Review: 'Detroit 1-8-7': The godfather settles all family business
What did everybody think of the cop drama's season finale?
Michael Imperioli in the "Detroit 1-8-7" finale.
I was never hooked on "Detroit 1-8-7," but I liked certain aspects of the show - the location filming, Michael Imperioli's performance, the Longworth/Mahajan partnership - enough to keep checking in now and again. The finale focused a little too heavily on an aspect of the show I didn't love (Fitch vs. his evil super-nemesis ) and had to fudge some logic to get where it was going (surely, there are records of border crossings), but I did like the material about the different partnerships, and the return of Fitch's love of calling people he could speak to directly.
If ABC renews it, it won't be based on the ratings, which have been pretty terrible, but there's always a chance it might survive as something of a critical favorite, and in a year where none of ABC's new dramas have renewal-worthy numbers.
For those of you who watched all along, what did you think of the finale?
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Next 45 CommentsJim
March 20, 2011 at 11:13PM EST Reply to CommentI think this is one of the best dramas on broadcast tv and deserves a Hill Street Blues like renewal
Lizzy H
March 20, 2011 at 11:18PM EST Reply to CommentI haven't watched it yet but so glad you at least mentioned it because I've been loving the show, especially the location filming. It just *looks* so different from the CA or NY or Vancouver shows.
And it makes no logical sense but after Better Off Ted, I just feel like ABC karma owes me a renewal.
alynch But Better Off Ted was renewed.
March 20, 2011 at 11:25PM ESTLJ Ahh, Better Off Ted, RIP. Cancelled too soon. Add Unusuals to the list. I'm going to miss Detroit 1-8-7 too.
March 21, 2011 at 1:23AM ESTKendra
March 20, 2011 at 11:31PM EST Reply to CommentMI's Fitch was always the main reason to watch and he continued to be, although I think the show started gelling a bit more as time went on, just not fast enough.
I had Sopranos flashbacks towards the end but I didn't mind. I'm kind of curious to see how what happened in the finale would alter the way the DPD, and this show, does business.
Oddly, even though I think The Chicago Code has probably the better pedigree of a gritty localized show, for some reason I think Detroit 1-8-7 has the better long term potential as I find the main characters overall to be more engaging.
I'd love for the show to be renewed, for Detroit's sake and for my sake, but I've come to terms with the fact that this was probably the last ep we'll ever see and I'm okay with it.
webdiva Your gut feeling is correct: Detroit 1-8-7 is the better show, especially re: the treatment of its characters. They just seem more real. They make sense. Although as a Chicagoan I really hope Chicago Code succeeds, a Chicago equivalent of Detroit 1-8-7 is what I hope it becomes, just with better ratings. But if Chicago Code survives in its current state, particularly with Jennifer Beals's awful accent and schizo do-anything-but-stay-in-the-office character whereas 1-8-7 fails and is canceled, it'll be everyone's loss. And it will demonstrate that broadcast TV still hasn't learned anything useful from the successes of cable TV. More's the pity.
March 21, 2011 at 10:55PM ESTSteve
March 20, 2011 at 11:35PM EST Reply to CommentI think the writers tried to fit the conclusion in because they weren't sure it's coming back. I think ABC has done a terrible job marketing this show and has consistently screwed it with scheduling. I hope this show makes it, they're are more people watching it then they realize, I know a bunch of people dvr'ing it because they weren't sure it would be on every Tuesday.
sepinwall They put it in a timeslot after the network's most popular show by far. Sure, there were occasional pre-emptions, and the usual number of repeats that you get at various points in a network TV season, but they did as right by Detroit 1-8-7 as they could, particularly given that the ratings weren't good even at the beginning.
March 20, 2011 at 11:42PM ESTblingbling
March 20, 2011 at 11:38PM EST Reply to CommentI really grew to like this show. Having lived in Detroit for awhile, it feels like Detroit (much more so than "Chicago Code). And Imperioli really feels right in this. I hope they give it one more season and a much better timeslot.
webdiva Yeah, it would probably do better if it weren't up against a powerhouse like The Good Wife. I'd really like this show to have a chance. Then again, nearly anything that ABC has right now would suffer if put up against The Good Wife -- which says volumes about the crap ABC is willing to throw at us. Seriously: too many sitcoms, and one too many idiot shows (that would be Wipeout, which must be the network's counterpart to Jackass).
March 21, 2011 at 11:02PM ESTsepinwall The Good Wife is not a "powerhouse." It's a show on the bubble for renewal, which gets a large overall audience but a small young adult audience, which is all that really matters in the business. Parenthood often beats it in 18-49 despite half the overall viewership.
March 22, 2011 at 6:36AM ESTPutting a show on after Dancing with the Stars is about the most ABC can do to support it - see what it's done for Castle on Mondays - and not enough people stuck around for 187. It's not the timeslot.
glassylady
March 21, 2011 at 12:09AM EST Reply to CommentI really like this show and think the acting was superb. And they didn't kill anybody in the finale which so many shows do when they are on the bubble. I hope it gets renewed and then they market the stew out of it. „Why can't we have Detroit and Chicago when we have NCIS and CSI all over the place already.
Paul
March 21, 2011 at 1:02AM EST Reply to CommentHere's hoping this show gets renewed for another season the perfect show? No. But I felt the characters got stronger as the season progressed and like the writing much more than just about every other cop show on tv right now. I can even overlook the overplayed baptism sequence in this case.
Dan
March 21, 2011 at 1:07AM EST Reply to CommentGreat show - Loved the guest appearances by The Wire actors - Very cool. Hate to see this go.
jamiem Right? Every week, another Wire alumnus.
March 21, 2011 at 4:42AM ESTI really enjoyed this show during the season, but I felt this episode was really weak. Fitch's reason for leaving New York was the driving force behind his character and, without spoiling it, I feel like the result was inconsistent with his character. It made a lot of the other payoffs this episode, even if they were the right moment, feel tainted. It didn't ruin the season though.
I'm going to miss this show.
March 21, 2011 at 2:13AM EST Reply to CommentThis is a powerful drama; the setting is very gritty, the actors are wonderful, the interaction between the characters is fun to watch and the whole ensemble does itself proud. I certainly hope it is back-it is the one show I look forward to each week.
david
March 21, 2011 at 2:41AM EST Reply to CommentI know comparisons have been made to Homicide: Life on the Street, and they're appropriate even if Detroit-187 isn't quite its equal, focus a little too much on plot and cases. Did anyone have serious HLOTS flashbacks though in the scene of Fitch producing a confession from an innocent man? Andre Braugher's similar scene with Isaiah Washington is one of my all time favorite television moments. Also as a Detroit native its great to see the city highlighted but it really strains credibility and weakens the show I think that essentially EVERY case is solved and the guilty apprehended. Is there no room for ambiguity.
jules
March 21, 2011 at 3:10AM EST Reply to CommentI lurv Michael Imperioli. The camera loves him, and that's good enough for me. Loved the finale, because it was cathartic. Casting Micale's son Vadim Imperioli as Fitch's son was genius - the kid is a dead ringer for his dad with the same photogenic profile and olive coloring. For all we know we've just seen the next generation of moody-eyed Italian-American actors. How bad can that be? ;)
March 21, 2011 at 10:06AM ESTMarschallin
March 21, 2011 at 3:37AM EST Reply to CommentStunning, understated drama for grownups, with time--time--for solid exchanges between actors doing what they do. I looked forward to watching the show, and will miss it if it is not renewed.
Jason
March 21, 2011 at 4:40AM EST Reply to CommentI criticized this series at the start as an attempted Homicide:LOTS clone, but it did improve as time went on and the writers seemed to figure out what they had (and when they dropped the intertitles at the beginning of every scene).
One of the things that made Homicide a great show was that Baltimore itself kind of became a character, and similarly Detroit 187 allowed Detroit to become a character (the writers picking up on local quirks like "ruins porn" and urban exploration, the tax incentives to the movie/television industry, the stubborn civic pride the residents have even though the rest of the country has shoveled dirt on Detroit). There are a lot of stories in the D, and the show was just starting to find them.
That said, I thought the finale was very uneven. Things were wrapped up way too easily, Al Stram became a cardboard cutout of a villian, Fitch's backstory with him reduced to nothing more than "He killed my partner and his family." Maybe that's because of the uncertainty of renewal, and the writers felt they should tie up any loose ends that otherwise might have been left as a cliffhanger to go into season 2. I did get a smile though over Bobby correcting his father about saying "soda" instead of "pop," as a little call back to the minor uproar among us Michiganians after the first episode in which Fitch had commented about getting a suspect a soda.
I'd like to see it come back (and maybe it will since ABC is approaching NBC levels of bumbling, so it has zero strength in depth), but pre-empting episodes for the utterly pointless (but probably ultra cheap to produce) "What Would You Do?" and an interview with Charlie Sheen (which was probably the 5th Sheen interview in the 10 days after he went crazy town), and then burning the finale on Sunday night shows it's already a goner. That's a shame.
March 21, 2011 at 7:14AM ESTAndcap Michiganders? What are we? Geese?
March 21, 2011 at 11:27AM ESTI still remember when the paper (can't recall if it was the Free Press or the News, back when they were separate) ran a poll to let people vote which one was right. I'm still in shock that Michiganders was victorious. Blech. But, Jim Morrison is correct, Michiganders it is.
Anon That still puts you above Maine. Who wants to be a Mainerd?
March 22, 2011 at 2:28AM ESTGrace Hamilton
March 21, 2011 at 6:03AM EST Reply to CommentWrite a comment...
Grace Hamilton
March 21, 2011 at 6:06AM EST Reply to CommentI love this show. I think it is one of the best police dramas on television. I love the fact that the actors look like real people, it is so believable. Love the relationships.
Ricardo
March 21, 2011 at 9:32AM EST Reply to CommentThere's not a chance in hell that ABC renews this show. Not even NBC would. It could be a really great show, but it's ratings suck. Sorry fans... :(
JOHN
March 21, 2011 at 12:40PM EST Reply to CommentThis is the only show that I looked forward to every week. Someone said it earlier, this is a show for adults, which you don't see much of nowadays. It reminded me not just of Homicide:LOTS, but also NYPD Blue, which I know you, Alan, loved so much. I didn't like the finale as much as last week's episode but I suppose that's because the writers were unsure if the show was going to continue so they had to wrap everything up in one episode without leaving any cliffhangers for next year. I don't have my fingers crossed about D1-8-7 coming back, but I sure hope it does.
webdiva Other than Castle, this is the only ABC show that I actually watch -- I can't be bothered with anything else on the network's menu. Moreover, ABC has a history of undermining its own shows. I'm still pissed about the way they completely changed, and then bungled the storyline for FlashForward, which was a marvelous novel but made for a bad Lost clone. And I've never forgiven ABC for the throwaway treatment it gave Defying Gravity. If you want to know just how badly ABC can treat some of its own programming or the second-class status it gives to shows it didn't actually produce, read Tiffany Vogt's account of how ABC killed Defying Gravity even before it aired; it show just how stupid, shortsighted and nasty programmers and network execs can be:
March 21, 2011 at 11:23PM ESThttp://www.airlockalpha.com/node/6898
Bernie
March 21, 2011 at 1:03PM EST Reply to CommentAlan et. al., I hope you are wrong about it basically having a snowball's chance to get renewed. This show has a lot of potential for somewhat unique reasons. The featuring of Detroit is great for the reasons mentioned by others, the proximity to Canada adds the possibility of also becoming a "character". Great casting (with little Imperioli being a particularly great touch). The decision to kill off that character 2 episodes ago make it seem more real and having the gangster from NYC (if there is a believable way for him to be alive or have a family member take up the mantle) and other larger story arcs grants the opportunity for this not to turn in to another procedural but a drama about people, who happen to have an important and dangerous job. This isn't House where you basically have to have a high success rate as far as curing patients because that is what the fan base wants/story demands of the brilliant doctor/team. Perhaps a better comparison is SVU, which I like as well, but is too formulaic, at times. Detroit, from what I understand, is in tatters and sometimes the city is just going to whoop the police department's butt.
Said another way:
ABC, if you are listening. Seriously, what else you got?... that has a burgeoning fan base, sunk costs (which can be recouped), and almost a blank slate to get really creative with the 2nd season. I've never been to Detroit but I want to watch a drama about this once great City. Do a replay of entire first season through the lame-duck summer and lead up to a great Season 2 Premiere. Then, re-evaluate after giving it some time to get going.
Sorry to ramble.
March 21, 2011 at 1:34PM EST Reply to CommentAs much as I enjoyed this series, the finale was a little too neatly wrapped. Fitch bonding with his estranged son in a week? Not likely. But the fans are not left on a ledge with any cliffhangers.
I really wish ABC would renew, as Detroit 1-8-7 reminded me of NYPD Blue, which I loved.
I also enjoyed the meta "pop" reference!
Melissa
March 21, 2011 at 1:41PM EST Reply to CommentI really like this show and will be very disappointed if it is not renewed!
pattycupcake
March 21, 2011 at 3:55PM EST Reply to Commentc'mon, abc, do the right thing and renew this show...just watching michael imperioli is mesmerizing enough, but i love the rest of the cast as well. if abc bails, maybe some cable network will pick them up. AMC, are you listening?
thecharmer
March 21, 2011 at 7:19PM EST Reply to CommentWanted to recommend to Alan and everyone else, a really good espionage/crime show from Canada called "Intelligence" It's been called "The Wire" of Canada. It's not as good,(what could be?) but is one of my top 10 tv shows of all time. You can catch it on Netflix or DVD. Sadly, there's only 2 seasons. Would love to see you do an episode by episode review Alan, maybe this summer when things are slower. Anyone else ever watched this show? I'm re-watching it for the second time now and it's better than the first time!
Ed
March 21, 2011 at 8:02PM EST Reply to CommentLove this show; it reminds me a lot of NYPD Blue. Great characters, each with room for development. (The least interesting character was killed off.) Yeah, some stuff was wrapped up a little too neatly (not a heck of a lot of angst over offing the mob guy), and the name "Detroit 1-8-7" (based on California's, not Michigan's Penal Code 187 murder section) was odd, but it was still a great show. I hope to see it back.
josh
March 21, 2011 at 10:49PM EST Reply to CommentCurious. I am quite surprised at the positive nature of the comments, although this site tends to be blessedly free of snark for the sake of it. This show had a nice sincerity to it, but it was painfully pedantic, like third rate NYPD Blue or fifth rate Homicide. I like Imperioli's performance but god, too often it seemed like that Craig T Nelson show, Capital District. Not even half the show that Rubicon was, lets bring that back first. Too bad Imperioli didn't get to present this performance on The Killing.
webdiva I, too, I adored Rubicon. I saw it as a thinking person's TV show and always jumped to post-mortem each episode with like-minded friends (but then I enjoy David Simon's roundabout storytelling, too, especially in Treme -- can't wait for that one to come back). However, hell will freeze over before AMC brings Rubicon back, and the current vogue among hit shows makes antiheroes almost a lock. I don't see that as a necessity, but apparently some network execs and critics do -- otherwise, I can't really explain all the love for Weeds or Breaking bad. I find them both repulsive. Personally, I need someone to root for if I'm going to spend time with a show. Detroit 1-8-7 gives me not only several characters to root for but also a city in decline that keeps trying to turn around in jerky, halting attempts. Works for me! And yeah, I hope it stays on -- but knowing what jerks dwell at ABC, I won't bet the rent.
March 21, 2011 at 11:34PM ESTWilliam G.
March 22, 2011 at 2:14PM EST Reply to CommentEpisode 18, "Black Out," was MORE THAN GREAT and covered a lot of bases. One favorite scene in this episode was Fitch's fellow detectives, including Mason, covering his back after the baptismal ceremony in the church. THIS WAS A CLASS ACT!!
EMAIL ABC and give them your positive inputs about this series. Despite information to the contrary, NO DECISION will be made until MAY about the future of this series. CALL and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE those with any influence. You know who they are. View the last episode, when it's made available, and more than once(tell your friends). NUMBERS COUNT. Imperioli, McDaniel, and the others want to return to Detroit!
GO FOR IT!!!
Steve
March 24, 2011 at 12:03PM EST Reply to CommentI think Detroit 187 is one of the best police drama's to come along in years. It would be a shame to cancel it after only one season. With almost 5 million viewers for the season finale ABC should take the hint, bring the show back in a better time slot and let us continue to watch the exploits of Finch,Longford,Sanchez,Majumder and the rest of the detectives in this wonderful series!!!
Laura
March 27, 2011 at 7:36AM EST Reply to CommentThis is one of the best cop dramas on the air today. In a world of reformulted cop dramas that just change their name like in the NCIS and CSI and the newest franchise hits criminal minds, Detroit 187 deserves a second look and it desrervies to be renewed because if it were called CIS: Detroit everybody would be watching it and it stands alone and deserves another look.
Rick
March 27, 2011 at 8:22PM EST Reply to CommentI like the show! Yes it has some bad moments but it is refreshingly different from the same old LA/NY tired cliches!
March 28, 2011 at 12:31AM EST Reply to CommentTo me this show has everything. Great actor characterzation
March 28, 2011 at 12:36AM EST Reply to CommentDidn't finish, I love the locale, the music, the difference from other show, not a CSI clone, just a well acted tv show I have tried to never miss. One day the studios will wake up with no more good actors, they found other lives due to the low quality reality shows. Its just too good a show to get rid of.
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