Quickie Review: Law & Order-Organized Crime

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Kevin M.

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Apr 3, 2021, 10:24:07 PM4/3/21
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Two decades after the creation of a character, they finally decide to give the character actual character, but immediately after that it was back to bland, formulaic stereotypes.--
Kevin M. (RPCV)

Diner

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Apr 4, 2021, 8:22:55 PM4/4/21
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There's something very compelling about it, but it's so far afield from the normal L&O template that it doesn't seem like a smooth fit yet. 
But I will keep watching.

I do think it's quite interesting that the bad guy (and his ex-wife) are both series regulars, listed in the opening credits. Looks like they're adopting a multi-episode arc format, which reminds me of one of my favorite 1980s series, "Wiseguy." (Speaking of shows about taking on the mob.)

BTW, in what crazy world does 68-year-old Chazz Palminteri seem remotely old enough to be the father of 59-year-old Dylan McDermott? 

Diner

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Apr 7, 2021, 8:43:05 PM4/7/21
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Here's an interesting objection to one of the show's major plot points - and the producers' response:

Kevin M.

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Apr 7, 2021, 10:16:10 PM4/7/21
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Semi-related, but the UK series “Shetland” handled the dead wife trope reasonably well, mostly by barely mentioning it and not even treating it as a minor part of the story arc until the third series. I say it is semi-related because the entire third series features a single story/investigation wherein the key detective takes on an organized crime boss, and does so in a much more interesting and compelling way than Meloni’s character on SVU. 

Granted, the thick accents on Shetland are tough, even for someone who watches A LOT of UK drama. I have to assume even UK residents need the subtitles for some scenes.

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Adam Bowie

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Apr 8, 2021, 4:22:50 AM4/8/21
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On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 3:16 AM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:
...

Granted, the thick accents on Shetland are tough, even for someone who watches A LOT of UK drama. I have to assume even UK residents need the subtitles for some scenes.


Careful Kevin :-)

Actually, to British ears the accents on Shetland - the very northernmost point of the UK - are quite soft and accessible. If you really want a British accent that you have to get your "ear in" to understand, it's a broad Glaswegian accent. 

But us Brits have the same issues with a variety of US accents - the deep south or even a thick Bostonion accent.

Anyway, there's a new series of Shetland just entering production which I'm very much looking forward to. 

On an unrelated note, Shetland is based on a series of novels by the crime writer Ann Cleeves. She also has a series based on another of her detective "Vera", based in the north-east of England. And ITV has just commissioned a third series based on yet another of her detectives which is based is Devon (the far southwest of England). She must be the most successful writer in the UK at having her books adapted by TV at this point since Agatha Christie. And yes, she's lived in all those places!


Adam

Doug Eastick

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Apr 8, 2021, 10:59:15 AM4/8/21
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our family is now about 50/50 using subtitles.    Sometimes due to accents, sometimes due to being courteous and keeping volume down, sometimes due to excessive noise/chats in the house and wanting to keep watching without missing dialogue.



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Jon Delfin

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Apr 8, 2021, 11:45:04 AM4/8/21
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Longtime user. Besides usefulness, there's the opportunities to mock the typos and unintended homophones,  and the bonus of occasionally reading lines that were changed or eliminated after the Captions were locked.  

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Doug Eastick

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Apr 8, 2021, 12:05:54 PM4/8/21
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Microsoft Teams live subtitles/transcriptions, during work meetings, regularly produce some hilarious subtitles.





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Diner

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Apr 8, 2021, 1:01:01 PM4/8/21
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I'm using captions more and more, for some of the same reasons. I find them especially useful on British mysteries, as they help me keep the facts of the case (including character names) straight.
I've also used captions since the nineties for musical guests on talk shows, so that I can follow the lyrics.
My favorite captions typo came one night about 18 months ago, when Stephen Colbert said "Please welcome Lady Antebellum!" and the captions said "Please welcome Antonin Scalia!"

Jim Ellwanger

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Apr 8, 2021, 1:26:24 PM4/8/21
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That's an example of why, as someone who used to work as a closed-captioner, I don't watch captions at all -- one thing that frustrates me is shows/networks using realtime captioning even when the show isn't airing live (mainly because it's cheaper). "Lady Antebellum" vs. "Antonin Scalia" was almost certainly caused by the stenocaptioner having saved short forms of both names in their steno-machine-to-English translation software, and then making what was probably a one-character typo.

Back in the late '90s, the company I worked for managed to get fully-edited captions for "The Tonight Show" on the air just over two hours after each night's taping concluded (it taped from 8:30-9:30 Eastern and then aired at 11:35), so I know it's possible.

(I do acknowledge that I'm sure the pandemic has affected closed-captioning operations in the same way it's affected show production, so this isn't specifically a "Late Show" complaint -- inferior realtime captioning being used on non-live programming has been going on a lot longer than that.)


Adam Bowie

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Apr 8, 2021, 3:55:59 PM4/8/21
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I'm pretty sure that it's a cost thing rather than anything else when pre-recorded shows are captioned live. And I suspect that captioning is entirely possible remotely, so I'm not sure how much benefit of the doubt I'd give them for not working as well during the pandemic.

In the UK, we have statutory requirements on subtitling (aka captioning) with upwards of 80% of programming requiring it. In practice, the big broadcasters do everything. As far as I know, only live programming has live captioning. Everything else is done in advance - and quality is regulated too. (There are also requirements of in-vision signing and audio-description).

But if you look to streamers like Netflix, Amazon or Disney, they make quite a big play on their captioning. It's a key deliverable alongside the programme, since to make their shows work globally, they need multiple audio and captioning options for those viewers. All of that is before all the other benefits beyond simply assisting viewers who are hard of hearing. 

So while it might feel like a sometimes unwanted obligation, networks should consider it an opportunity to reach more audiences if they're smart.


Adam

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Mark Jeffries

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Apr 8, 2021, 4:45:24 PM4/8/21
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Is that why Amber Ruffin runs lower thirds with the lyrics to a parody or original song on her show?  (This is not captioning--it's standard Chyron-ing.)

Mark Jeffries
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PGage

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Apr 8, 2021, 7:12:40 PM4/8/21
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I also am a long time user; when my kids were young they objected, but now, in their 20s (and hopefully still intact hearing) I notice they use them to.

My wife and I were in Scotland two years ago, after a week in Norway. Literally true that it was much easier to understand Norwegians speaking English (most of them do) than the good people of Scotland, especially in the Highlands where we spent most of our time. But we fell in love with them anyway.

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Brad Beam

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May 8, 2021, 9:38:54 PM5/8/21
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I've started watching the show on DVD via the county library system as they're coming available.

So in kicking off S.5 tonight, imagine my surprise when Tosh and Perez rock up to the local Steptoe & Sons and in the background, I see the Confederate flag on the tailgate of their company truck.

Maybe it symbolizes something slightly different on foreign shores, but I still found it odd that the police didn't mention it, since they're investigating the death of a Nigerian man.

On Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 4:22:50 AM UTC-4 Adam Bowie wrote:
Anyway, there's a new series of Shetland just entering production which I'm very much looking forward to. 

Adam

Kevin M.

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May 8, 2021, 9:41:58 PM5/8/21
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We are about a third of the way through that season/series, and including the flag was clearly a conscious choice for the viewers to know about who the police were dealing with, but the inspectors themselves didn’t speak of it. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)
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