The Divide

Is every negative review of this from an American right-winger knocking off 5 stars over a single throwaway line (about Fox News)? Wow. OK (1) this is what people say in the real world, call them liberals if you want but it's about half of your country from what i understand and (2) it's just one line out of thousands of well written ones in a fictitious TV show. Actually that line made me cringe when i heard it because it felt gratuitous and awkward and not funny. BUT to discount all the other wonderful writing because of that one line says far more about you and your intolerance than the show. You could just as easily read it as satire or as part of 1 character, rather than a comment on everything by the writers.. also (3) it's a touch ironic given the title!

Anyway, I don't like police and law procedurals in general or politics on TV but i'm half way through S1 and it's pretty gripping stuff so far. There's lots of great drama and character shading on the both the "good" and "bad" guys, with solid acting all around. The younger people in this are particularly solid. The younger guy accused of murder reminds me of Ewan McGregor, both are great actors. The lead actress is very watchable,they have great chemistry together. Some of the racial stuff feels a bit heavy handed though but i'm not really qualified to comment (also I'm not American either), luckily there's enough else going on besides race and politics to make this appeal to almost anyone i'd think. There's almost too many interrelated characters in the ensemble so it's starting to feel like quite a small world by ep5! The music montages are a bit cheesy but they don't happen too often. Every ending keeps me wanting to come back for more so it's doing something right!

If that one line wasn't there causing such silly outrage in a subset of the audience, would this be one of the highest rated new shows of the year? I'm slightly concerned where the Zale connections are going and whether this show will manage to remain grounded in reality or go all conspiracy crazy, we'll see!

edit: finished S1 in one weekend, pleased to say they didn't **** the ending up! The pacing and introduction of characters was spot on. The constantly cold exterior sets a good mood, a little like the Coen Brothers' Fargo. Worth saying something about the violence in this show also. it's extremely precise, almost a Goodfellas mafia sort of feel, very shocking, often unexpected, and always a necessary part of the story. This one doesn't pull any punches. I would say it's pretty underrated on IMDb (currently 7.5) probably because it has literally divided its audience (groan!) into most who love it and some who hate it. Really looking forward to S2 on this one.

I'm giving it an 8, but I reserve my 10 votes for movies like "Citizen Kane", so don't think this is a lukewarm rating.

Since I have no particular position regarding Fox News, I was able to look beyond that to see the series as a whole. The organization at the root of this is obviously based on the Innocence Project, so those who think this is just some kind of left-wing liberal propaganda should really look into the Project. It's only left-wing until the bacon they save is your own.

On the whole, I think the writing and acting were well above average, either for movies or TV. Add me to the list of people who would like to see a second season.

As a former lawyer and one who fell out of love with the law, the way that this show discusses the machinery of the law struck a strong chord with me. While we have seen much of the legal procedural that this show portrays elsewhere, I also loved the very real and complex relationships within an extended and blended African American family, where the mother and father are legal professionals, and there is the shadow of trauma and loss in the background. I love that they are intelligent, sensitive and caring people, they are also very fallible. The writers tempt us to see these and other characters hidden motives as evil, but it is an intentional trap; there really is little true arch evil in the world - just the damage that comes from assumed and apparent evil. Highly recommended.

They were written by people with political axes to grind who primarily want to make their personal world view known. They don't reflect the show.

This is a crime drama elevated by a uniformly terrific cast. It's neither left- nor right-wing in tone, really. It's about a justice system that is still trying to catch up to state-of-the art forensics, and examining past convictions that occurred when we were still in the forensic "stone age." Yeah, there's some local political corruption in the story line, but I've lived in big city America all my life and know it's often just a fact of real life.

Joe Anderson, who plays wrongfully convicted Terry Kucik, will totally convince you he's a blue collar, Phillie street kid. In real life he's a Brit with impeccable UK thespian ancestry. His acting is that good. But really, the entire cast is bringing their A games (especially Marin Ireland), which makes for some great TV.

The role played by Nia Long is probably written with her in mind. The legal actions that need to be investigated in a trial need to be examined more than once to ensure that it is understood by all parties...this could make or break a case, I am glad there is finally a series willing to portray the reexamination of facts in cases that were tried and completed erroneously due to persons of interest or habitual offenders that are named as suspicious by the investigating police officers and an overzealous DA or prosecuting attorney. The relevancy of certain facts are often in dispute by the defending/prosecuting attorneys especially if there is a convenient witness that could corroborate facts that are manipulated or even manufactured depending on who interprets them.