Is TV Burning Out Crime Fiction?

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Sweet mother of Lucifer, every time I turn around there's another googly-eyed detective with an eccentric habit solving an increasingly ludicrous crime before the hour is up. Is it a law that every network must have a crime drama with a detective who sees ghosts/uses obscure mentalism/possesses some manner of irritating OCD/exhales a lot in dimly lit areas for at least 15% of the show?

Crime shows on TV are as ubiquitous as Billy Mays after midnight. As with every trend, there has to be backlash at some point. Could that tide break on the heads of novelists, too? Will crime fiction in the book world also go the way of the late King of Shouting Until You Buy Something?

[Dana King]

That has potential. Raylan is one of my favorite Leonard characters.

Now that I watched the trailer, I see Deadwood's Timothy Olyphant is playing raylan. This definitely goes on the list.

Thanks, Jack.

[Bill Flood]

Did someone say there're no more Westerns on TV? A marshall with a star and a broad-brimmed hat, who instructs a ne'er-do-well (who actually says "he's ma kin"!) in manners before staring him down and disarming him?
Looks and sounds like a Western to me! (But I'm from New England... what do I know?)

[Lydia Sadler]

I love a good Western. Your comment made me think of McCloud with Dennis Weaver. A little campy, but fun. I would rather a Western or a good murder than any reality show any day.

[doug anderson]

No. You could say the same of love stories, war stories, doctor stories, historical dramas etc etc. Nothing well done will suffer from the proliferation of the genre.

[doug anderson]

I think the two media feed each other. There are good and bad crime shows on TV. The bad ones recycle the same old cliches (good cop bad cop, etc.) but shows like Southland push the envelope a little. I guess another question is why is there so much crime writing? This is certainly not a bad thing for us. All novels by major publishers get an automatic movie submission (I used to work for United Artists as a story analyst and saw one after another come across my desk). I think the reason that crime fiction in all its forms is so popular is that we live in an increasingly criminalized world and people want some kind of justice, even if it is only imagined. We have human trafficking, arms dealing, piracy, you name it -- things that in the sixties we might have assigned to another historical period. Our corporations and our politicians get away with one criminal act after other (whatever happened to Tom Delay?) and many of us are either afraid of creditors or muggers, depending on the neighborhood. Credit card companies are usurers and the health insurance companies get away with outrageous amounts of inhumanity. Social issues are frequently the center of crime fiction and often represented in really original ways. I don't think TV is a threat to writers of crime fiction. We are the ones who can make it better. I think it is our time.

[Stacy]

LOL!

No, Ben because it's up to us crime writers not to let it, LOL! Seriously, I see what you are saying. I am not into the paranormal stuff and I'm tired of it sneaking into all the books, movies and television shows. I am now seeing paranormal mysteries everywhere and I am sick of them. At first they were unique but now they are overdone. I am also sick of vampires. I cannot wait until that's completely out of style. I think that will be soon. Nothing stays hot forever.

As for television crime shows, I like mine with a little humor. That's why I love USA's Psych. It's so funny. In fact I'm thinking of maybe doing a comedic crime series.

I honestly don't think it's us crime fans that have to worry. If anything's gonna go out soon it's these darn vampires. Even people who loved them before are sick of them! LOL!

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[pr]

I'm not sure TV is burning out crime fiction, but if it is, there is, happily, a solution: Turn off your televisions.
================
 Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
 http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

[Caroline Trippe]

Will crime fiction in the book world also go the way of the late King of Shouting Until You Buy Something?

If push comes to shove, this reader will ALWAYS prefer a book to a TV crime drama. Hands down. In fact, we got rid of our cable, and only watch DVDs. OK---I do watch a lot of British TV mystery series, which are invariably better than their American counterparts. (More realistic in every way, for the most part). But there's nothing like a book to engage my attention, if it's well done.
Sometimes, though, even the British fall short. I adored the first Miss Marple series, with Joan Hickson, the quintessential Miss Marple, and HATED the most recent remakes, not because of Geraldine McEwan so much --she wasn't Joan Hickson but she was OK---but because they totally rewrote Christie, and the productions were post-modern mockups of the originals. Hotted up color, anti-naturalism, and worst of all chock a block with " sub texts," none of which were hinted at in the books. I went back and re-read a couple to be sure.

There, I've said it without hyperventilating! At last! Also, I took exception to a great many of the TV productions based on Ruth Rendell's novels. Again, playing fast and loose with the plots, totally ignoring Rendell's meticulous tying-together of events, her logic. Gosh, it feels good to say that! (Waiting to exhale!) :)
After seeing the TV movie of "Master of the Moor" I fumed for days. They murdered the WRONG PERSON! The one essential twist to the plot, and they screwed it up---on purpose. Either that or they didn't actually read the book! Now, how could they have gotten away with that one! Too lazy to do it right.

This is what happens, I guess, when hot-shot, knowiitall script writers are given carte blanche!
Can't make a detective really sharp? Give him some quirks!

[I. J. Parker]

The best of the British shows were the Morse and Inspector Frost series, plus the one starring Helen Mirren. I never liked the Christie ones, but then I no longer like Christie.

[Caroline Trippe]

Morse was excellent. And thank god for Lewis! I haven't seen the Inspector Frost series---will definitely have to look that one up!! And Prime Suspect was my perhaps my all time favorite---and in no small way because of Helen Mirren. I haven't read Agatha Christie in years---liked her when I was young, then wearied of that style of mystery. But when I re-read "At Bartram's Hotel' not long ago, just to refresh my memory, it was a pleasant surprise. And witty too. Joan Hickson made Miss Marple "real." And then, that English village ambiance was irresistable....:) But so was Oxford!

[I. J. Parker]

I expect we're both anglophiles, Caroline. :)

[Caroline Trippe]

Very much so, I.J.! The clues were all there! :)