'Robbery Homicide Div,' dark, doomed

'Robbery Homicide
Div.,' dark, doomed

First-rate CBS copper far bleaker than 'CSI' model

By Ethan Alter

    Does anyone else think it’s high time for CBS to just go ahead and rename itself CSI?
   This season the network launched three new hour-long dramas directly modeled on that show’s follow-the-evidence formula.
   One, of course, is the official “CSI” spin-off, “CSI: Miami,” which currently dominates the Monday 10 p.m. time slot. Another is the missing persons show “Without a Trace,” CBS’s latest and so far most effective attempt to challenge “ER” on Thursdays.
    Sadly, the outlook seems less cheery for the third and best of this freshman trio, “Robbery Homicide Division,” which airs tonight.
   Produced by Michael Mann (who helped reinvent the cop show genre with “Miami Vice”) and starring Tom Sizemore (“Saving Private Ryan”), the series is a big hit with critics but has yet to attract a sizable audience.
    While a difficult time slot (Fridays at 10) could be blamed for its low ratings , the more likely explanation is that “RHD” is a far bleaker show than “CSI.”
   This is not to say that the latter is a light comedy a la “Everybody Loves Raymond,” but it isn’t above resorting to crowd-pleasing theatrics like its patented CGI-enhanced shot of a bullet traveling through a human body to enliven the storylines. “CSI’s” producers have adopted the perfectly legitimate point of view that their show is a puzzle and puzzles are supposed to be entertaining to solve.
    “RHD,” on the other hand, is very serious, sometimes overwhelmingly so, in its depiction of the criminal investigation process. And unlike “CSI,” which doles out brief glimpses into the characters’ personal lives, we never see or hear about what Lt. Sam Cole (Sizemore) and his crew are like off duty. The show is purely about the job and that’s both its greatest strength and at times its greatest weakness.
   A few weeks back, I praised NBC’s “Boomtown” for its fresh take on the tired conventions of the police drama. “RHD,” however, is a good example of how effective those conventions can be when they’re employed with the right amount of conviction.
     In fact, except for the language and violence, “RHD” is essentially a modern-day “Dragnet.” Although Sizemore’s scowling countenance initially suggests otherwise, Lt. Cole is not an antihero. Instead, like Jack Webb’s iconic Joe Friday, he’s a stern, good-hearted, by-the-book officer who doesn’t rest until a case is solved. It’s a good role for the actor, who has made a career for himself playing slightly crazed individuals in movies like “Natural Born Killers” and “Bringing out the Dead.” He’s retained the intensity from those performances here but modulates it so that he comes across as merely driven instead of obsessed.
    The show follows Sizemore’s focused performance.
    Every moment is about advancing the investigation, searching for clues that may have been missed, finding new answers in the data that’s already been collected.
    The crimes presented here aren’t particularly elaborate or complex--this is just the Robbery and Homicide division, after all--but then again, they’re not the point of the series; procedure is.
    Watching “RHD” one realizes how lazy most cop shows are when it comes to depicting actual police work. Sure “NYPD Blue” and “The Shield” offer great drama, but their method of solving crimes always seems to boil down to one of the detectives bullying a suspect into a confession in the final 15 minutes.
    That said, however, character-based drama is something that “RHD” could use more of. Aside from Sizemore, the rest of the cast seems interchangeable. It would be nice to learn more about the supporting characters, if only so that we can root for them when they get into dangerous situations.
    CBS has a top-notch show on their hands with “Robbery Homicide Division,” but the chances of it lasting all season are doubtful.
     It’s a darker, more mature show than the network and probably the majority of viewers want on the air right now. Perhaps the series would be more at home on a cable channel like HBO, Showtime or even FX, which have built-in audiences for this kind of program. Partner “RHD” up with the second season of HBO’s excellent cop series “The Wire” and you’ve instantly got the cable version of Must See TV.

-Ethan Alter is a New York writer and regular TV critic for Media Life.

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