Detroit 1-8-7

[downtown_racine]

I thought Michael Imperioli was great in The Sopranos so I'm going to give this show a chance.

[fanniemae]

Show was alright. On a scale of 1 to 10 I give it a 7. The ending was not realistic. Trying to make Fitch out to be a reckless cowboy. The end lost some steam. The scenery had a lot of Detroit. Some not. The acting was better than I thought it would be. It will take better scripts to make it a hit. Otherwise it will be cancelled.

[mittengal]

I'm new to this forum, decided to jump in on this thread. I agree with many who feel that the pilot left a lot to be desired. I plan to continue watching & hope for improvement. NYPD Blue was a favorite. I really liked the Boardwalk Empire pilot & look forward to watching more of it.
About me, I was born in Detroit [[Mt Carmel) lived on the west side, Quincy St. then Evergreen Ave. off W. Chicago. I have family in White Lake, Linden, & Grand Rapids, all formerly from Detroit. I have been away for a while, now in Seattle. [[Anyone else?) I might be coming back someday. I enjoy this forum & Lowell's photos.

[ASR89]

Welcome to the forum, mittengal!

[mpow]

"One More Spoke" on the subject: http://onemorespoke.blogspot.com/201...n-detroit.html

[fryar]

"One More Spoke" on the subject: http://onemorespoke.blogspot.com/201...n-detroit.html

I enjoyed that. And the blog as a whole.

Among other things, how's this for making lemons out of lemonade:

After all, isn't that the bright side of our poor reputation, the fact that Detroit is the last place in this country to be homogenized?

Should I end up living carless in downtown, I may end up getting my lettuce from CVS, sure, but at least there won't be a GAP store in sight!

[Left_For_Texas]

I was afraid PC would ruin the show [[and it probably will) but the 1st episode was OK. I especially liked the "searching for a bullet casing on the bridge" scene which was actually filmed in Atlanta. You can see Atlanta's BOA tower in the background. The Detroit scenes seemed to have either an I-75 or I-94 sign conveniently placed in the scene.

[bartock]

I thought it was pretty weak [[and as for the guy who criticizes Detroiters "bitching" about the fact that the "writing sux," isn't this a thread reviewing a TV show? Isn't the suckiness of the writing fair game?). I thought the plot moved too fast, and the fake documentary thing was really inconsistent.

We all laugh at the big inaccuracies, which matter a lot to us here but not so much to Joe Blow in Dallas or Peoria--the New York term "slice," the "loft district," etc. These are minor things, maybe, but since they seem to want to do gritty realism, that stuff reflects bigger problems with the show, namely: 1) the cliched murder plot complete with hostage crisis coolly handled by Christopher from the Sopranos, who also saved the hot lady cop from a burning car! I'm hoping next week she's tied to railroad tracks. And 2) the fact that it's basically an LA or NY cop show that happens to be set in Detroit. There's nothing particularly Detroit-specific so far, other than the establishing shots, Motown songs [[which are obviously all 30 years old), and a few heavy-handed lines about Ferndale or the east side. Maybe that will change as they move into the filmed-in-Detroit stuff.

They show featured a Black Keys tune that's only about six months old. Just sounds like it's 30 years old.

Show was OK, attempts at humor, which should improve, was a bit different.

The scene where he doesn't talk to the guy in the interrogation room annoyed me.

I agree with many others that the show will get better.

[bartock]

We'll never have the equivalent of The Wire in the D. That was a once per generation event.

The backlash from our fearless leaders and pulpit prophets would prevent a "Wire" - style show set in Detroit from ever airing.

[ejames01]

There was backlash in Baltimore!!! The only problem is finding someone as good as David Simon to make the show.

The backlash from our fearless leaders and pulpit prophets would prevent a "Wire" - style show set in Detroit from ever airing.

[mittengal]

Thanks, ljbad89!

[tallboy66]

If they are shooting in Atlanta at least do some shots of a building that looks like The Ren Cen.

http://skyscraperpage.com/graphics/dotclear.gif

Should be the Westin. Built the same year, almost the same height and almost exactly the same without the surrounding building that Ren-Cen has.

[jcole]

Someone earlier in this thread said they were shooting in Atlanta PRIOR to the show becoming a show about Detroit. They didn't know where it was going to be set, so why the hell SHOULD they add scenes about Detroit?
.

[youngdetroiter]

tallbay66 and jcole,

The show was about Detroit since the inception and from the beginning of storyline writing. However, the pilot [[the first episode) was filmed in winter before. The scenes were not to take place in the winter. Therefore, the production team had the challenge of searching for a southern location that most resembled Detroit [[without snow on the ground)--hence, Atlanta. That being said, at least, a good 30-40% of the pilot was shot/re-shot in Detroit this summer. I was one of the actors. All episodes after last weeks premiere have been/will be shot in their entirety in Detroit or surrounding areas. I have some inside scoop, because I have worked on the show as a background actor.

[jcole]

Youngdetroiter,
this is the post I was referring to.

I'm surprised folks on this site arent as aware of the show as others - the pilot was shot in Atlanta and not paid for by ABC. They added a few Detroit scenes when ABC signed on.

The remaining episodes were filmed entirely in Detroit, with ABC picking up the contract - I expect it to be much better - the next episode involves a murder on the Detroit Princess - and you could tell the previews for next week included much more Detroit - those Hart Plaza lights were easily spotted in the previews - I thought a few of the actors were pretty good - I think its got potential.

[lilpup]

I hope this show does well in other markets and is not just a homer show.

[lilpup]

Michael Imperioli's take on his character Louis Fitch could be used to describe a lot of Detroiters [[though Fitch is a transplant from NY):

"I think he’s happy when he’s working, and he loves his work and he’s very committed and very dedicated. He really believes in what he’s doing, and is very good at it and proud of what he does, and he gets absorbed by it. I think there’s some emotional damage resulting from something that happened in the past, in his personal life. But it seems like he hasn’t found peace. I mean, he has it when he’s working, but that’s not really enough, you know. From what I’ve gathered so far, his life really exists when he’s working. When he’s not working he’s waiting to go back to work."

http://www.tv.com/michael-imperioli-...ory/24095.html

[CorktownPaddy]

Second episode tonight. I'll check it out but the pilot was a bummer for me, wooden acting,weak plot,characters not really too interesting.
I'll give 'em another chance or two...

[RickBeall]

lilpup quoted:
>>.Louis Fitch ... But it seems like he hasn’t found peace. I mean, he has it when he’s working, but that’s not really enough, you know.

No peace until he gets into the pants of the Latino detective. We can all smoke a cigarette then.

[mtburb]

I am watching a new episode right now. No thunderstorm but at least the hospital scenes were filmed in the Detroit Recieving Hospital.

And it showed that a man died on the Princess near Hart Plaza.

[R8RBOB]

Couple of things:

I see they got the dude that played Fruit on The Wire as the victim's brother. All we need for Marlo, Chris and Snoop to come rolling into town...LOL

They filmed inside the club I knew as Legend's back in the day. I know it has had many names but it will always be Legend's. Until tonight I haven't seen the inside of that club since the late 90's. Is it still closed? I know someone wanted to turn it into a strip club.

[jcole]

It was good tonight. I enjoyed it a lot more than last week. I think Det. Washington is going to be a big part of the show.

[iheartthed]

Couple of things:

I see they got the dude that played Fruit on The Wire as the victim's brother. All we need for Marlo, Chris and Snoop to come rolling into town...LOL

They filmed inside the club I knew as Legend's back in the day. I know it has had many names but it will always be Legend's. Until tonight I haven't seen the inside of that club since the late 90's. Is it still closed? I know someone wanted to turn it into a strip club.

Wasn't that the Zoo Bar?

[spiritofdetroit]

Greatly improved in every way

- better script and acting
- better storyline
- better quality - you can tell ABC was fully funding this episode
- clearly in Detroit.

Lets hope there werent too many ppl that wrote off the show after the pilot, because I think it definitely has potential now

[fanniemae]

Decent show tonight. The Polish wedding on the boat was realistic. They are trying to make Fitch out to be kind of an Andy Sipowitz from NYPD Blue, but making him a little more likable early in the series. I can't remember, senior moment, do we have a Mckinley High?