Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Television Memphis Beat, Pilot Episode
Posted by Greg Akers on Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 4:36 PM
Is this what Memphis is? Memphis Beat thinks so. The show, premiering tonight on TNT at 9 p.m. and airing on Tuesdays throughout the summer, embraces these associations. The extent to which you, as a Memphian, or you, as a neophyte, can live with the portrayal will determine the level of your enjoyment. (By the way, look for Chris Herrington’s Flyer cover story, out tomorrow, about the city from Mystery Train to Memphis Beat.)
Based solely on the pilot, titled “That’s Alright, Mama,” the show is a failure on multiple levels and a success on others. Jason Lee (My Name is Earl) stars as Memphis police detective Dwight Hendricks, an unconventional investigator who performs hometown songs for big crowds at night. His day and nighttime jobs are full of one thing: love for Memphis.
The pilot deals with the police investigation of the abuse of an elderly woman, who just so happens to be Dottie Collins, a legendary local radio DJ who inspired generations to idolize that hometown rock and soul. It’s here where the real Memphis and the fictional Memphis diverge: The “all-girl” radio station WHER did indeed exist, but it shut down in the early ’70s. In the Memphis Beat universe, it continues to thrive to present day. (A WHER tower predominates over the city skyline.) If only.
Among those most appreciative is Hendricks, who idolized Collins and feels she changed the course of his life. Giving a pep talk to the uniformed police rank and file, Hendricks says, “Y'all are here because you care about Memphis, am I right? Well, Dottie Collins, she is Memphis.”
You could take offense at regional inaccuracies. The show’s a little off about Memphis the way The Blind Side was. It's written and produced by Non-Memphians (among them George Clooney and Grant Heslov) and filmed elsewhere (New Orleans, though there’s lots of second unit stuff of a neon-lit downtown). Elvis impersonators litter the streets like glam panhandlers. Lee wields a homespun drawl and grit-eating grin that’s a little put upon.
And, strictly on the basis of the pilot as a police procedural, you have to shake your head sometimes. The script’s central mystery is full of holes and relies upon shoddy policework to keep the plot moving forward. That’s just lazy.
Me, I think Memphis Beat is the best thing to happen to the city in the national zeitgeist since Three 6 Mafia brought the house down at the Academy Awards ceremony.
With the show, Memphis joins the ranks of Hawaii in Magnum, P.I., Miami in Dexter, CHiPs in L.A., and 50 more examples not off the top of my head: memorable in part for the place they’re set in as much as for the characters and plots they feature. Further, they’re memorable for adding to the connotations and legacy of the place without bearing the burden of actually being accurate. Did anyone in 1981 expect that Hawaiians were driving around Oahu in Ferraris, fighting crime? Nope, but images like that get added to the cultural Tower of Babel about a place, as important to how its perceived as the reality.
Memphis Beat may just mark the moment when Memphis finally grows up and becomes a big city, joining the ranks of all the other major American cities that are able to sustain sub-par, inauthentic fiction and keep on trucking. Watching it, it was too much fun seeing the enthusiasm to worry about how much of it was wrong.
Memphis Beat is the anti-Treme, that near-great HBO show about New Orleans that just wrapped airing it’s first season. Treme promises NOLA in the blood, ripped from the headlines, true to life as a documentary. Memphis Beat glories in a fictional Memphis that never was: citizens stuck in Bizarro 1964, with a genuine level of appreciation for its musical and artistic legacy that’s vintage 1999.
The prospect of a high-profile show that tackles Memphis-centric mysteries on a weekly basis is thrilling. Keb' Mo' provides instrumental musical flourishes that fill in the space between one great Memphis tune after another. If the show has the budget and it runs for long enough, the music supervisor may dig deep enough into the catalog to dust off some true overlooked gems.
Rejoice, Memphis. The characters may not eat right or be conversant in contemporary European cinema, but we treat our mommas with respect and we’re a whippy bunch. Memphis Beat might not be the show we want, but it’s probably the one we deserve.
Comments (22)
Showing 1-22 of 22
Why are Memphians in so much need of attention and approval that we are grateful to let others define us?
like
dislike
Let me put it another way. The show was crap. But we will overlook its crappiness, and cross our fingers that it becomes as successful as Hawaii-5-0. After all, "[t]he prospect of a high-profile show that tackles Memphis-centric mysteries on a weekly basis is thrilling."
I say again: We seemingly have no self respect.
Mike: Congratulations. Next thing you know, you'll discover the nose on your face.
Mike, Marty
If you two won the lottery, you'd bitch about the taxes. You really aren't fans on Memphis are you? If your kids weren't the best players on the team, would you make them stay at home? Geez, it must be miserable.
Mike, I suspect you know this already, but this isn't about some abstract notion of city identity; it's about being recognized as a top-tier American city. Would you rather invest in a corporation located in St. Louis, or one in Skokie?
OC, I hear you, but here's the problem: WE don't recognize OURSELVES as a top-tier city. We depend on others to convince us. You know what happens to a PERSON when their self-identity depends on gaining others' approval? Same thing happens to cities. Cities have psyches. Our civic psyche is in bad shape.
You guys sound like Scranton, PA bragging about how The Office is filmed there. Come on. This show is awful!
Zero (the other numbers are superfluous): you missed the point (as usual). I'm not bemoaning Memphis; I'm bemoaning the attitude about it that's endemic in the population, and one which (your misinterpretation notwithstanding) I do not share.
On a related topic, the NYT gave this show a "thumbs up," even if it couldn't help itself from saying, in the process, that the city is "weary and broken-down." http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/arts/tel…
Honestly? This show really screamed of the New Orleans film location. Creole in Memphis? Maybe, but the inaccuracies were enough to make me question the season pass on TiVo. I'll give it another shot -- I really like DJ Qualls and Jason Lee -- but I'm much more pessimistic about it now. Again, I reiterate -- it should have been called New Orleans Beat.
Continuity errors abounded, and, while the story got off to a good start, the script was less than stellar (not to mention a tad preachy-cheesy).
Then there's the whole thing about all the local actors and musicians that could have been featured in the show (a la $5 cover), but it's not being filmed here. The exteriors they shot here don't come close to giving it the feel of the city.
I, too, like DJ Qualls and Jason Lee, so I might watch it one more time.
I was really upset that a show title "Memphis Beat" isn't being filmed in Memphis, but I tuned in for a few minutes last night just to see. Bad acting, bad plot, bad ... need I go on? I LOVE Memphis (born and raised here; moved away and BACK twice), and I think we do deserve better!
I found Memphis Beat to be fun to watch. So it wasn't filmed in Memphis, neither was Blindslide.
It was campy, unrealistic, and didn't have a true Memphis "feel", but I found it entertaining enough to not change the channel. I'll give it a few more tries. I can't think of many shows that had really good pilots. They usually take a while to hit their stride. So, I'll reserve judgment for now.
Do movies get filmed elsewhere in Tennessee? Is the state generally unsupporting of companies who want to make movies here, or does it only hold back when the project involves the left end of the state?
B. It is primarily a state issue. From what I understand our lack of state employment tax is actually a hindrance. Since a state with employment tax can then refund it back to the production. Which really means that the employees are giving money back to their employer. Also, they may not have to pay sales tax in other states. We can refund Memphis/Shelby sales, but the state still gets its 7ish%. Or something like that.
B, the biggest problem is that Georgia and Louisiana basically pay filmmakers to make movies in their states and Tennessee won't. Although I'm sure once nashville misses out on a big production, the incentives will suddenly get changed.
Yes, Packrat, let them make a movie about the Grand Old Opry, then have them film it in Atlanta. Nashville will wake up in a hurry.
I'm very annoyed that this show isn't being filmed in Memphis. I moved away a few years ago and was looking forward to seeing familiar landmarks. I live in Dallas now, and enjoy that the show "The Good Guys" is filmed here. I guess I'll have to tune into "The Police Women of Memphis" to get my Memphis fix... but I'll probably just get to see crack dens....
i spent about 48 hrs in memphis last year and fell in love with it. so, i was stoked to see a show based there. i had mixed feelings on the pilot, but the smithsonian article i have pasted the link to is incredible. hope yall enjoy it too.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/The-S…
AGJustice, The girl was Haitian and was speaking Haitian Creole, not the Louisiana Creole.
As a resident of N. Main Street in Memphis, I am again disappointed that TN has let another filming possibility pass by. The state tax IS the reason companies do not film here. I agree about the Nashville comment. Atlanta is actually building a location for film sets just south of the city in order to attract even more moviemakers.
Memphis Beat is another "Southern Insult." Everyone in the South does not have a southern accent. In fact, the ones who do, do not sound like the fake ones on this show. These unrealistic accents remind me of "In The Heat of the Night." (Another show filmed in GA) Nobody sounds like that except women over the age of 65 in Savannah, GA and Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter.
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
SPECIAL ISSUES
