get it wrong. In honor of those oversights and flubs, I want to introduce this column - a special series within "Rewind Recaps" dedicated to those shows I want to look back on, but can't retroactively revisit. And now that I think about it, I really should have stopped referring to CBS' Cold Case (2003-2010) as "that show that aired before The Unit."
Don't ask me why it was never on my radar. I knew that it existed; after all, I was a pretty faithful viewer of The Unit, which meant I sometimes caught the last few minutes of Cold Case. One way or another, I had at least heard of the premise and characters, because when I saw Danny Pino appear on this season of Burn Notice, I recognized him as "the guy from Cold Case." I've been known to watch just about every crime drama on television over the last 20 years anyway, so I really have no clue why the senior detectives of Philadelphia Homicide never found their way into my home during their first run. All I can say is that it was definitely my loss.
Cold Case is one of the stable of Jerry Bruckheimer shows, and one of the better ones; it aired around the same time and in my mind, is on par with the best seasons of fellow Bruckheimer drama Without A Trace. The latter might have had a slightly higher-profile team by virtue of having Emmy and Golden Globe winner Anthony LaPaglia as their leading man, but Cold Case was just as well cast. Kathryn Morris stars as Detective Lillian "Lilly" Rush, and is a reliably strong female character who doesn't just posture or crumble when somebody looks cutely at her. She has an entertaining partnership with Detective Scotty Valens (Pino), who can sometimes come off as a complete jerk, but is fiercely loyal and not above getting his hands dirty to do the right thing. I'll admit it, he's also easy on the eyes.
John Finn (The X-Files) is their boss, Lieutenant John Stillman, who is not permanently attached to his desk by any means, and isn't afraid to confront his detectives. Said detectives are all pretty cool people. There's Tracie Thoms (from the film version of Rent and now Winston's ex-wife on Human Target) as Detective Kat Miller, who is a single mother and not an absent parent. Jeremy Ratchford plays the easy to love Detective Nick Vera (although he'll always be Banshee from the Generation X TV-movie to me). Thom Barry is Detective Will Jeffries, who's got a way of pulling at your heartstrings - just watch the episode where he confronts the man who ran down his wife. All of them have their own compelling stories (and, amusingly, consistently horrible love lives), as opposed to many shows where you can single out a lead or two and watch the rest of the characters settle into the background.
What I really love about Cold Case, though, is that it uses so many unique elements in order to truly immerse the audience in the time period of the story. Like Without A Trace, the series uses flashbacks and gives you a sense of who the victim really was, beyond just a name and a photo. (In an episode which took place in the 1940's, the flashbacks were even in black and white.) Cold Case goes further than that, however, as we get to see all the major players as they are now, and as they were then. Everyone gets fleshed out. The guest characters have their own compelling stories that make us actually care about solving what happened to them. One of my favorite episodes is "Blood On The Tracks," which features some great work from Jamie Bamber (Law & Order: UK) and Kelly Overton (Three Rivers) as a seemingly normal couple with a dangerous past. That's been done before, but between the solid script and the strong acting, you really feel how conflicted they are and dread the choice they're going to have to make.
One of the neatest things - and unfortunately, one of the things which makes it unlikely that we'll see Cold Case on DVD in the near future - is that the show uses needle drops from the particular time period (including in a montage sequence that frequently ends episodes) - to enhance the authentic feel. It's a shame that music rights appear to be the thorn in this show's side, because this is one of those cases where I can say a series with replaced music just wouldn't be the same. Normally, I don't care for needle drops and montages get old to me, but on this series, they really work. It's one of the many small things done well that's made Cold Case stick in my memory.
Thankfully, TNT runs Cold Case in syndication at least twice a day (once in the very early hours and again in the afternoons - though different seasons), and my local CBS affiliates also tend to air Saturday reruns. Check your local listings for exact times and channels, but you can definitely still check out this one. I'm certainly wishing that I'd tuned in before.
Brittany Frederick
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Cold Case was awesome and I feel its void this year. For me, it was the best crime procedural of them all, including Without a Trace and Numb3rs. It was so different in that we got to see culture from different years. As a social studies high school teacher, you could use those flashback clips to highlight American culture in different eras. It was rarely preachy and yet got the point across in a sympathetic fashion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that being a guest star on Cold Case was a special thing. I could barely tell you who one-shot guest stars were on Law and Order (in it's various forms) or even NCIS, but there are many guest stars that stick out in my mind for Cold Case. They each had a story, told over many years, that made them memorable and had you rooting for them. I think it also helps that you got to see what became of them, something not possible in other procedurals.
However, the number one thing that made Cold Case special was their use of music. Rarely do people get music right. It's either popular stuff that does not move the plot around or it's background noise. In Cold Case, it could be its own character. It not only got you into the characters more, but it highlighted issues of the era. I regret that I cannot find Cold Case on DVD because the music rights are so expensive, but that's what also keeps me glued to my seat when it's on TV. It's rare to have to sit in front of a TV in order to watch a TV show and it's annoying, but Cold Case is definitely worth it.
My TV watching has been "blah" ever since Cold Case, Numb3rs, Ghost Whiperer, and Without a Trace have been cancelled. I was so "bummed" I didn't go to Comic Con 2010 because I knew they weren't having a Ghost Whisperer panel.
ReplyDeleteCorrection it was Jonathan Lapaglia ( Who played ADA Bell during the sixth and final season) not his brother, you seemed to have confused the two.
ReplyDeleteSecond CBS never advertised Cold Case as much as they do with their other shows. They really messed things up when they sent the show to the 10 spot, not to say that everyone's contract was until the seventh season.
Kathryn Morris who played Detective Lilly Rush should have won an emmy, it's a shame that the emmy people never look at the undderated shows. She is so talented like everyone else on the show.
Cold Case was unique among Jerry Bruckheimer's crime procedurals, in that because it dealt with "cold cases" the victim might only have been missing, and not that the victim died. Without a Trace dealt only with missing persons.
ReplyDeleteThe musical element though is what was outstanding and unique about the show. Yes, in most episodes, the music of of the time of the victim's disappearance or death; but the show also did a number of episodes where all of the music originated with one artist or group; one episode in its final season even had original songs written for the episode (hip-hop).
I do miss not having Cold Case to watch on Sundays; I thought it made an excellent change of pace after The Amazing Race, these days, I mostly tune out Undercover Boss after the TAR episode is finished for the evening.
I agree about the casting. Even to the end, the casting was prescient at times. In an early season that had Justin Hartley cast as the victim in an episode before he was cast on Smallville; and as it turns out, in one of the very last episodes Cold Case aired (about a victim who was murdered during the Woodstock Festival in July of 1969), the person who played the character who actually shot the victim was played by Darren Criss (now cast on Glee.)
My favorite episode of the series is "Forever Bllue." That episode hit an emotional resonance and portrayed the victim, a Philadelphia police officer and Vietnam veteran in 1968 was was also gay and a "cowboy." The relationship beween the victim and his partner on the force was well drawn and drew comparisons to Brokeback Mountain, which had been nominated for Best Picture Oscar earlier that year. But "Forever Blue" is also an excellent example of Cold Casr at its best.
How can you even say that you don't miss watching Cold Case on Sunday Nights? Considering now there's nothing to watch on CBS on Sunday nights now?? I'm just wondering why you'd come out with that, considering the fact that you seemed to be a fan of the show.
ReplyDeleteCBS never did anything to help improve the ratings, yet if this was CSI they would.
I was referring to Anthony LaPaglia being the lead of "Without A Trace," which may have made that series slightly higher profile than "Cold Case."
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure what you're getting at with the first sentence - you're saying that "Without A Trace" was unique because it dealt only with missing persons? Because if you're referring to "Cold Case" there have been a few episodes I've seen with deceased victims.
ReplyDeleteI do miss the old CBS Sundays though. "The Unit" wasn't great in its last year, but it was nice to have something substantive to watch on a Sunday night (before "Leverage" moved there that is).
Absolutely! I don't want to say never, but I asked around before I wrote this piece and it seems like the situation with the music rights isn't going to change soon. (I assume that's at least part of why we never saw anything beyond season 2 of "Without A Trace.") And normally I'm just glad to have episodes of a show in any form, but if they chopped the music out of "Cold Case" it would be a huge, huge loss. I've taken to keeping my favorite episodes on my DVR for the time being.
ReplyDeleteI want to give the casting director a huge hug, too. You're right in that the guest roles are so very well developed; on many shows the victims are practically props. It seems like every episode of "Cold Case" I watch, though, I'm going, "Hey, it's her/him from that show!" Just yesterday was the episode introducing Kenny Johnson's ("Sons of Anarchy") character and Susan Walters ("The Vampire Diaries") was in it too. It's so great to see people that have done or would go on to do great stuff, and I can't help but think their performances here were a part of that.
You really can't compare Anthony Lapaglia's career as the led in " Without a Trace," to Kathryn Morris as the being the lead on Cold Case. It doesn't have anything to do with made each show great, or the it's lead actor/Actresses it was the network.
ReplyDeleteThe network chooses which shows they really want people to see. Without A trace was cancelled a year before Cold Case was, and CBS put it on at ten pm which caused the ratings to drop. Stupid move, quite frankly it also has to do with the annoying games that run into overrtime that cause this problem.
CBS doesn't care about any of its undderate shows, plan and simple. They only care about it's top rated ones.
Um, Cold Case deals with Deceased Victims. THat's the point the of show, only a few episodes contain victims that were thought as dead that turned up alive. I can tell that you never really have watched Cold Case, by what you had said.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear she does miss watching Cold Case on Sundays. I'd bet the the "not" is an editing mistake, probably from editing a sentence and forgetting to erase the "not". It happens all the time.
ReplyDeleteStop jumping all over everyone. It's like you are purposely misunderstanding people. Everyone knows that the victims in the cold case were almost always dead. The cases usually came with a dead body attached. This is an internet site with people quickly dashing off their thoughts. Not many people go back to make sure it's edited properly so mistakes happen.
ReplyDeleteI was asking the author to whom I was responding to clarify their initial point; due to their phrasing I wasn't clear to which show they were referring. They've since cleared that up, however.
ReplyDeleteBy the very fact that the "cold case" team is working as part of Philadelphia's Homicide Unit, yes, the majority of cases do deal with deceased victims - which is what I was saying.
I was not comparing Anthony LaPaglia to Kathryn Morris. My point was regarding Mr. LaPaglia alone - that his name may have been recognizable to audiences from his past work (for example, it was hearing of his casting and having been familiar with him from "Lantana" that made me choose to watch "Without A Trace").
ReplyDeleteI'm not jumping over everyone, or sound as if I'm purposely misunderstanding people. People here are allow to comment, your comment to me was uncalled for and rude. I'm allow to ask for clarification, it's not such a bad thing or trying to help someone who misunderstood.
ReplyDeleteWhat you had written earlier confused me, I didn't get what the point you were trying to make.
ReplyDelete