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TV Review: 'Memphis Beat' Returns for an Improved Season Two

All the characters on the show seem more comfortable in their roles, the pacing is more relaxed and the show is improved, but the common elements seen in every cop show since “Dragnet” – tough but benign department head, detective who plays by his own rules, in-station comic relief – remains proportionately intact in this by-the-book police drama.

The second season premiere starts with a tragic bang – a Memphis cop has been murdered and dumped by the Mississippi River. Detective Dwight Hendricks (Jason Lee) is on the case, backed by his partner Charlie “Whitehead” White (Sam Hennings). Their precinct supervisor, Tanya Rice (Alfre Woodard), wants Dwight and Charlie split on this case, and assigns new Internal Affairs director Claire Ryan (Beau Garrett) to ride along with Dwight.

The murdered cop is suspected of gun running for a white supremacy group, that’s why Internal Affairs is involved. Superintendent Rice is also pushing Charlie to be a better cop, thinking he is coasting. And with his new lovely police bureaucrat partner, Detective Dwight’s hard heart may be softening. In the midst of the investigation and a sad police funeral, it’s just another day on the Memphis Beat.

Jason Lee remains kind of strange in this role. He is an unabashed promoter of all things Memphis, even moonlighting as a singer (with an emphasis on Elvis, naturally). As a cop character, the script and his performance makes him too all-encompassing and saintly. It would be more interesting to explore the mama loving, singing or relationship-challenged side of his soul rather than the stereotype of the 24/7 available, one-man police force.

The supporting cast is what gives Memphis Beat a little spice. The steady Alfre Woodard, in her conflict with Charlie, adds a little mystery to the usual light-hearted police station atmosphere. Celia Weston is Dwight’s mother, and has a nice moment involving the worship of her long-dead husband.

It’s obvious that the show is adding a romantic element with Beau Garrett (Claire), but why do police shows insist on casting so attractive? It’s just not interesting anymore and just rings unbelievable. When Steven Bocho broke the mold 30 years ago with “Hill Street Blues,” by casting more appropriate woman cop role models, there was a indication that police shows would modify the hottie as police woman. But this is in the image conscious post millennium, heaven forbid they would try something different.

Dragnet: The Big Producer | Laguna Beach Bikini

Sgt. Joe Friday: This is the city - Los Angeles, California. I work here; I’m a cop. It was Wednesday, November 4th. It was windy in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of Juvenile Division. My partner is Frank Smith; my name’s Friday. A steady stream of obscene literature had been finding its way into a half-dozen high schools in the city. We’d gotten a lead on one of the sources of supply–a seventeen year old high school senior. We had to check it out. Someone has been distributing smut to the local high schools.