Television 002

The Closer. ( http://alt.tnt.tv/closer/closer.shtml ) This is another show we watch with Netflix. My wife was keen on this and I was a bit leery. The premise is a Southern (from Atlanta) woman who worked for or with the US Government becomes a special assistant chief of police for high profile cases, usually homicides in LA. I was leery because I am not a fan of the CSI type of shows. I like Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, and even NCIS but that is about it in that genre.

Until The Closer got me. The writing is really smart and the themes quite inspired. What made me leery was that she is a specialist in Interrogation. Now having been a professional Interrogator, I am always looking over my shoulder at Abu Grahib and even before that at the completely BS picture most people have of the Itnterrogator’s art. To my surprise, The Closer, is accurate a good in the way it portrays Interrogation. She actually runs approaches, studies her mark, devises an approach and runs it. She uses proper questioning most of the time and uses resources like we were taught.

There was an episode about Iran, a love triangle, and Islam ... it was super. I will never forget the tortured look on the women’s face when she said something to the effect “They are not taking me back to Iran … they are taking me back to the 8th century!” From her POV it made sense.


ROME. ( http://www.hbo.com/rome/ ) Rome is an HBO production. They put a lot of money into it and it shows. It is a visual tour de-force. It is scheduled to run for three 12 episode years. Being HBO there are breaks between seasons of a year or more. It covers the period from Caesar in Gaul to solidification under Octavius. Year one went up to the murder of Giaus Julius Caesar.

The acting is first rate, some of the very best ever put on television (given some of HBO’s other productions that says something). They present the story both at the upper echelons like I Claudius and at the lower echelons … something that does not often get done. The sets and costumes …. Hollywood spectacular … filming in Rome helps.

The hardest aspect which they have overcome IMHO and overcome well is the complete removal from the characters actions and words of any Judeo-Christian ethic, POV, influence etc. They have tried to present the Romans as they really were. This is harder then many people believe. A lot of what we think we know of Rome is clouded in Christian propaganda for lack of a better way of putting it. Yes the Romans were violent, scheming, sexual etc. However they were at the same time highly moral (of their own morality) and very religious in their own way. Religion is constant and in your face in this series. The role of women at various levels in society is also explored and the results are interesting.

There is a depiction in episode one of a close up of a file of a cohort in battle with the rotation of troops on command that simply explains how Romans were so adept at battle … discipline.


I am really looking forward to the civil war in season two. This might be simply the best that television has to offer. It is like watching a classic well made Hollywood epic serialized in one hour chunks.