Cliche + Standard Formula + Product Placement = "The Glades"
I finally figured out how this series was made, and it's rather cookie-cutterish.
Cliche elements:
- Cop doesn't do well with authority
- Cop has nonchalant attitude
- Cop is nevertheless awesome at his job
- Cop is originally from "big city"
- Cop always gets bad guy/all cases solved within one episode
Standard Formula for Shows
- Dead body is found in beginning
- Cop has EXACTLY three suspects, none of whom are clearly guilty or innocent at the beginning
- All three suspects hide information from Cop during initial interview
- Real investigative research performed impeccably by coroner and "intern"
- One suspect appears to be guilty before Cop changes course at end and arrests one of the other two suspects who is the actual killer
- At final confrontation with killer, Cop tells killer how he/she did it, and immediately thereafter (and without cue) several no-name cops enter room to put killer in cuffs
Product Placement
- Daniel chowing down on Reese's Pieces from bag
- Characters strangely extolling the features of their cars while camera films them
Seriously, this show's formula is almost comical. With that said, it's actually mildly entertaining, and so I'm now on Season 3. The variations in settings/situations keep some interest, and the larger storyline-arc of Cop and Callie is so far sort of compelling.
It's still just amazing how consistent the formula is for individual episodes.
~After enjoying that movie, I figured I would drop by IMDB to read about its problems.