Shawn Ryan’s THE CHICAGO CODE

Shawn Ryan dealing with corrupt cops in my city?

Sold.

Yeah I remember reading that a few years ago while reading some stuff concerning The Shield.

I prefer the old title.

I'm surprised they didn't just call it The Chicago Way.

I'm all for more shows set in Chicago. Especially ones that sound like they'll be good.

Yeah, I can see that. I like Ride-along better than The Chicago Code, but if nobody actually goes on a ride-along, then the title doesn't really make sense.

Unless it's the audience that goes on the ride-along. I'm blowing my mind.

The inspiration for The Shield was from a newspaper article Shawn Ryan read about a group of corrupt cops in Chicago. They were doing all the bad shit one would expect of corrupt cops, but it escalated to the point where one of the cops put out a hit on one of his corrupt collegues.

I love the Shield, so I'm excited for this development. But the great thing about the Shield was the main character was a corrupt cop, an anti hero. At the time this was ground breaking for a tv show. This new show seems to be going the other way, about cops looking to clean corruption, which doesn't sound as interesting. The cynic in me also fears it sounds redundant. But I do love me some Jennifer Beals...

Wow, I always thought the main inspiration was the Rampart thing.

For some reason, ride-along makes it sound like some shitty Colin Hanks / Martin Lawrence starring comedy to me.

Kind of like a TV version of Cop Out.

I don't know about anything good. But I saw her in some shitty Lifetime movie when I was in the US a month ago, and she still gots the goods. Although, who knows how old she was at that point.

Considering how similar the Rampart scandal is to the Shield, I really wouldn't be surprised one bit if that was part or even the main the inspiration, he may've said as much. But there is a lengthy inteview with Shawn where he talks about the newspaper article about the corrupt Chicago cops and how they inspired the Shield.

Fox actually has some OK stuff on it though. House, Lie To Me, Fringe, The Good Guys. They're not bad shows at all.

In fact, Beals was on Lie To Me for a number of episodes.

Im pretty confident the inspiration for the Shield was the very publicized Rampart scandal in Los Angeles, which involved a group of cops who operated above the law and got involved in drug trafficking and other major crimes.

Shit, Rian Johnson back doing TV again? Damn, love that dude.

Wow. Where did this come from? It looks really good.

I know it lasted more than a season, but Joe Public kind of abandoned The Unit too, no? I tuned in for about a dozen episodes here and there, Dennis "Palmer" Haysbert was a total unsung badass on that show. At least he's still got those Allstate commercials.

 

As for Shawn Ryan, I think he's great but I'm fairly confident The Shield will always be his crown jewel. So many perfect creative marriages going on in that show.

I wish this was on FX or HBO.  I fear Fox will water it down.

The Unit changed quite a bit in Season 4.  It was pretty tonally different, so I can understand why people that were big fans of what it was stopped watching.
 

Including myself. I wasn't such a huge fan anyway, but the plot sort of went nuts after a while.

They became spies instead of soldiers.  Admittedly they were sort of undercover in the pilot, but this was to a whole new level.

 

Anyway, The Chicago Code has a good cast and crew.  I'm hoping not to have to compare it to The Shield, because it's hard to compare to that show.

Started out nearly rolling my eyes at the beginning but I was hooked by the end.

 

Really pissed me off when Latino assistant died.

I had to laugh at the earnestness of the comptroller who went to Gibbons about the city contracts being fixed.  How can anyone be that naive?

 

Good start, like the leads.  Hate that they have to prove that they are in Chicago with obviouse Cubs/Sox banter and things of the like. 

 

I really hope they let, and show, Lindo being super slimy.  He could be a really fun character.

Yeah.  Took a bit to start rolling, but it was on fire by the end.  Totally sold on it.

 

I like the nod to having to watch their language on TV by having the one cop hate profanity.

People are incredibly naive. So I could buy it.

 

Nice Michael Mann-esque shot at the end with the car and driving.

 

The killing of the assistant took me by surprise. Loved how it happened in the middle of his story.

Jennifer Beals is ridiculously sexy in this.  She alone will get me to watch the next episode. 

 

I really hope that hand-holding narration was only for the pilot, because that was seriously distracting.  Apart from that, it shows promise. 

Too bad FOX is full of morons that put a show like Glee, who's true audience wouldn't care for football unless the men were naked and twinky and are going to watch Glee regardless, on after the SuperBowl instead of this show, that could do something with the spotlight.

I guess it was originally called Ride-Along because of Jason Clarke's revolving door of partners, until now. The accents seem a little forced at times, but I'm digging it so far. I have to agree it took a little time, but by the end I was with it. Thought it was a little weird that Liam got an audience with the big boss so early though. Also, agree about the Michael Mann-esque last shot; it was a nice touch. Better than Blue Bloods, sorry Tom Selleck.

Has its share of cliche-kinks to iron out, but I'm on board for now which is more than I could say for Blue Bloods or Detroit 187 upon first viewing.

Maybe, but when the woman came in, she said she didn't know who to trust in the police.  If she is so up on the corruption of cops, you can't be so naive about kickbacks in the construction game.

 

I think the scene is unnecessary and almost seems like an add in for stupid people.  We could have learned about Gibbons a bit later on.

 

Might have been good if she didn't go to a guy on the board of the company she's accusing of corruption.  At least do a google search on the guy you're going to lady.

Not bad.  A little cliche-happy at times, and not the home run that 'The Shield's premiere was (which is arguably the most unfair comparison anyone can make), but definitely a step-up from all the other currently-running network cop dramas.

 

Anything Shawn Ryan does is guaranteed my attention for a season.

 

She was in The "L" Word on Showtime for that show's run.  Did she never show the goods on there?  Otherwise, check Mr. Skin...Mr. Skin...Mr. Skin dot cooooommmmm....
 

I think it really has potential. The scene near the end where Clarke asks his latest partner if he could bring his analytical skills in the future makes me hopeful. Just a really good moment and intriguing.

Though it was kind of a cliche scene, it sold me when Clarke and Lauria were at the Wall.  The part where Clarke mentions that his brother was on the Wall as opposed to a guy that he just knew from the academy, but he's never looked where was when it had me.

Tim Minear is one of the producers on this right? Looks like it'll end up canceled.

If it winds up being anywhere near as good as Terriers and Fox lets it run at least the whole season, I'll be happy.

Michelle Monaghan Jr was cute. Good show. I'm sticking by it.