100 Centre Street

100 Center St was a great show. Another of many (Boomtown is another) killed because it wasn't dumb enough, not of the formulae of the moment, and not immediately "hot", and therefore no immediate financial gratification or foreseeable success to the unimaginative producers or networks. It was gritty and sometimes controversial. It had the misfortune of being on a small unsure network that could not/would not afford longterm investment.

Alan Arkin, who plays a judge, was and is an American acting gem. Lumet's concept and writing was real, smart, painful, revelatory, and ultimately satisfying as great tragedies are. Overall the ensemble was a delight and made us want to know how they and stories would develop or cope with their many very real challenges - challenges that were common to many of us, and not the extremes shown on 'Law & Order' or 'House'...

(100 Center St is the real address of the downtown NYC courthouse. The show followed the working and personal lives of the judges, prosecutors, and defenders and the struggles between law, justice, politics, true care, and personal ambition or desire around this common case inner-city court.)

Wow, I was shocked to read some of the negative comments about this show.

Something I have always hated about "Hollywood" is that any project is much more salable if it closes on an upbeat or has a "lived happily ever after" ending. Being real isn't always part of the criteria, substance much less important than if it looks good and is well polished.

Unfortunately, I have experienced first hand the very popular belief about a shows potential and it's success being not based on it's subject, content and the real often twisted nuances of life. Rather it seems to have more emphasis on whether or not that it is slick, highly promoted and has a good score, if it does then it must be good, it must be okay... (Now don't get me wrong, while I do have a special appreciation for the Mike Post's and Pete Carpenter's of the business, I find their contributions to be an added bonus to the production but not a critical must.)

And I just wanted to say that it's not all good, it's not always okay...

I think the point that Mr. Lumet is trying to make is that life sometimes is tedious, stereotypical and tarnished. Often the bottom line, end of story and/or real deal in life is that it doesn't always have a happy ending.

It accurately illustrates that sometimes more often than not, life is just not fair or even good and the outcome in general really does suck.

Honestly tells us a story about the human condition - the gist being you get sick, you get old and you die, and with this you make the best of it otherwise you don't.

100 Centre Street does just that and it is what I love about the show the most, it's simple approach to complicated issues, people and scenarios that are sometimes raw, sensitive and rude. Just puts it out there, like it or not, without all the extra bullsh... This I understand and appreciate very much... I do because I have lived it and know it all too well...

THE END

in love & light, shell

PS - Mr Lumet, if you read this, boy have I got a story for you... LOL

Sidney Lumet is back in top form, doing what he does best. Driven equally by character and plot, an intelligent look at the difficulty of sometimes making choices between loyalty and morality.

Beautifully acted and written. The characters are realistically imperfect human beings in an imperfect world.

I miss this show. Every episode was like a feature film. Real quality work. It was treated poorly by the network that aired it. Word of mouth can go only so far. It should've been advertised more. Alan Arkin was so perfect in his role . I have added this to my journal of "The Graveyard of Great Shows"

I like this gritty, well written drama. Good acting, realistic stories. I just have one complaint: The story line involving the brouhaha over judge Alan Arkin releasing the young kid who subsequently killed a young cop seemed a little disingenuous, since the kid was before the judge for jumping a turnstile in the subway. No mention of any violent crime. No one could have forseen that the kid would have committed a violent crime. Except for that one point, this looks like a terrific show. Hope to see it on A&E