Council to Grill Producers of New ABC Series

[BagAJellyDonuts]

Council is acting like a guy with a small dick. Soooooo insecure.

Is that why Hung has escaped the wrath of Pugh?

[Lowell]

If they are going to get all bent out of shape about ABC producing a crime show, perhaps ABC should turn the tables on Council and produce a comedy based on... you guessed it, City Council.

They would save a lot of money on writers since Council seems to be a perpetual self-authoring screen play. Lest we forget... Sharon's electric chair... Shrek... There would be some expenses. For instance the current episode would require buying them all director's chairs and megaphones and training them to call everybody sweetheart.

[Meddle]

Another article: http://www.freep.com/article/2010072...ut-citys-image

Apparently neither Bingo or the Clowncil are happy.

[DetroitDad]

Officials Respond; "Thanks. But no thanks".

Ralph Godbee, appointed by Bing as Detroit's interim police chief, said a national, police-focused think tank soon will help evaluate departmental policies and procedures, including whether participation in such TV projects is wise.

From the Detroit Free Press link above.

You [[DPD) don't need a think tank! You are worried about the wrong issue! This is the opportunity of a lifetime. You have the chance here to show off your grand turnaround strategy and it's implementation. Most people, companies, and cities with bad reputations pray for that opportunity, and they never get it.

If this is true, we may want to consider that we have chosen the wrong leadership for Detroit, as city leaders apparently do not have a good strategy for dealing with these very real problems, a strategy of which to show off to the world.

[BrushStart]

Officials Respond; "Thanks. But no thanks".



You [[DPD) don't need a think tank! You are worried about the wrong issue! This is the opportunity of a lifetime. You have the chance here to show off your grand turnaround strategy and it's implementation. Most people, companies, and cities with bad reputations pray for that opportunity, and they never get it.

If this is true, we may want to consider that we have chosen the wrong leadership for Detroit, as city leaders apparently do not have a good strategy for dealing with these very real problems, a strategy of which to show off to the world.

You are so, so, so, so, so right. Step up, take charge, and rebuild the damn city's image while all the spotlights are on. Detroit leadership never ceases to amaze me. No city has had as many chances to present itself in a better light. And, consequently, no city has squandered away so many such chances. The new DPD chief has the opportunity to literally be a household name, leave behind a legacy, have a statue built in his honor, and go down as the man who cleaned up Detroit's streets. But what will happen once again? We'll take it up with the committee. We'll complain about everything where there's nothing to be complained of. We'll talk in circles and take one step forward while taking two steps back. We'll take a gift and burn it in front of the gifter's face. We'll show our gratitude for the hardworks of others by meeting them with crushing pestilence and opposition. We'll once again prove that incompetence, inaction, infighting, and ignorance is the Detroit way. We'll never accept the reality of our condition and never accept the blame for our failures. Show them, ye leaders of Detroit. Don't let me down.

[Genesyxx]

*veryloudsigh* Glad to see they have time to patrol a fictional TV show.

[noenaim]

After years of watching TV cop/crime shows set in Miami, San Fransico, New York, Las Vegas and of course LA it's about time a Cop show was set in Detroit. I wonder what took so long there should have been a Detroit set crime show years ago and it's gonna be filmed here even better!

[daddeeo]

I believe Baltimore survived "The Wire" and "Homicide-Life on the Streets" so what's the big deal?
When you go to bed with Hollywood types, you're bound to get a few fleas.

[kenp]

This one is simple, there is big money in TV and the council wants in on the action.

[Swimmaven]

Can't take it, eh, tough guys . . .

[iheartthed]

The council's effort to grill Detroit 1-8-7's producers about how they portray the city has caught the attention of the national media and prompted them to start writing about it. Trust me, the article is not flattering at all:

Detroit earned the nickname "Murder City" after more than 700 homicides were committed there in 1974, and the city's homicide and violent crime rates are routinely among the nation's highest among large cities. During the 1970s and 1980s, the nation watched each year as arson fires lit up the night skies during the 3-day Halloween period known as "Devils' Night."

Under Mayor Dave Bing, the city has pushed hard to bring down its rate of violent crimes, and last year the rate dipped slightly.

But city leaders have a long way to go in reshaping Detroit's image, and they weren't helped by a May shooting in which a sleeping 7-year-old girl was killed by an officer's bullet during a police raid on her home. That raid was captured by a camera crew filming for the A&E crime reality show, "The First 48."

Last week, Mayor Dave Bing forced Police Chief Warren Evans to resign after little more than a year on the job, in part because he was unhappy with the way Evans was pushing his own police reality show.

In a promo for the show, which would have been titled "The Chief," Evans was seen holding an assault rifle outside an abandoned train station.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_659979.html

[Meddle]

What do you expect for Huff'n'Puff Post?

[iheartthed]

What do you expect for Huff'n'Puff Post?

I didn't have any expectations of the source. The point is that the council's decision to devote time and energy to interrogate the producers of the show has prompted the media outlets to write yet another unflattering article.

[canuck]

I would like to point out that the shooting of the seven yr old was not on a movie set. It was not a scripted drama. It was a 'reality' show where a couple of cameras follow around the swat team. Different beasts. One is scripted and planned, the other is not.

Also, the violent crime in the city has little to do with promotion as that same promotion filters into nearby communities. To lay the violent crime problem in Detroit on the notion that movies or tv or video games somehow glamorize it is exceedingly short-sighted and completely discounts a constellation of more compelling reasons.

Again, if you want Detroit to be seen as pure and clean and without problems: quit throwing your trash in the street; better yet, pick up the trash left by others.

You are partly right about that; but the notion that promotion of violence is not to be counted is just as short sighted. About reality shows I also beg to differ. I used the word SET on purpose. I do watch 48 Hours and I did see some episodes shot in Detroit last year. To say that these shows are unscripted, OK; unplanned, of course not. The idea is someone's living room becomes a den of iniquity; an unwilling victim of a film crew accompanying cops on a stakeout will end up on the cutting room floor this time around. If that innocent girl had not been shot we might have witnessed part of the action although the suspect was not a family member as far as I know. How much is too much of this, I dont know. We may be closer to the day when people stop the violence. On the other hand we may be too abused to care...

Glamorization of crime is not necessarily a bad thing for the city, especially if it is fictional Hollywood drama.

I dont think Detroit needs any more lugubrious attention-getting in the violence arena. That said, I am not advocating censorship , but to think that this kind of 6 inch nail on the city needs to be hammered in again and again doesnt help it. In this hollywood version [[no matter where it is shot) Detroit becomes a caricature of itself and suffers more from it than say South Central Los Angeles which incidentally was renamed South Los Angeles in the hope of dispelling its violent past. East Detroit became Eastpointe etc... I think people identify with a tough Detroit because it is an outstanding characteristic. Its a harmful cliché for obvious reasons; a lot of metro people avoid the city, never mind tourists from far and wide. Glamorized violence is really old hat. Think Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull. Two enemies who finally disneyfied their persona, reenacting their fights and making a bundle à la Amway.

[Meddle]

ABC wants to be obstinate and argumentative. They're even pulling away from their initial format and making the show more fake than it was.

http://detnews.com/article/20100801/ENT10/8010334

I say pull their permits, ban the use of any copyrighted or trademarked words, insignia or logos, etc. until they come to their senses.