Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Television Memphis Beat, "Inside Man"
Posted by Chris Herrington on Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 11:26 AM
Memphis Beat, "Inside Man"
Originally Aired June 21st, 2011
Plot Synopsis: This week's show opens at what is presumably an East Memphis (or eastern suburbs) McMansion where there's been a home break-in with a floor safe missing. Dwight (Jason Lee) suspects a return of the infamous "Fox Meadows Burglars." A public call for information leads to a mysterious, awkward tipster, Keith Grant (Reno 911's Thomas Lennon) who has a lot of knowledge about the crimes. The man seems mild-mannered, but he reminds Dwight of "the ones who end up running down Beale Street naked with a samurai sword."
After discovering that he's studied the earlier "Fox Meadows Burglars" jobs more thoroughly than the MPD, Lt. Rice (Alfre Woodard) urges Dwight and partner Whitehead (Sam Hennings) take on Keith as a consultant, and he ends up helping them solve a case that is plaguing "all the rich folks of Memphis."
A wan subplot concerns Whitehead's attempt to "rebrand" himself.
Respect (Memphis music featured in the episode): The reduced interest in Memphis music doesn't end with the episode titles this season, as the amount of music — and Memphis-specific music — is on the decline. The Muddy Waters' identified "I'm Ready" and the Ray Charles' identified "You Don't Know Me" pop up, but in other versions I couldn't ID. The Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider" is head. Most prominently is B.B. King's "When It All Comes Down," which is used four times, twice sung by one character to another in the form of a serenade.
The City (Truthy Memphis): At this point, it seems like Memphis Beat is throwing a dart at a Memphis map and just randomly dropping in area references with no sense of context or place. This time, in addition to "Fox Meadows," we get a reference to "rednecks from Hickory Hill," Boone Lake, and the prison camp in Millington. (With one allegedly Memphian character that doesn't know what Millington is.)
Union Street (Unreal estate): This episode was so lacking in color that they didn't even make up any interesting places — a la the "Whiskey Snake" bar on Union from last week. Locations amounted to the police station, a series of anonymous suburban homes, and a storage unit.
Analysis: This week's episode was even more dull and disconnected from its title city than last week. A disappointing absence of women — particularly the always welcome Celia Weston, as Dwight's mother and last week's new (and thought-to-be recurring) transfer cop played by Beau Garrett — hurt the watchability. I'm past the point of expecting anything like an accurate depiction of Memphis, but this season it feels like they've stopped trying. Hopefully my partner Greg Akers will have better luck next week when he (mercifully) takes the baton as a Memphis Beat recapper.
Comments (8)
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Yeah, and CSI:Miami is filmed in Los Angeles. Everything set in Seattle is filmed in Vancouver. Who cares? The show is much better than last year. And its awesome they did B.B. King music (another King of Memphis). Whining about it not being filmed in Memphis is getting a little old. Not sure anyone cares...
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There's not a single comment or complaint in this recap or last week's about the show not being filmed in Memphis. But, as its title and lead character indicate, the concept of the show is partly about an *idea* of Memphis. And, as a Memphis publication, we approach the show from the standpoint wanting to examine how the show communicates its idea of Memphis.
I quit watching it last year, and nothing I've read so far inspires me to start back.
Chris you're right. It's horrible. Anyone who's objective will see that. I like the idea behind the show but the writing is garbage.
I imagine that the writers make up names of locations so that they don't show any part of Memphis in what could be considered a disparaging light by some suit with their knickers on too tight. I also imagine that they make up names of things like restaurants so that they don't have to pay them any fees for using their establishment in the show; or maybe, it is just to prevent them from being sued (look at what happened with the Mike Tyson tattoo in Hangover 2).
With the show being so young, I thought that they would spend a little more time on character development for the characters they already have. I would like to see more happen with Celia Weston, DJ Qualls, and Leonard Howze before they start integrating more characters with any sort of multi-episode arc. I realize that it is inevitable that the show will give Jason Lee a number of different love interests. This season just seems... lacking.
I enjoy the show. I think the characters are likable and the dialogue is often funny. But I don't understand why the producers avoid using the names of real places. There is no legal reason why they can't say someone had dinner at the Rendezvous or that they live on Poplar Avenue. It would give the show some much-needed authenticity if they would name-drop actual locations. (The stock photos of downtown Memphis are great, but they're not enough.)
What really bugs me, though, is that the place where they do film the show doesn't even resemble Memphis. The land is too flat, and you can see tropical species of trees that don't grow in west Tennessee. I understand the need to film in Louisiana because it's cheaper, but can they be a little less OBVIOUS about it? They're not fooling anyone.
What the Hell happened to Dwight. He looks like he lost 30 lbs and age 15 years along with 15% of his hair. And where's the music. We all knew it was dubbed but Jason Lee doesn't even make an effort to look like he's really singing. Did the real singer get too much attention?!
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