What Do These Shows Say About Chicago?

I had a chance to see the Monday night pilot of Fox's The Chicago Code and cannot say I was overwhelmed.  Clearly, the writers (and the creator Shawn Ryan from The Shield) did not believe the setting was enough to demonstrate the actors were in Chicago, so they needed banter about "Polacks" and the Cubs versus the White Sox.  It came across as pretty silly. Let me just throw in another few bits that bothered me:

-- The new police superintendent (Jennifer Beals) was wearing a hat indoors at a public meeting that made her look like a 12-year-old playing neighborhood cop.  However, as you can see to the left, Police Superintendent Weal will also wear this hat indoors.  So I will give a few points for accuracy, though it looked pretty ridiculous.

-- The only murder of the pilot just happened to be in front of the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.  That's about the same as shooting a couple in front of the White House - scenic, but not all that realistic.  What's next, a police chase up the stairs of the Willis Tower (Sear Tower to the true Chicagoans) or a shoot-out on Navy Pier?  Yes, use the environment, but do not act like an arm of Daley's Tourism Bureau.

-- The main character needed a fire alarm to have a discussion with a company employee.  This was just a little too much of the tough guy, who-the-hell-cares cop.  How about waiting outside the building for the end of the shift or staking out the bathroom.  At this rate, every interview will be preceded by a bomb scare. 

Okay, and now for some good points.  Jennifer Beals, who plays Police Superintendent Colvin, is from Chicago and she will hopefully set some of these folks straight.  In addition, it is nice to see Chicago as the background in a cop story.  And while it is not showing the promise of The Beast, which knew how to make the city a character without overplaying it, the show may find its way.

I am not sure about the combo of Jennifer Beals and Jason Clarke (a native from Australia), who plays the bad boy Wysocki.  So far the relationship seems forced rather than natural, but again it is early in the show.  The addition of Matt Lauria, who plays Wysocki's partner Evers, is a solid performer who I enjoyed from Friday Night Lights.  So, as with Travis Fimmel in The Beast,this may be a role that allow him to gain wider attention. 

So much for the cops, but what about the Chicago kids.  This is where Showtime's Shameless is a gem.  Of course, the Gallagher family are the very sorts the cops in Chicago Code will be chasing once they get a little older.  Shameless has a few good shots of the city, including the skyline and CTA train tracks, but I don't see it as a post card for Chicago.  And even the skyline shots is only there to show you they these neighborhoods are in the shadow of bigger things.

The show has its dark side with the beating of kids, underage drinking, and over-the-top sexual antics.  Yet each episode has a solid grounding in family bonds as well as the Chicago neighborhood, much as was the case with brothers in The Black Donnellys in New York Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.  These kids seem to rule to streets and it's the adults that get out of their way.  And yet for the most part you see them as confused children more than ruthless survivors, though the adults around them do not offer too much hope.  I just hope Shameless has a chance to outlive The Black Donnellys, which did not even make it for a full season.  The original Shameless in England has lasted eight seasons and is still going strong.

What is interesting is that Billy Lush, who played the brother Kevin Donnelly on The Black Donnellys, is now an undercover cop on Chicago Code.  Maybe that which dies in New York City can thrive in Chicago.

Update:  The Chicago Code has been canceled after one season, according to the Huffington Post.   Shameless has been renewed for a second season, noted Screen Rant.