Keep Funding Dick Wolf

By ROB PATTERSON

The right wing took great umbrage at the rhetorical call to “Defund the Police” in the wake of the death of George Floyd. But when federal agents raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and residence to recover classified documents that he had taken with him on leaving the White House, MAGA and Trump supporters were howling “Defund the FBI!”

That latter notion is largely absurd and the former quite justified by systemic police malfeasance and violence against African-American citizens; I say “Reform the Police.” And in the realm of television, I want the FBI to continue to be well funded. I refer to the three “FBI” shows that are the latest creations from Wolf Entertainment, the production company of Dick Wolf, creator of “Law & Order,” which spawned TV’s biggest franchise with a veritable constellation of spin offs.

As mentioned here before, I call myself a Law & Order Leftist because of the way the shows portray law enforcement and the justice system, both flawed and imperfect, yet with enough characters with robust moral and ethical backbones to suggest that both systems can be integral and effective as well as positive forces fostering a healthier society. The L&O “ripped from the headlines” stories have often provided keen social and political commentary.

Wolf and his crew then expanded the franchise – which had already landed “Law & Order” in Los Angeles and London – to the Windy City with “Chicago Fire” and “PD” and “Med.” All of them also portray how our professional assocIations can engender the warm hugs of family affection and support, especially “Fire” due to the unique structure of the company and service, which makes the term firehouse redolent with a sense of home and kinship. The three series are strongly flavored with the character of the locale, like a creative deep dish pizza, followed a bit later by some beers at an urban tavern like Molly’s, the joint owned by some Firehouse 51 firefighters.

Then in 2018, “FBI” followed. It has a bold lead in agent Omar Adon “O.A.” Zidan, a Muslim Egyptian-American played with soul and dignity by an actor who is the same, and at times has to work on antiterrorism cases involving Arabs and Islam. TV vet Jeremy Sisto leads a boiler room of researchers and tech experts; actress Alana de la Garza, who has been in a number of L&O shows, plays the head of the New York City criminal investigation.

“FBI: Most Wanted” followed in 2020, and of the three shows is the one where the Fugitive Task Force unit operates as family, in many ways. Family was also a primary thread with initial agent-in-charge Jess LaCroix over the first three seasons. (Semi-spoiler alert.) In season four, Dylan McDermott takes over unit leadership. He’s also an L&O vet, most recently playing a crime boss on the new “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” a role that never seemed to quite jell with me. But as a breezy and hip Fed, McDermott charms.

The next year saw the launch of “FBI: International,” which features an FBI “fly team” based in Bucharest, Hungary, that travels Europe to protect and assist Americans overseas from threats and crimes, aided by liaisons with Interpol (first German and then British) who act as go-betweens with local law enforcement. The range of locales and cultures adds nice scenic touches and and foreign flavors not often seen on American TV.

Another fun and original touch is the pet of the fly team’s special-agent-in-charge: a giant schnauzer named Tank, a retired police dog and the team’s mascot that’s become a viewers’ favorite. His presence made me realize that there aren’t enough dogs on series TV shows.

In the Wolfian L&O tradition, the FBI agents are largely dedicated men and women of principle and ethics. They offer a standard we should hold all our law enforcement to uphold.

And with the L&O shows (including a reboot of the original) and Chicago series now joined by the three FBIs, that’s nine episodes a week of reliably smart and enjoyable TV. It all gives my chill time some good stories with winning characters to happily follow.

Populist Picks

Documentary Film: “Orion: The Man Who Would Be King” – In one of popular music’s more bizarre ripples, a southern boy who loved music and sounded like Elvis Presley emerged about a year after Presley’s death on the Sun Records label, wearing Lone Ranger-style face masks and named after the character in a novel about an Elvis-like star who fakes his own death. It was all a wild ride for Jimmy Ellis in this award-winning 2015 documentary that The Guardian aptly described as “wonderfully weird.”

Documentary Film: “If These Walls Could Sing” – The EMI Records Abbey Road studio in London is obviously best known by its name titling an album by The Beatles, whose music was largely recorded there. But the facility’s legacy in popular and classical music is far greater. And in an era where hit records can get made on a laptop in a bedroom, it’s valuable to be reminded how much studio rooms, equipment, producers, engineers and technicians can help foster musical greatness in this film by Paul McCartney’s daughter Mary.

Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email robpatterson054@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, March 15, 2023

Populist.com