I have mixed feelings about the new Netflix “Shot in the Dark” series about television stringers in the Los Angeles market. It’s slickly produced and expertly shot (for the most part) but it also seems a tad manufactured at times. Like maybe the subjects are in bed with the show’s producers to heighten drama.
The best way to explain it is that it is a reality TV example of the “Nightcrawler” movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Basically the three camps are three competing television freelance operations. One is RMG News run by British-born twin brothers. Another is Loudlabs run by Scott Lane. He is the most paparazzi of the trio. They capture him passing traffic on the right trying to get to a story quicker. Another time he runs a red light. When one of his employees commits a journalistic felony and gets called out on the news, Lane laughs it off. If he had been my employee and done that I would have bitch slapped him to Barstow. The last is OnScene TV, the largest, run by Zak Holman. Lane hates Holman, in part because Holman calls him out on his recklessness. But Lane criticizes Holman as someone who is a journalist because he’s a failed first responder and that criticism is a direct hit. Holman has flashing lights in his car that he uses one time as a civilian to slow down Los Angeles freeway traffic because one of his drivers is photographing an incident on the road. And he’s currying favor with cops and firefighters. They use all kinds of tricks to get great shots of the photographers. They have some talented photographers getting some compelling video, often expertly framing the freelancers. They also have cameras mounted on the cars the freelancers drive. They use either drones or helicopters to get video from above. And for me the coolest thing they do graphically is a map that shows the locations of the freelancers and their destination so you can see their routes. It’s clear it’s a race to get there first. I don’t want to give away too much, but definitely watch at least the first episode for the world class, epic cliffhanger. Maybe one of the best ever in episodic reality TV. Part of the reason the show resonates with me is because it reflects my personal life. I’ve been a journalist for more than 30 years and I’ve spent the last 18 months as an assignment editor at a smaller market television station. One problem we’ve always faced in journalism, and especially at the TV station, is picking which breaking news things to cover. Scanner traffic is often wrong and major stories go silent when the police go to tactical channels. Guessing which thing to cover and getting there quickly is a constant theme in “Shot in the Dark.” This is a Guardian review of the show. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/30/shot-in-the-dark-review-pure-undiluted-rubbernecking-feeding-on-human-misery This reviewer calls it voyeurism. I don’t feel like it’s voyeurism at all. It feels like a job. I get no emotional satisfaction or pleasurable reaction from watching the pain people suffer. The one time that felt most voyeuristic was in 1990. I accompanied police on a prostitution sting. They had a female police officer wearing a radio wire. I sat with two officers about 200 feet away in an unmarked car and listened to men solicit her. I felt so embarrassed for the men I let out involuntary groans and gasps. I could not keep myself quiet. “Shot in the Dark” also has an energetic soundtrack to keep the showing. But the soundtrack and quick cuts of cars zooming into the night started to wear on me by about episode four. It became more of a gimmick and a liability. I give the series a thumbs up because the story line picks up by the last couple of episodes. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
