City Confidential

Paul Winfield can make any small town or city fascinating. He could sell ice to Eskimos or anything else. The language and description of towns like Skidmore, Missouri, Fairbanks, Alaska, Seattle, Boston, Hunt Country, Virginia, Philadelphia, St. Augustine, Florida, and Salem, Massachusetts can entice people to visit these places and buy the books about the famous crimes that have occurred there. He is a wonderful narrator of this show. He makes everything so trivial and mundane about these towns to be exotic and captivating. Winfield died and they replaced him with a narrator just as wonderful as Paul was in the role. Still it makes you wonder about your own hometown, what makes it special, unique and it's character to the other ones depicted on City Confidential. My favorite episode was Salem known for more than the witches. If you listen to his voice, it's like listening to poetry sometimes. He points out the irony and how a town will recover from it's crimes.

Who can forget the deeply resonant voice with a slightly cynical twang narrating "City Confidential"? That narration seemed in integral part of this outstanding series of intriguing case histories.

On the 7th of this month (March, 2004) Paul Winfield died. It's hard to imagine "City Confidential" without him. Although he was never seen, his narration became the series on-going "star," tightly wedded to the well written scrips.

On this month's occasion it seems fitting to pay tribute to the memory of this Emmy-award-winning actor, who so enriched our lives with his rich body of work, from the sixties through this year.

In a period in which many black actors digressed into the "blaxsploitation" genre, Winfield remained completely dignified in his career choices, and steadfastly dedicated to his craft. (His work in "Sounder" and "Roots" are indelibly imprinted in our minds.)

While "Confidential" moves on to another narrator, the Winfield years will remain a lasting, rich legacy in the recollections of many series viewers.

This series is informative and imaginative; Paul Winfield was excellent as the initial narrator. The stories span communities all across the U.S. exploring the ..."It would never happen here"...mechanism of denial that people use to insulate themselves.

Some of the series which are particularly interesting are shown in Lopez Island, Washington; horse country of Northern Illinois (the Helen Brach/Brach candy murder) and several other affluent communities.

This series taps into the American conscience; like Stephen King, the underlying unrest that may exist in some of the most beautiful and "perfect" neighborhoods. 9/10.

It's shows like this that is the reason I love A&E Network. Paul Winfield's narration is just masterful. I believe his voice is right up there with James Earl Jones and the late Robert Stack as one of the most powerful and recognizable in all of showbiz. The show can make the sleepiest of towns sound like a place you genuinely would want to be. I also love how they do a brief history of the towns before they get into the crimes that made them famous or infamous (you be the judge). It also gets extra kudos for doing a feature on my hometown, Baton Rouge.

GOOD - You learn interesting facts about different cities in the United States. The first part of this program is always about the place where a particular crime occurred. It's a fascinating little segment, every time, whether they are discussing a small town or a big city. The program is not only interesting but entertaining as the writers use all kinds of dramatic and often humorous ways to describe people, places and motives behind why they do things. You also get a good mix of locals commenting on a situation. The announcer, Paul Winfield, has a fabulous voice and a distinct way of presenting his material. When he died in 2004, the program suffered a huge loss.

BAD - After you've watched a half dozen episodes, cultural and political agendas jump out at you. For instance, they've never been able to resist showing anyone who goes to church and the commits a crime. The writers just can't get enough digs at anyone religious, particularly Christianity. In the dozen episodes I've watched, at least half of them put not-so-subtle propaganda in them directed at anyone who believes in the Bible or attending church. They also love - to the point where it's overt bias - to pick on rich, white people. You rarely (I'm still waiting) see a crime story involving a minority. What Liberal bias?

OVERALL - The program is so politically-correct it's pathetic, but it's so well-written and so well-narrated by Winfield that it's almost always a very entertaining show. At the very least, it's a great travelogue where you learn a lot of interesting facts about places around the United States. The show is never dull but, man, it's biased big-time. You're going to either love or hate some of these episodes.