Crime Drama: Cable vs. Free To Air

Television is arguably the most popular medium of entertainment. What one can watch on TV however, depends how many options they have. Free To Air TV in the United States gives viewers roughly five options; five channels to choose from: CBS, FOX, ABC, CW and NBC. Cable TV however, is a completely different animal. It would be difficult to list every channel that one has access to by paying for a subscription to a provider.

In regards to Crime Dramas, the flagship networks of both Cable and Free TV put on classic, memorable series for viewers to enjoy. But there are significant differences between the overall vibe and style of shows on their respective networks.

The shows that I will be analysing today and four of my favourite programs in the genre, two from Free TV, two from Cable. One of the cable shows used to air on the spectacular network, HBO, while the second show is currently airing on AMC (American Movies Channel). The other two shows are from CBS, oh and by the way, this is in no way intentional that I'm mentioning crime dramas that just so happen to be on the network full of procedural; A quote from Tobias Funke from Arrested Development goes well here:

Michael: The prosecution is not a TV show. It’s clearly somebody in the D.A.’s office trying to get you to flip. These guys will bend the law to enforce the law.

Tobias: Tell me that’s not a CBS franchise.

Anyways, let's talk about the four shows I've chosen. NCIS and Hawaii Five-0 are in CBS' corner, and The Wire and Breaking Bad in HBO and AMC's corner respectively. I'm gonna say right off the bat that the cable shows are considerably better than the CBS shows, and with good reason.
Firstly, it's integral to talk about the presentation of each show. The Wire is just about the most realistic looking (and feeling) drama I have ever seen in my life. It's astounding how complicated and intricate the stories are like. The program runs for the full 60 minutes, and the cases are not solved in one episode. There is not a clear line of good and bad, as you'll quickly notice how inconsiderate the police are and apathetic they are to real people, both innocent and guilty. That's not to say that the "villains" aren't bad; Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell are calculating, cruel; they will stop at nothing to maintain their position at the top of West Baltimore's drug trade. But despite that, they do feel real, and they're smart. The problem with many Free To Air shows is that the "bad guys" are simply seen as one-dimensional. Rarely do they actually make you feel for them. What The Wire does is it shows the viewer their side of the story; their rationalisations for what they do. The dealers aren't one dimensional at all. They have emotions, they have stories; they're not just the foils for Baltimore's Police Department.

It's very similar in Breaking Bad, where you can actually see the perspective of the arguably "bad guy". Also with that show, is that it is able to slowly turn a good person (Walter White) into a calculating, greedy man (Heisenberg). The development of the main and recurring characters on the show is astounding; the amount of detail poured into back story, foreshadowing and location is only currently rivaled by The Wire, and perhaps a few more shows I've never seen like Game of Thrones and The Soprano's.

The NCIS series and Hawaii Five-0 aren't terrible. There is character development, plot driven stories, but it doesn't push the envelope as much as Breaking Bad and the Wire do.
Swearing is a large aspect of The Wire. Watch this: (viewer discretion advised)

Yeah. An entire scene full of different variations of a single expletive. The characters are always swearing. The Wire could NEVER be on regular TV. No way. The censor would literally go off every thirty seconds. That's not a joke. However, the swearing is not there to seem cool and extreme, it's used in a realistic way. Breaking Bad tones it down a bit, but the swearing has an effect. Kids, adults-they all swear and there's nothing stopping that. Is it realistic when a murderer kills victims and the NCIS crew say "damn!"? Not really. If I was in their position, I'd be spewing out expletives. Censorship and Political Correctness reign over Free To Air networks, and sometimes they embrace it (See: Faux News).

Other differences include violence and action. NCIS is full of action and a bit of politics, while Hawaii Five-0 has frequent action almost just for the sake of it. The Cable shows however, feature a lot of gruesome violence, but it's done in a completely different way. On CBS Police Procedural in general, people are basically treated like dolls. They're thrown away and disregarded eventually. The body count on those shows is quite a feat; and it's one of my fundamental problems with Free To Air TV in general. Breaking Bad is full of some crazy violence (people squashed, stabbings, heads blown off), but it's done in a way where it's actually 100% necessary for the plot to move forward. When a character dies, it's very important, even if they have very little significance to the story. The Wire is set in Baltimore, Maryland; most Americans know what I'm talking about here. I mean, it's Baltimore. The drug war takes many lives, but it's a big deal for the characters. These people may be seen as completely insignificant to some of the police, but for you, the viewer, death is treated like a big deal. Flash over to Hawaii Five-0 and everyone gets shot and dies. Not much else to it.

Part 2 of this analysis will be forthcoming in a few weeks; I hope you enjoyed my analysis; there's a heck of a lot to discuss here.