All is right with the universe. Jennifer Beals is back on TV. That’s right, kittens. She’s back, she’s bad ass and she’s more beautiful than you even remembered. How is that possible? I don’t know. I just know that I’m thankful and willing to make whatever kind of sacrificial offering is required to keep the spectacular Ms. Beals on my television on the regular.
And about that television show, it’s good, it’s damn good. “The Chicago Code” premieres at 9 p.m. tonight on Fox and you should watch. You should watch not just because of Jennifer (though, come on, she is reason enough), but because the show has ambition, smarts, grit and energy. Also, it had Chicago – and that’s one hell of a town.
You can read my complete review of “The Chicago Code” at AfterEllen.com later today.
Curiously, many of the reviews I’ve read for the series (all by men, mind you), have called Beals too light-weight and even slender to have the immediate gravitas to pull off her role as Chicago’s first female superintendent of police. Of course, we know better. We’ve feasted for years on the glorious tyranny of Alpha Bette. We know exactly what this woman can do with a single glance. Don’t worry, boys, she isn’t going to have any trouble at all filling out that uniform.
My one problem with the show, and it’s the drum I will continue to beat all this year, is that the pilot violates the Bechdel Rule. Sure, Jennifer has a great leading role and newcomer Ericka Johnson has a prominent part as a rookie cop. Yet, they never speak to each other or to any of the other peripheral female characters. Now, I’ve also seen the second and third episodes and there are actual words spoken (and not about a man) between women. So let’s hope more female characters work their way into this otherwise crackerjack of a series. I mean, any show that spoils us with Jennifer Beals flashes cop forearms in the very first episode has set the bar pretty high. We expect them to deliver. We know Jennifer will.
p.s. We also get to see Jennifer in a tank top in the pilot. Sweet merciful Zeus, watch this show.
Don't care to see this show at all.
ReplyDeleteI might see this if it comes on over here. And about Jennifer being to slender...you certainly don't have to be a big guy to be the boss of the entire police force in a (admittedly small) country. Ingelin Killengreen has done it for years: http://www.dagsavisen.no/multimedia/archive/00056/POLITI-killengreen_56077q.jpg
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest, I totally intend to watch, at this point ONLY because it puts JB on my screen as a cop. A TV show doesn't need anymore than that to nab me! (as I declared during MANY of the ads for the show that came on during the Super Bowl earlier this evening) Glad it has your thumbs up, though. Makes me feel better about my decision to watch! :)
ReplyDeletebeing a chicago resident, may i just say that i am HOPING to the sweet lawd above that i see the exquisite, statuesque, BEAUTIFUL ms. beals striding down my streets wearing that uniform sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteplease please please.
i'll definitely be watching this show.
Can't wait!! I don't live in the states but always find the city of Chicago fascinating. I'm ready to get a season pass on iTunes to support Jennifer and the show even though I haven't even watched a single episode.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you're very persuasive, and therefore I am dutifully setting my DVR. But crap, I need another TV show to watch like I need a hole in the head.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Have to watch this show. And no we don't need another hole in our heads! But it is Jennifer Beals.
ReplyDeleteGood gravy, could that five pointed badge be any bigger?
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of procedural police shows but I'll try this one because of Jennifer Beals. I do agree with some of the reviewers that Jennifer looks too glamorous and "Hollywood" for the part. In the previews I've seen with her in uniform she looks more like a stripper in a cop uniform that the real thing! lol *sorry*
ReplyDeleteI hope I'm pleasantly surprised with the show and find it to be fresh, different, smart and engaging, but since tv seems to be completely out of new ideas I'm doubtful.
Not into it. Jennifer Beals is beautiful, but it's not enough to make me want to watch.
ReplyDeleteYeah, no desire to watch this either. She's beautiful and all, but it's not enough to make me tune in.
ReplyDeletei LOVE her. she kicks ass.
ReplyDeleteCAN. NOT. WAIT!
ReplyDeleteDorothy - thanks for recommending - I will let you know if I agree. It will all depend on how it's written. JB can play tough but the dialogue can't be inane tough or it will be lie stooopid.
ReplyDeleteoh! my! wow! 'what a feelin'!"(again). After six seasons of TLW, when JB appeared in a couple to three (if we were lucky) scenes per episode, there she was last night, popping up again and again throughout the hour. Alpha Bette 2.0 was in her glory (with a cry-smile thrown in for good measure). Yes, it's only the Pilot, but I think that this Show has the potential to stretch JB as an actor. 'Looking forward to more!
ReplyDeleteloved it and jennifer beals is more stunning than ever...
ReplyDeletesplendid
good review dorothy,hanks.
Okay, after having seen 20 minutes of the "Chicago Code" pilot, I feel I have enough information to make my final decision. I also realized something. Over the past few years, since I started watching the L-word, I've been enchanted with Jennifer Beals. So I've tried tuning in to her past movies and with a couple of exceptions I have been continually disappointed with her projects.
ReplyDeleteSo in terms of the "Chicago Code" I have been debating back and forth about whether or not to watch the show because I love JB but despise cop shows.
After having watched half of the pilot I can honestly and without reservation say that I love Jennifer as a person, I love what she stands for, I think she has a huge heart and a good mind. I love how connected she is with nature and with people and with wanting to make the world a better place, because I can related with that.
Oh and when she bats her eyelashes we all fall at her feet.
But I just don't like most of her movies and television shows. Chicago Code, although not really bad, isn't really good either. It's formulaic, often has hokey dialog, is "more of the same" in terms of cop procedurals and I'm sorry, but changing cities and giving it a female superintendent does not an orginal show make.
That is all.
I agree with a few of the posters. I am so tired; I mean really tired of cop and lawyer shows. If they put one more Law and Order show on TV I'll go postal. Seen one ep of any one of them you've seen them all - BORING
ReplyDeleteI watched the it last night and I liked it as well as any other cop show. It has a different premise and it is trying to get out of the boring predictable cop show box, AND it has JB.
I'll be watching it - a weekly JB fix with actual writing hmm, whats not to like.
I don't like all cop shows (even within the L&O franchise I prefer the original and SVU), but I do like the idea of a female led cop show. I like Jennifer Beals, although she seems kinda stuck in Bette Porter Ville. I also thought that about her character when she made appearances on "Lie to Me". That said, Chicago Code seems like more than a regular cop show. That it has a continuing storyline that will carry over the season is especially intriguing. I'm willing to hang out with it and J.B. for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI really dont care if the show is good or not (but i saw and is very good) I WANT TO SE JENNIFER! Tigressa Colvin OMG!!!
ReplyDeleteI just watched it. Never in a million years would I watch it again if JB weren't in it, but she IS in it, and she is just so fucking beautiful... Maybe I'll just fast forward to her scenes next week...
ReplyDeleteJennifer Beals is looking at ME in that first photo!!!
ReplyDeleteThe show is pretty decent and I appreciate that they are trying to integrate the Chicago accent. Looks like JB is wearing Mariska Hargitay's "Fearlessness" necklace?
ReplyDeletethe third episode was great
ReplyDeleteand jennifer beals amazing