LAPD vs. NYPD

CSI is a cartoon show. CSI's don't arrest people, interrogate witnesses, or do almost any of the actions they do on tv. The Wire was the most realistic, well written cop show ever, but was absolutely snubbed by Emmy as it had the misfortune of running against the Sopranos. Robbery Homicides failure was truly surprising since it was Exec Produced by Michael Mann ( Miami Vice, Heat) and he knows how to put together a cop show. Maybe it is still visions of Rodney King & Mark Fuhrman, noone wants to see 'good' LA police. The Shield is over the top, sure, but I would take that over Southland anyday.

Oh, no one really does walk in LA. When I see someone walking, and it's ironic because I walk to work, I always assume they're poor and have no car (unless they are walking around the beaches, then I assume they're too cheap to pay for parking).

i think the darkness of the tall buildings and lack of sunshine make the new york based shows seem grittier and therefore more interesting. I live in Southern California (not a native So Cal resident), and it's unnaturally sunny here. However, there are a lot of seedy spots that could make for interesting drama.

Of all the clichés in all the world did Alston really walk into this piece riffing on the decomposed theme of "nobody walks in L.A.?" NewsWEAK.

One thing that L.A. has in common with N.Y. is that its residents are used to people who don't live here assuming that what they've seen or read about it is true and reducing the entire city to tired old cliches like the ones in this article. There are dozens of wonderful L.A. novels by people like Nathanael West and John Fante that, while not always sunny in their view of the city, don't fall back on this kind of writing, but actually try to look at the city and describe what they see there. so I know it's possible to do, but i don't see magazine journalists doing much of it and thus wind up reading a lot of articles as reductive as this one (self magazine did an L.A. issue last month that was equally and hilariously oversimplified). Maybe TV produced here has failed to capture what it's like to walk around Hollywood, Silverlake or Inglewood (i actually think The Closer does better than most because of its location shooting), but that doesn't mean that there's nothing to capture. I do agree with the commenter who said that it's a shame that producers seem to be working from only 2 cities, though. L.A. is an odd town, and it gets kicked around a lot -sometimes deservedly so, i just wish the way it got kicked around were less lazy and more connected to a lived experience of the city--but far more frustrating would be to live in Austin or St. Louis and never see the city in TV or film at all.

Tonally I think NYC is more interesting. People tend to mix in NY which creates a lot of opportunity for conflict, in-your-face resentments and humor, and an odd knowledge of each other, even with disparities in income and background. It also creates interesting hybrid personalities including accents and attitudes -- partly bc rich and poor, long-time citizens and new arrivals often live in close proximity. The mix of the old world and the new lends more depth and texture to characterizations. You could really tell when NYPD Blue went off and infused it with false notes i.e Diane Russell. Cops in NY know the the people on their beat (including shut-ins) better than in other cities. Cops in NY also often come from a long lineage for various cultural reasons that I think adds layers of meaning. I think the NY cop show has yet to be fully explored. But it should never again involve LA folk who don't completely understand it, or who want to infuse it with an LA middle-America sensibility and context.

You're forgetting "Southland," which just started this year, set in LA. It only ran for half a season so far, but was quite good. And unlike a lot of LA crime dramas -- which, I agree, seem as though they could be set anywhere, and suffer from a kind of debilitating slickness -- "Southland" is actually suffused with the character of LA.

A good show about Baltimore police a few years ago--Homicide--was a good exception to that, okru, but I can't think of another one. A police reality show like First 48 demonstrates the grit of a lot of places--Memphis, Miami, or even Dallas.

A better question is- Why do producers of TV shows think there are only two cities in the US, NYC and LA?