First Murder

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.

First, I'm a 30 year retired cop. This excellent screenplay and acting really set me back on my heels. This is a pretty accurate show on procedures and politics. In reality the norm is heads will roll if you push as hard as these two cops do. Pressure from the top would squelch any further digging into the main bad guy. He's connected and has his entourage of people connected.

Keep in mind, this is t.v. but this is one well put together show. The underlying heat between partners of the opposite sex can and does occur and it's portrayed very well by the two main actors. Their mannerisms are very accurate also in areas of interviews and interrogations. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and hope it continues with the excellent writing and cast.

I went into this thinking it was just another Law & Order clone, like a million other shows out there these days, and I suppose I was somewhat pleasantly surprised.

The main detectives, played by Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson, don't initially seem like that great of a combination. She is a single mom who seems to have trouble with even getting a date, and he is married to a dying woman which is putting a lot of strain on his job, and that was primarily the focus of the show. The crime itself seemed to be secondary in nature, which is weird considering the name of the show, but most of time was dedicated to fleshing out the detectives and their lives.

Usually, that would cheese me off; I generally only watch these for interesting homicides and those classic action scenes we all know and love, but this was an interesting change of pace. At the end I found myself wondering if Diggs was going to be alright rather than how their case was going, and I think I can live with that.

I would have given the show higher marks, but I honestly do want to see a bit more action out of this first. Once they pick up the pace a little bit, this might easily turn into a new favorite.

This is a terribly scripted dreary drama series. it should be cut and shelved immediately after the first episode. And by doing so, TNT and Turner Original Production should fire all people related to this series. Casting was also so poor and disastrous, none of them looked convincing; those male and female inspectors? absolutely a joke! There's no charisma or any attractive strong character in this series that could make the viewers keep watching.

Kathleen Robertson's Hildy Mulligan role is very unconvincing. Her high heel shoes look so dumb and so inappropriate, her satchel on her shoulder looks more like cosmetic arrangement instead of any practical use, both were stupidly and heavily copied from the European mystery drama series, Anikka Bentzon: Crime Reporter.

What a shame, dude.