NJRadioGuy

Yeah, excellent way to steer back to the episode. It really is. Remember that line in Animal House? "Hey. They can't do that to our pledges, only we can do that to our pledges." Same idea. Now granted sometimes you're forced to work with a Class One D-bag and things can really get ugly, but for the most part it's how guys communicate with their peers, especially ones they deal with all the time. It actually isn't. When someone's giving you guff you know there's probably an iota of respect or trust under all that. If you can't take it then you're in the wrong line of work. It's also one of those things that gives nightmares to the Clipboard Warrior set. Some jobs just aren't for sensitive souls, and frankly I'm OK with that. I wouldn't have been able to hack it in a buttoned-down white collar gig but I thrived in the environments I worked in. Would that be ideal for colleagues in the accounting department or in the graphic design department? No. But for tough blue-collar careers this is absolutely the norm, it's to be expected and you know that the guy who's giving you the business if you float an air cookie in the truck will be the one who'll come running first if you get injured or your kid gets hurt, etc.

Because it's absolutely authentic. Guys do this kind of thing a lot. It's not always appreciated but it's how a lot of us roll up here in the trenches. There's no room for sensitivity or hurt feelings in a lot of careers. In my own career it was no different. And you gotta be able to take as hard as you give. You push his buttons, he pushes yours. Neither gives an inch until or unless something genuine bad happens then he'll have your back like nobody else ever will. And besides, Danny is a retired Marine. That amplifies things x1000. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but here in NJ, out on Long Island and on S.I. it's a thing.

As a North Jerseyite who lives 2 miles from "Tony's House" in North Caldwell, I was a huge Sopranos fan, and I loved the Anthony-as-a-mobster bit. But I agree it should have been played up a bit more. I also loved the ball-busting between Anthony and Danny. That was the only part of this episode that was enjoyable, and 100% authentic. Danny's warrant request wouldn't have had to go through Erin. You present your P.C. to a Judge (not the D.A.), he/she grants the warrant and that's that. But let's take a huge step back. This plot point was completely ridiculous. There was no need to get a warrant for Elon's phone. You subpoena his phone records from his carrier. The fitness app itself is irrelevant; the location metadata off cell towers is the information most often brought up at trial and it's sent a huge number of real-world bad guys for an extended stay in the greybar hotel. And even if in TV Land Detective World, why would a prosecutor not be onboard with a request when there's strong P.C.? Let's say Elon was the killer, Erin denies Danny the expanded access, and Elon goes and kills three more homeless people. Who do you think would end up fired (or worse) for failing to connect the dots? What utter horseshit. How did Baez tweak to Sandy as the killer, rather than just someone he was hugging in a background image? That wouldn't have been terribly out of place or reason for someone to throw away a strong lead on a likely suspect. Better writing would have been for the subpoenaed phone records to be a complete bust along with video surveillance evidence that would prove he was near where his phone was pinging at the time of all three homeless deaths, which would put them back to square one. OK, where do we look now? Crime Stoppers tips would likely be a thing since it would be on the news. And it's not just awful lighting (and it is--it's horrible) but the sound is terrible as well, with what sounds like HVAC fans or something in the background. Are they using an old warehouse instead of a soundstage for their sets or something? And the writing....good ghods. This season has been hideous, although last year wasn't great either. If the Commissioner of the NYPD is getting angry about a statement that "we can do better" in 2021, then maybe the Mayor ought to be looking to make a change.

I'd consider it no different than a 1+1 response. He's the ranking officer so he's doing double duty. Obviously IRL that incident would be a full box assignment or higher once the HAZMAT aspect became known, but for TV cost cutting I'll handwave it.

Dogs are trained to smell for decomp, but the perp said he used some sort of blocking agent that threw them off. What irked me is that if the investigators were initially convinced that he victim was buried in the back that they didn't clean off all the debris and look for signs of the earth being freshly disturbed.

Amber is head chef at a restaurant two towns over from me in north Jersey (Nicole is her sous). If we ever go there I will make a point of not ordering the chicken.

Very predictable result. It was Kori's game to lose and she deserved her win. I really like Mary Lou and she will absolutely have a strong career ahead of her in the industry but she's still a bit too raw to earn a spot running a G.R. restaurant. I still say that the strongest chef in the bunch was Declan and honestly, a little over halfway through the season I had him pegged as a finalist and probably the winner, if he didn't unravel.

I hope Grainger has a helicopter fall on him or something equally gruesome, quite frankly. He suggested having Sylvie's cat declawed. Hey Grainger, how 'bout we chop off the tips of your fingers at the joint, because that's what declawing is. Stannis Baratheon would be proud.

I would imagine that people stay, and even thrive in those kitchens because the chef is a force majeure and his talent--and name--will propel their own careers. Declan is probably a holy terror to work for but if he's as good as we've seen him thus far he'll have people lining up to work for him wherever he lands, celebrity or not, asshole or not. At one of my big annual parties in the BeforeTimes™ one of my guests was (still is, I think) a chef at a local fine dining restaurant, and I asked him about the toxic environment in commercial kitchens vs what's shown on TV. According to this guy who's been cooking professionally for over 30 years, the stuff that happens in virtually every kitchen couldn't be shown on TV and isn't talked about much anywhere outside of the line. In his words, the Chef is God/Emperor/Pope and utterly infallible. Forget that at your peril. The sous is one (*tiny*) step down. If you aren't one of those two you better do exactly as you're told or prepare for a world of abuse, both verbal and in a few cases physical. A literal kick in the ass or smack on the back of the head is your warning (next one is a pink slip). And misogynistic/sexist behaviour isn't uncommon either in places he worked at. He himself admits to being a Grade A Prick behind the line when it all goes pear-shaped. Basically the chef knows everybody's hot-buttons and pushes them as needed. Agreed 100%, but the show hasn't gotten into her creative side and that's my only question mark. It will be her and Declan at the doors, I think, unless one of them unravels completely. Mary Lou has a hell of a career ahead of her, but I think it will be more as owner/partner/chef-de-cuisine. I think in the real world, line cooks would eat her for lunch.

As much of a jerk as Declan can be, he has the ability to run a professional kitchen, and has the arrogance that's often needed to be head chef, along with the cooking talent and creativity. Whether he wins this contest or not, he's got a strong career waiting for him. I don't know whether he'd be good owning/running a restaurant, but he seems like he'd be at home running a brigade, and that's what Gordo's looking for. Mary Lou is phenomenally talented in ways that are exactly the opposite of Declan. She leads with her culinary skill and from what we've seen on TV, her palate. I could see her owning and running a fine-dining restaurant, but maybe not running the back of house.

Amber and Nikki are running an amazing restaurant in Montclair, NJ, about 5 miles from me. Stunning food according to friends who've been there. We're planning to go in a few weeks once the show is over and the Hells Kitchen curious have stopped going. Plus Amber's résumé is impressive as hell. she's worked in Michelin-starred kitchens and trained at Le Cordon Bleu. Article on Amber and Nikki at the MC Hotel. There's another restaurant in Montclair that a Chopped winner opened a few years ago as well (Michael Carrino)

I know too many folks in the medical field to ever utter that word in-context. I was a patient in the E.D. a few months ago (false alarm, thankfully), and not much was going on. I very deliberately said Oh, it seems to be very....I let the lack-of-a-word hang "much less busy than I'm sure you're used to." I treat it the same way as The Scottish Play.

I've noticed this on several episodes too. 18's quarters (i.e. the real station) would obviously not be first due in the Loop/business district. You might see them on a fifth alarm or something like that, but definitely not there and not the near-north side, and IIRC, I think that's where the firhouse is supposed to be set in show-cannon. Also, when they're on the radio they're calling "Main", which is the dispatch office for the north side. The south side's dispatcher is called "Englewood" on the air. I wanted to shove the nozzle of a charged 2-1/2 up somewhere warm and moist on that prick after he dumped the cat off on Sylvie. Do not get me started down that road. It happens. Minor/inconsequential MVAs, ODs, accountability at minor fires (i.e. where they are not going to work, just being on standby in case Something Bad happens to a working company). Some days it's just very....there's a word to insert here that starts with the letter that comes after P and before R. I don't ever dare say it in context or else alarm bells will start sounding spontaneously, cars will crash of their own volition, piles of oily rags will combust, etc. One does not say that word. But yes, some days--weeks--can be like that. The brother of a good friend of mine was a probie in Buffalo in the 90s. Every shift he was on he was bored off his arse. The shifts before and after had worker after worker. He was stocking the fridge, mopping the floors, drilling on the rig, etc. I think it took him like 3 or 4 months before he caught a decent job. Turn in your bugles while you're at it. You don't have the needed analytical skills for your position. Sadly, that's his role now. Comic relief. He should have been teaching that class. And he sure as shit should be drilling the newer members of T81 between runs. Especially on how to carry and throw ground ladders since they seem to be allergic to it, just as E51 has a distinct water allergy.

Firefighters have a special key to control where the elevator stops--or doesn't. Residents don't have such things. So if the fire's on 10, they can run express to 7 or 8 and walk up the designated access stairwell, for example. I think I still have my old Otis key from the 1970s kicking around somewhere, if memory serves.

How much maintenance would that gutter lead have had to still hold a 200-ish pound person in turnout gear 30 years after it last successfully held a person's weight? I was looking at the heavy support brackets in the shot. Just what my gutters (don't) look like. Why didn't they throw ground ladders when there were reports of entrapment on the second floor? It's only a 2 story house. Takes a lot less time that setting outriggers and manoeuvering the stick. Agreed, for a legit working fire why wasn't there a B/C on scene as incident command? Even for the made for TV 1-and-1 response. I'd have to rewatch with subtitles, but the job toned out for an address in the 3600 block of whatever the street was, but the house number was 1644, IIRC, when they show it at the end. Oopsie. Wonder how long it took the props department to make that wardrobe? I was expecting a Narnia joke to be honest. Now imagine if it had belonged to Severide's grandmother and not J. Random Person? It would be a Revered Heirloom that would get the entire house refurbishing it. Honestly, they're not even trying with this shit any more. Since last summer my TV watching has been mostly YouTube and Scandi-noir crime dramas. Going back to U.S. network fare feels like I've been lobotomized.

You're right about Fridays, and I'd forgotten about that entirely. I usually end up watching it on Sunday so I never think of it as a Friday show, but that's definitely a reason why a 0.4 could earn a renewal. Grimm had the same luck to keep it going as long as it did, and IIRC, Last Man Standing made it through five years on Friday night with lower than normal numbers when it was still on ABC.

And this is why renewal/cancellation decisions are made with far lower numbers than would have ever happened just a few years ago. It's also why expensive cast members get "killed off" in drama series and replaced by no-name newbies, seasons get shortened to 13 or 18 episodes instead of the usual 22-ish, pandemic notwithstanding, episodes run times approach 39 or 40 minutes, production values aren't as high and so on. L/SD and C3 are the only metrics that ad buyers care about, and only in monitored households. Meaning that if you don't have a Neilsen device in your home, what you watch doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. Audience buzz in new shows can help, but what buzz is there about this? Especially given that many in the audience are seniors who don't post. Take a quick look at the 2011-2012 numbers here: https://deadline.com/2012/05/full-2011-2012-tv-season-series-rankings-277941/ and you'll see average ratings for primetime scripted dramas and comedies that got renewed were in the 2-ish to 3-ish range. Blue Bloods pulled a 2.01 for the year in 18-49 with a 6 share (6% of all TVs being monitored at the time of broadcast were watching Blue Bloods). This episode here pulled a 0.4, and it seems that about 0.6 to 0.7 is the renew/cancel threshold. But my guess is that the network sees this as a prestige title that they want on the schedule if they can still get the budget to work. After this season's run of 16 shows there will be 233 episodes available for syndication (66 is usually the minimum). The show is old, but it's probably not horribly expensive to produce beyond cast salaries if they keep the car chases and explosions down, and do more interior shooting to keep location costs down. If this were any other show it would probably have been cancelled a year or two ago so there's something keeping it going.

DVR playback doesn't really do much other than provide an interesting statistic. When it comes to making a renewal/cancellation decision the only demo that matters to the network people is 18-49 years old, in either live/same day or what they call "C3"--those who've watched the commercials that aired during the show within three days of it airing live. As it is this show skews well over 18-49 (I think I saw somewhere it was mid-60s) so what percentage of the targeted demographic actually sits through ads while watching live, or even more incredulously, watches ads on a DVR playback. Advertisers need to know how many people in the targeted demo are seeing their spots before they commit to spending millions of dollars funding that show. It doesn't matter an iota to Proctor and Gamble or General Motors how many people watch the show but skip the ads. Now maybe the showrunner or Selleck himself has an in with the network folks to keep it going another year or two, but absent that, a 0.4 is "CW Network" level ratings. 0.8 to 1.0 seems to be about the threshold these days. Who knows, though. Maybe in a few years a 0.3 will be the new normal. Ten years ago if a show fell under a 5 it was toast.

I lost IQ points on this one. Every other store on every block has some form of video surveillance they could pull footage from, and if it's midtown, the NYPD's own cameras are everywhere. Especially since last summer's troubles and the fact that the real NYC has major crime problems at the moment, and the justice system is a joke. As for the girl ID'ing the shooter, what in the name of glub was this even doing at the prosecutor's level an hour or two after she gives her statement? What happened to "In the criminal justice system the police investigate crimes and the district attorney prosecutes the offenders. These are their stories. Dun dunh?" I the normal course of the universe the investigators show up, take statements, and transport witnesses to the stationhouse or HQ to be interviewed. If they get an eyewitness statement and a positive ID from a 6-pack they collect the creep and book his ass, then try to get a confession or some form of statement if possible. It could be weeks (if not months) before the D.A. starts arranging testimony and checking witness statements, etc. Then they do real police work and try to build the case by things like cell phone records (easy to subpoena then once you got an I.D.), cameras, investigating the known associates of the perp(s), etc. If they do their jobs right, by the time it goes to the prosecutor's office they don't even need the witness' statement to get enough for a conviction--and usually a plea. Oh yeah, the primary investigator(s) is or are required to attend the autopsy in most jurisdictions. And so the M.E. discovered the connection to out of state homicides by someone with the same DNA. Guess what bunky...it's now an FBI case. They probably would have already been involved since it was a spree killer. And all that DNA from all those crimes and bupkis in every federal database? Nice to see Michael Imperioli again, but boy has he aged since the Sopranos! I just checked and this episode pulled a 0.4 in the target demo, and it seems to have settled to that level this year. I suspect this will be the last season. The writing has gone to shit (even moreso than it has the last couple of years).

Anything here in North Jersey it's usually 5+ minutes from arrival to first drop of water. Then again, it's all vollies up here.

Also, I've been meaning to mention this for a long time now, but what the hell is with the horrible HVAC background noise in the soundtrack? I've never heard this on any other show. Next time they're doing a quiet scene either in Frank's office or in an interrogation room listen carefully. You hear fan noise and room echos almost as loud as the dialog. Are they shooting this on a professional soundstage or in a converted warehouse? Has the audio team never heard of sound baffles? Noise cancelling mics? Noise gates?

I honestly detested this episode. Not any particular storyline, it was just poorly executed and felt extremely disjointed, and it felt to me like the actors were just reciting their lines rather than living their characters. Frank's coming down hard on the 51 Captain wouldn't have bothered me if we hadn't seen him generally being supportive of his men and a good leader and teacher. Frank isn't generally a hardass and this was out of character. The former captain was looking out for his family's best interests and now they're basically going to be completely screwed. He didn't get the gig in Westchester Co., and he was forced off the job in the city. He's now basically unemployable in his field pretty much everywhere in the northeast; a stiff penalty for the family of a lifetime officer given the transgression in question, and fair-and-compassionate Frank would realize that just as much as the guy's favourite tipple. I could see a demotion and a move to Staten Island or Far Rockaway but this was a bit extreme. Also, and for quite a while now, a few of the scenes in Frank's office have had this bizzare, almost surreal air at times. Pregnant pauses, stilted or obfuscated dialog, etc. Are the writers imbibing too much "Finnerty's"?

Two line of duty deaths resulted. At the time they were saying that fire burned through the hose line that the two men from Engine 33 who perished were carrying to a hot spot in the basement. Just horrible and very difficult to listen to for sure, but for that very reason, that real-world tragedy made this episode extremely realistic to me--at least that aspect of it, anyway. Radio, to me, has always been the best medium for storytelling, whether it's old time radio dramas or PD/FD/EMS radio systems today. TV (especially most insipid network TV shows) has nowhere near the impact for me. It's why I still like to listen to ballgames on the radio rather than watch them.

To add one more thing. Holly heard Mouch's mayday call and she was genuinely worried for him when things looked bleak. I was really hoping that either Hermann would have called Mouch aside at the end and introduced her, or she would have asked if she could see this Mouch guy. All snark aside, and PITA or not, she went through something terrible and seeing this guy alive and well would probably have made her day, and the story of why would probably have gotten to Mouch, too. Wasted opportunity IMO.

Some iffy writing and playing with the way radios work but I'll handwave it for a decent character episode. I really enjoyed it, especially the Otis reference (despite the fact we almost never saw him doing elevator rescues when he was there). The one that should have been working was the alarm button. It's uncomplicated--you push it, it rings a bell and keeps it ringing until you pull the button back out again. Ringing elevator bell plus the fact you can't reach your engine crew = guess where they are guys? Agreed. If you're on Squad you should know how to build an elevator in your sleep. Also, from what I recall, elevator brakes are released when traction power is applied. When it's not they have enough clamping power to hold it in position. And the trope of the car falling uncontrollably? Only once in modern history has a car ever gone into free fall, and that was the Empire State Building in 1945 when a plane crashed into it (the passenger survived). The safest place to be in most cases is in an elevator. You couldn't break those cables if you tried. Yay Hollywood. Sounds like Trevor hadn't gotten laid in so long that even Holly looked interesting. Dating rule number 1: don't let the little head do the thinking for the big head. And rule number 2: Run away from the crazies. That's the part that pissed me off the most and took me out of the episode more than it should. But I guess it was necessary to tell the story they wanted to tell, so I'll handwave that, plus... They actually kinda-sorta got this one right. IRL, Chicago FD radios operate on the UHF band, and UHF signals there are generally blocked by the rebar within concrete, and a steel elevator car is a Faraday Cage in its own right, so yes, signals wouldn't be strong. HOWEVER...Assuming they're on a simplex fireground frequency, and only about 35-40 feet away from the seat of the fire (they were stuck near 7, and the fire was on 10), that's still more than enough for a 5W or 10W HT to get at least a partial message through. And all one of them would have to do is hold the antenna up through even a partial opening in the hatch and that would have helped get a message through. With all of that said, though, hearing the job through radio traffic was bloody good writing. Take this from someone who knows (notice my board handle).* I absolutely loved how they conveyed the story of a good job without having to show a single thing. It usually doesn't make good TV to do that 😃 So, for the sake of the story they need to reduce weight in the car (OK, handwaving all the above for draaaaaamah). Fair enough of a plot device. But let me get this right. You have a building fire which has just flashed over 20 feet above you, and your going to release 110 gallons of highly-flammable Toluene? Granted it will go down, not up, but that's a variable I don't think I'd want to throw into the equation...ESPECIALLY WHERE THERE WERE A HALF-DOZEN OR MORE BAGS OF CEMENT in the car as well, each one weighing at least 80 pounds. Two 55 gallon drums would weigh about 400 pounds each (including the drum). I'd have dumped out all the cement first and see if that helped. One thing in their favor is that Toluene's MSDS says its vapors are heavier than air, so a breached drum's vapors would likely not travel upward to the raging fire above and ignite. * For those interested, listen to the recordings of the 9 alarm fire in Boston, in March 2014. E33 responding first due to Box 1579, 298 Beacon St. This will haunt you.