NJRadioGuy

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.

This is true, but then you get the reveal at the end of what was in the envelope at the mat, and watch as teams react when they find out they missed a fast forward or $10,000 in cash each. Or else you make it so one of the teams has to select the special envelope (maybe once in a while).

If you have a nice random mix of positives and negatives you could even put them in specially-marked envelopes and essentially dare the contestants to see if they feel lucky. Or not. The random elimination would suck bigly, but I really don't hate it, and I wouldn't put it in the first 4 or 5 legs either. Although generally I believe a team's lack of skill or ability should be the sole cause of their elimination, the fact is in a race, bad things can happen. Even traveling on your own you can lose a passport, miss a flight, get robbed, get sick, have a lost hotel reservation, etc. So if you have to bunch everybody up for cost-cutting reasons, that eliminates a bad flight connection, which has resulted in more than one elimination. So putting this variable in to shake up the race would be fair. The big question for me is since everybody is always on the same flight now, does production now hold onto their passports and other critical documents?

I'd be fine with printed maps, too, provided there is sufficient information on the map for the contestant to find the place they're going to. But a GPS might be better for TV, especially since modern/younger viewers have probably never needed to read a paper map. And since the 18-49 demo is the group who pays the ad bills.... By safe I mean "you will not die or sustain life-threatening injury," which is pretty much already the case. Which is why I cringe when contestants scream like they're in mortal peril when doing something daring, but in reality they they're firmly affixed with professional rigging that will, at worst, bruise their egos if they fail at the task. What were the odds of that happening with the watermelon challenge? I'd maybe even go beyond the "you've been U-turned/yielded" clue. Have a random clue in each clue box. A yield, a U-turn, a bonus task, an extra privilege, a "you're safe from elimination" pass, a fast forward, a bonus prize (instead of at the mat, and more random), and at least once in a season, "Sorry, but you've been eliminated."

I don't want to see them with phones, but giving them each a handheld GPS device would be huge. I have always hated to see teams eliminated because of a lousy cabby who didn't know where the destination was. This would give them no excuse other than their unfamiliarity with how to use the software or poor battery management. The bunching of flights is definitely a cost issue. Pandemic aside, flights now run at close to 100% capacity as much as possible, and often the only seats left are up front. It's certainly much harder to get 4 tickets in Y these days, and they can't travel in J/F so yeah. Bunching. Plus the fact the show draws typically a 0.6 or 0.7 rating, meaning advertising isn't supporting it nearly as much as it did in earlier years. Anything under 1.0 would have been a sure cancellation just 5 years ago; now that threshold is 0.5 to 0.6 (and falling every year). TAR is the most expensive reality show ever made so yeah, there have to be cost constraints when advertising dollars vanish. Or else seasons would have to be cut in half and only 5 or 6 teams competing instead of 11. I strongly agree with a major penalty for helping another team on certain specified tasks. Keep the rules simple and unconvoluted but bring back real competition and tasks that are safe, challenging, and completable by people of average strength and intelligence. U-turns suck, but I don't mind them. I love the idea of one clue in a clue box reading "You've been Yielded" or "You've been U-turned." THAT is brilliant.

Honestly, I don't think he'd give a crap about his reputation that early on, but rather why his rig almost killed a friend and possibly a civilian victim if he knows he did everything right. Did something happen on a different shift that the operator failed to log? That would have been my first call (or the officer's first call). Followed by Fleet Services to get the rig towed, inspected, torn-apart, and fixed. Unless the operator was a vacation-relief man ("floater" I guess in their parlance) or someone that nobody knew there's no second-guessing that the op. screwed up beyond "What the hell was that?" If he says it was a malfunction then it was a malfunction. Any other reaction means you don't trust the operator.

This storyline bothered me SO much, in so many ways. Casey's worked with and trusted Mouch on the stick for at least 9 years (if show seasons are supposed to vaguely track calendar years). No way in hell Casey disrespects his chauffeur/operator like that, beyond "What the hell happened?" Call another truck (there would have been at least 3 or 4 at a working fire in real life), put 81 OOS until further notice and get the dep't mechanics in to disassemble it down to the last nut and bolt if necessary. And of course they'd have every single service bulletin ever issued. It's not up to the FFs to diagnose and service their apparatus. Not to mention that there would be dozens of spectators taking videos and posting them to YouTube, so the fault and rescue would probably have made the news. Such utter horseshit. The bosses would have been burning up the phone lines to the manufacturer, too. Also, why didn't they throw ground ladders up too? For a truck company they never seem to throw ladders. And if Ford could have found me as the fifth owner of my ancient Ranger pickup ten years ago, Seagrave or whoever would be keenly aware of where each piece of apparatus with a potential issue would be in service. EDITED TO ADD: Mouch would have been livid after that happened and he'd be leading the fight to get to the bottom of the defect. It's his machine to operate and it nearly cost his friend his life (they were also WAYYYY too close to primary and secondary power lines in a few of those shots too, and I was afraid that's where they were taking the story). No way the officer and the operator aren't calling for someone's balls for bookends over shoddy maintenance. Yep, I noticed that too. Bugged the hell outta me.

The ones I look for are the ones who can cook and work the line, but don't get a lot of camera time at first. The more over the top or flamboyant, the greater the chances you're going to be cannon fodder; sooner if you're a lousy cook or have a shit palate, or later if you have talent but are a douchecanoe. After just one episode, the one guy I really like is Marc. He wears his heart on his sleeve, but he's got passion, drive, and he appears to know how to cook and present. And regardless of whether he wins the competition or gets eliminated, I think he's got a solid career as a chef ahead of him--unless he turns into a misogynistic, back-stabbing arsehole that nobody would want to hire. But my spidey sense is tingling and I think this guy might at least be a black jacket. A couple of the women seem above-average competent as well but I honestly don't remember their names. Declan can cook, but older overweight chefs are frequently the target of Gordo's ire and derision since they often can't move as quickly as a well-oiled brigade demands. Note that I say this as someone older and bigger than Declan, and share his Irish heritage, albeit by a generation removed. I've got a feeling he'll be gone after 4 or 5 episodes.

A few random thoughts on this. I didn't hate it but also didn't love it. The disabled detective - I'd watch the hell out of a show featuring Det. Mulaney. Ali Stroker pulled that part off brilliantly, and I hope we see her again. As for her circumstances, there's still plenty of good police work she could do with a squad. Undercover with a partner, chasing leads on active cases via computer (which is quite honestly how a great deal of real-world cases get solved today), being a skilled interrogator in the interview room, and best of all, taking the stand to give evidence. She'd be a rock star in the courtroom for the prosecution. Lineups are done with photographs these days, not live in the stationhouse. Interviews in the box are always recorded, and if he's not been charged he has the right to walk out the front door immediately. Period. If that smarmy prick was as smart as he was portrayed later, the first words out of his mouth would have been "am I being detained?" And if yes, his next words would have been "Lawyer. Now." Or if no, "I'm outta here. See you, Detective." When Flores looked to be a viable perp the first thing that should have been done was a GSR test, which either would have ruled him out immediately or put him as a prime suspect. When the killer was ultimately shot in the head, based on the angle of the wound and position of his head, they'd be able to recover the projectile and run it through a ballistic examination. Put out a confirmed 10-13 officer down on the radio and you'll have every RMP and detective in the area on scene within a minute. The entire scene will be a sea of blue. And hell yes, the commissioner and all the bosses would be at the hospital until the officer stabilizes or passes. Enjoyed the dinner scene. That was fun and a nice tension-breaker. No way the rapist gets convicted. The illegal tracker on his main vehicle yielded evidence that ultimately ended with the victim being rescued from the other car. Decent detective work, but without a warrant, that's a fruit of the poisoned tree defense that would likely get the charges dismissed. Why the lazy writing here? "Hey, Baez, we got a warrant for a tracker. Here's my plan..." All they would have needed. How would that perp have even gotten the call to pick up his initial victim? It's all done by phone messaging, and there's honestly no way to tap into that. Dumb writing. Again. The drunk driver's lawyer was awful quiet the whole time. All Erin has to do is turn the case over to the judge with no recommendation. Normally the State makes a recommendation, and the defence makes their case for a reduced sentence. The judge then reviews the sentencing guidelines, examines the conduct of the accused before and after the offense and more often than not comes up with a fair punishment. Even without the playground heroics, the guy was a first-time offender, probably gainfully employed, and showed extreme remorse for his actions. No way that earns the max, which would be reserved for a repeat offender 3X over the limit, leaving the scene afterwards, etc. Now, throw in the heroics, and I'd bet dollars to doughnuts he wouldn't even see the inside of a prison cell or at most a few months.

I should qualify that by saying that anyone who's earned their way onto a Homicide squad has my absolute respect, but I've known some real-life murder police and other U/Cs, and some are guys who are just a blast to be around. Larger than life, gregarious, and sharing a bottle of Scotch and a box of cigars, they'll tell the best war stories (true or otherwise) for hours on end. One was a neighbor of mine who worked drugs, gangs, and (briefly) homicide. He retired and moved to the desert southwest but man, our BS sessions were things you could write a book over. I can bet that half of my TV favorites would fit right into that category.

Yesterday I watched the "My First Homicide" episode featuring Det. Rayell Johnson in NOLA, with the case "Dead Wrong" from S16 being featured. This was one of those episodes where only a very, very small fraction of what actually happened made it to air. I googled the name of the one perp who ended up getting life without parole (not the shooter, but the ringleader), Tavis Leonard. Reading the ruling from that LA Court of Appeals that upheld his LWOP sentence was something you could make a movie from. The un-named "friend" and the friend's father who owned the house where it all happened were really big-shot drug dealers. The father and another member of the family ended up getting whacked because the son cooperated. The son never testified and bugged out for parts unknown (I don't blame him). This crew was not playing around and everybody involved, perps and vics, were hardcore. They managed to rip off a brick of coke and $90k in cash. The two victims were being taken to a secluded spot to get popped. The one made a run for it and got killed on the street, the other got lucky (for various definitions of the word). You can read the whole sordid sequence of events here. I found it pretty gripping, and the appeals court made things very plain.

I'm guessing they can't embed with the squads with Covid restrictions so they need to come up with something to keep interest up. I wish they'd do more "After the First 48" to follow up on interesting cases. He did, and now he has his own podcast. He's very camera-friendly and has the personality to pull it off. He's one of the superstars the show has managed to feature. My favourite of all time is Tom Armelli in Cleveland, and I'd rank Dave a very close second. I also really liked Nate Sowa (CLE) since he and I both love our cigars. Caroline Mason (Nashville), Timothy Bender (NOLA), Rob Barerre (NOLA), Dave Quinn, Scott Berhalter, Summer Benton, and Scott DeMeester (all Atlanta) are also great on camera and are or were excellent detectives. Cleveland, Atlanta, and Tulsa are my favourite cities. I'm pretty sure that the new shows since Sgt. Walker's retirement were from cases not broadcast because there was no resolution. Looks like they managed to make arrests in a few and I think at least one or two convictions IIRC.

Also known as Little to big, back to the rig!

No way Casey goes back to Gabby (i.e. leaves the show, since Gabby ain't coming back--and I refuse to think the unthinkable here). I can see either Mouch or Hermann getting written out, although as a Certified Olde Pharte myself, I like seeing the veterans on the job, not just a bunch of Hollywood Twinkies. I could definitely see Kidd getting knocked down by a white-shirt or some other factor. The whole promotion thing is a big plot obstacle, and frankly I don't see the writers being creative enough to plot their way out cleanly.

Yeah, I forgot about that one!