Murder in the First

There are a few things going for this new crime drama revolving around the SFPD and a tech billionaire. 1. San Francisco is a happening city now and it's always interesting to show the contrast between the homelessness and despair and the dizzying high tech boom. The last few SF based shows have been cancelled like Alcatraz and 9 Lives of Chloe King. Hopefully this series showcases more of the scenic beauty of the city and not just the seamy side. 2. Sympathetic looking leads Kathleen Robertson and Taye Diggs and a multi ethnic supporting cast are watchable and not abrasive like some crime dramas. 3. After 4 episodes the central villain? played by Tom Felton or Malfoy from Harry Potter is an interesting and enigmatic character. At first he seemed to be still too teenage looking (like the rest of the Harry Potter cast) to be effective in his role but he is actually quite good. Since Steven Bochco is behind this I'm going to give this one a chance.

I disagree with most of the other reviews. I thought it was a fine show. I'm happy to see Tommie Schlamme and the rest of the group together again. Nothing can please everybody first time out. I like getting to know the back story on the various characters, it forms more interest for me. Looks like this is a summer replacement, because when I looked it up on IMDb, the three stars are listed for 10 shows, perfect for summer, but it is certainly better than a lot of the other stuff on TV at this time. I like Taye Diggs and hope to see a lot more of Ian Anthony Dale. I don't know anything about the young leading lady, but like her for my first look, although I do agree about the gun being in a bad place, although as I said, nothing is perfect. Good luck to the show.

Solid cable TV police procedural that takes place with San Francisco as the backdrop. Entertaining and fast paced with believable characters. Some of the standard cop show tropes remain but no TV cop show is without some. Speaking mainly about season 2 which was a bit deeper then season one as part of the season deals with a mass shooting and its effects on a community and at least tries to present a scenario of how or why it would happen. The show does a yeoman's service of unveiling the season's story arc all the while introducing secondary stories that ultimately intertwine with the main season story arc. Its done in a straight forward fashion while avoiding too much predictability. In other words its not an "A,B,C" procedural like "Law and order" but its not a extremely hidden clue mystery like "True Detective" which I think makes the payoff and resolution at the end of the season a lot more satisfying. its a good binge watch (which is how i viewed it) it seemed a lot more satisfying watching it in that fashion. I think the show's "Bochco-isms" are apparent in the way the police struggle with personal issues while they tackle the dilemma of "brothers in blue" versus doing the legal good and how that often still opposes the moral good.

My wife and I watch one or two episodes of police procedurals every night. It's the only video we do watch. I usually pre-screen the programs, making sure of a few things we prefer, and seeing how many total episodes there are. When I pre-screened Murder in the First I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, nor my wife.

I started binge watching Murder in the First, then slowly began to like it. It isn't like any other series we've watched. It is a mix of cop show, detective show, courtroom drama, and soap opera. Fortunately there is a balance of these modes.

I'm now viewing the 8th episode of season 3 and wishing the series had gone on for more seasons.

Pros:

• The acting is good
• Direction is good
• Story lines are plausible
• Character building is good

Cons:

• We like programs that are fully contained within one episode. We don't care for formats where the murder mystery persists through several episodes or seasons. Murder in the First does have the format of a single mystery spanning an entire season. In most cases we find this style ends up with a lot of "filler" just for the sake of fitting into a whole season.
• A little too much sex. It simply isn't needed.

I love Murder in the First. Other reviewers have complained about it's slow pace but I like the fact that the story takes it's time to be told. It's a cat and mouse game with lots of twists and turns. It's not a cookie cutter model of network TV (a good thing!). The characters are well developed. Taye Diggs and Katherine Robertson are an unlikely pairing but it works. The other characters complement these two and it's an interesting dynamic. Stephen Boccho is a master and it's good to see him back. I have recommended this show to my friends and family and hope it's renewed for next season. Monday night is now my favourite night for TV watching.