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Introduction

How Do You Account For The Popularity Of The Crime/Cop Genre With Television Audience? In this assignment I am going to be looking at two different crime/cop shows which are famously known by audiences. After watching and discussing episodes of 'NYPD Blue' and 'The Bill' I am going to use my notes to talk about how famous the two shows are with television audiences and in what genre they fit in. I will also be discussing the two episodes I watched and try to point out the main characters and the representation of the two shows. Firstly the popularity of the crime/cop shows are very popular with television audiences this because most things that happen in the shows are realistic and actually happen in most of our lives, or we have experienced them before. Therefore this makes it popular to watch as we as the audience want to see how different people react to the same crimes that we have experienced. Most Crime/cop shows tend to change the genre sometimes adding comedy to it to give the audience fun and excitement. However most crime/cop shows are inclined with crime, danger and fights. To gain successful for this type of genre crime fiction, they played with the genre by adding their own ideas to make it popular and more realistic towards their audiences. Crime fiction quickly became a stable of TV programming as British Television developed and grew during the 1950s. The genre encompasses a wide range of programmes and new angles are repeatedly being developed. ...read more.

Middle

inevitably being the stereotypical good cop/bad cop as he 'negotiates' with a criminal to progress (using force). His partner Greg Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) is the opposite with a more calm and methodical approach who tries to solve cases in his own way. This opposing relationship between partners also exists in 'The Bill' with partners Tony Stamp (Graham Cole) and Kerry Young (Beth Cordingly). Tony Stamp being the stereotyped good cop/bad cop delivering punch lines such as "I keep nicking you Curtis" who intimidates Curtis while Kerry Young takes a more calm approach, although there are times when she matches up with her male peers. This is because she is a character than can basically "kick ass" she is not afraid and will do anything to find evidence and solve her cases which she is involved in, so that she can gain more authority and respect by others. The females are presented as matching up to their dominantly male counterparts. This 'battle of the sexes' can also contribute to the audience appeal as conflict gains interest. In 'NYPD Blue', Connie McDowell (Charlotte Ross) is very masculine and patristic. In one scene she storms into the toilet interrupting Sipowicz 'slash' and demands respect from him. She also gets emotionally involved with her work and also involved with matters not in her manual of work. At the end of the episode she stops Sipowicz from returning to alcoholism and encourages him to move on, she in a way is someone who can encourage the males and tell them what to do such as Sipowicz. ...read more.

Conclusion

This could also have the realistic effect. Lighting in both shows is also iconographical in that the audience would expect to see a dark/grim setting on murder scenes and a busy, bustling police station. 'NYPD Blue' makes more use of non-diagetic music compared to 'The Bill' who makes it more stylish and matching to the location and the scenes and shots of the episodes. Values and Ideology are presented in both shows. In the two episodes, moral issues were raised such as alcoholism (Sopiwicz and Carver) which both are recovering alcoholics. The Bill also raises the issue of domestic violence with the court proceedings against Marie Carver, and the issue of underage sex, spun from Carla and Curtis, is also raised. Clearly, the good cop/bad cop clich� (Baldwin Jones) can also account for the values of the police power and their methods. These ethical issues exist in this genre and shows so that the audience can relate to them and be delighted by the officers and their physical side. Finally coming to a conclusion I have realized why theses crime/cop shows have become popular with television audiences because both shows raise moral issues such as domestic violence which some of us as an audience may have faced and can relate to. Moreover by seeing these negative things on TV the audiences therefore want to know how to deal with them like the characters in the shows. As a result of this the crime/cop shows have become more and more popular in society and the world as each country today has its own cop shows. Dee Hamdi Tuesday 23rd March 04 ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Television section.