Rookie Blue

I want to take a moment to defend this show, and I will defend it mightily. Yes, there are some unresolved issues that the creators would benefit from paying some attention to. Yes, the show can be much better than it is. Yet, that in itself is kind of inspiring, and certainly enough to keep this show around for more than one season. I would be willing to see a LOT more of it, in fact. It has so much opportunity to address so many issues with its fantastic premise. If it bobbles every once in a while like with the third, so what? It's only four episodes in. Every show's team makes mistakes sometimes. The point is whether or not they learn from their mistakes. The episode that came on after the third was infinitely better than the previous one. The lead characters seem to be having a BALL, always an important aspect of what makes a show watchable. There are a myriad of possibilities left to explore. The lead actors and actresses are excellent and perfectly cast, Mr. Sam whatchamacallit is an excellent handsome lead I promised myself I would not fawn, and Andie is a very compelling character in herself. I would prefer a voice over from her so that her behavior made more sense why be so mean to Sam because of rules that are not under his control? Why can't she just TALK to him about it? Is she actually not interested?. I would also prefer that she be a bit more approachable, and please God, better at her job. Right now she SEEMS every bit the bumbling intern, and is clearly not doing as well as everyone else. Yet that gives her the opportunity to redeem herself. Many shows begin with a much less interesting premise and get less interesting as they go along. This show is better than at least half the shows on television, including those that have somehow like a certain criminal investigation show, anyone? persisted for a good three years longer than they should have with critics' inexplicable approval. This show is fun, it is real, it is a look at a world we have only seen from the rosy point of view of the very best. We have never seen the criminal justice system deeply challenged from the inside, which Andie seems poised to do. We have never seen the rules of engagement actively challenged, which Sam seems poised to do. We have never had any writers tackle the very real problem of special treatment in selecting new candidates for the force and offering promotions. We have never seen people of different races work together and address misunderstandings, like Andie's best friend and her paramour. This is very good television, AND it is very female-friendly television. Men, shut up. This show is not for you. This time, it is not ABOUT you!

Frankly, I agree with some of the reviewers from the US. After all, I'm a superhero and I have yet to see a show or movie that I felt properly demonstrated what the life of a superhero is like, I mean a 3 year old evil genius could invent better gadgets than what the movies or shows give Batman. ;) Seriously though, I've never seen any promotional material stating that this show was supposed to be real...but it is really entertaining. Yes, there are moments when I'm yelling at the screen because one of the "rookies" completely disregarded all common sense, never mind their training. Truthfully though, these characters are all young (well, compared to me) and I'm perfectly willing to admit that I didn't always show the most common sense when I was that age, so these blunders don't bother me. I'm not expecting a perfect recreation of life on the force, I'm just expecting some entertaining stories that are well delivered and that's what I'm getting.

As for my fellow Canadians, the best praise I can give this show, is that I didn't realize it WAS Canadian until some Canadian cities were mentioned in the show. Let's face it, our comedies are generally very good, but our dramas have some times been rather lacking. This one isn't.

For those Americans that commented about where the badges are? Not every country have their badges attached to their uniforms. I googled same, and did not find a picture of a Toronto Police officer who is wearing their badge. Sorry, we don't do everything the same as you do down there in the south. Can't comment on the rest of the uniform for certain, they don't look too off from the Toronto uniforms from what I can see. However, their holsters do look a little low and lose and their uniforms are more form fitting on the show. Of what I can tell.

No offence to those who want this to be more realistic. If it was more realistic there would be no ratings, because, lets face it... Police don't have life threatening cases every day that they're working. I'm not saying that being a police is boring, but I don't think if you followed real police around with their duties ratings will be high. I don't mean any disrespect to police and I don't doubt that their job is hard and challenging. However, TV is not real, it's fantasy and people watch it to be entertained.

New cop dramas come out every year or two and most are hit or miss, but there is something to this show that leaves me hoping it gets picked up again for another season. The show follows a group of fresh rookies trying to find their way on the force through mistakes and errors in judgement. It's filmed and set in Toronto, with its share of Canadian actors so that hit home with me. I read a review of this show that was very harsh and was disappointed that the show wasn't accurate in terms of what actual police work is like for rookies in terms of the amount of freedom they have in this show and the ability to make decisions. TV is meant for entertainment so I'm glad they don't have it accurate to a tee. But the emotions, fears, camaraderie, and pain these characters go through while trying to find their bearings in a new career are very real I think and contributes to the strength of the show.

I tend to disagree with everyone saying this show is bad, there seems to be a lack of knowledge from the rookies but thats part of the appeal. I think the writers were really trying to humanize the characters and show that cops don't just pop up being all bad ass and knowing all the stuff they know. This is really more of a training camp for cops from the very start, clearly they know the very basic but the instincts it takes to solid interrogation or street smarts while on the job are just not there so I'm gonna chalk that up to realism of the first few weeks of being on the job.

The second part that comes to mind is the cast, OK there's a massive fluctuation in dynamics here they need to really break down a few characters instead of just doing a scatter shot and hoping you like 1 main and 1 of the 50 other people they toss at you, I mean diversity is one thing but having so many people clumped up into 1 show is just a complete loss on the focus of the show, it makes everything seem incomplete because of constantly breaking away from one pair and moving on to the next.

Final review 7/10 too much stuff going on at once, simplify a bit and you'll have a solid show.