Starring:
Anne Bobby as Off. Vicki Quinn
Barbara Bosson as Mayor Louise Plank
Vondie Curtis-Hall as Det. Warren Osborne
Ronny Cox as Chief Roger Kendrick
David Gianopoulos as Off. Andy Campo
Larry Joshua as Capt. John Hollander
James McDaniel as Off. Franklin Rose
Ron McLarty as Ralph Ruskin
Mick Murray as Det. Joseph Gaines
Peter Onorati as Det. Vincent LaRusso
Jeffrey Alan Chandler as Ray Rodbart
Teri Austin as Trish Vaughn
Written by: William M. Finkelstein and Stephen Bochco and Michael Graham and John Romano
Directed by: Arlene Sanford
Once again we have a lot on the docket in this week’s episode of “Cop Rock”, and no time for formalities, so let’s get going right away.
It starts in a meeting room, something we haven’t seen too often in this show, if at all before. This intro was actually the best one yet, with the lead officer (haven’t seen him before, to my knowledge, and couldn’t locate him in the credits; he might be Mike Finnegan, playing a Lt. Kellogg) running through a list of all the current topics. The sequence is lighthearted, and overall pretty dumb, but it exhibits a playfulness that tends to be sorely missing from many of the episodes up through this point. But, as is required, it’s pretty much ruined when he breaks into song, singing “Let’s Be Careful Out There”, which is obviously about the perils they face on a nightly basis.
I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I’m going to do it again: Randy Newman’s theme song is godawful. It’s really a piece of garbage masquerading as music, and it becomes an even greater annoyance given the show’s formula of always having a song before the opening credits. This means we’re always bombarded with two back-to-back songs, one from the show, which then leads right into Newman’s staggeringly awful theme song attempt that, may I remind you lest you forget about the incompetence of the selection process behind major award shows, won a fucking Emmy. Gimme a break.
The show finally steps up to deal with some real heavy-hitting issues here, and no I’m not being facetious: Right from the outset, we get Donnie Potts going to his captain with a newspaper clipping with the headline “LaRusso Partner to Testify”. Next to that, Potts’ photo is “X”-ed out in red marker with the words “Die Nigger” scrawled underneath. That’s some pretty hefty stuff for network television in the early ‘90s, so I kind of have to applaud it for that. The captain assures Potts that they will guard his house around the clock to make sure nothing happens to him or his family, but things take a little racist turn when Potts points out the way he’s treated in the office, to which the captain responds: “Well that part we got to expect”, before telling him that he’s just “going to have to tough it out.” I’m not going to hold the political-correctness against the show, though, simply because that may have been the mindset in the early ‘90s--hell, it's no doubt the same mindset even today.
This storyline comes to a head when two out of the three officers assigned to patrol Potts’ house leave to investigate a suspicious vehicle, and in that time whoever’s behind the threats has time to light a cross on fire on their lawn (the third officer is the one tasked with guarding the back, so he doesn't see the perpetrators). Potts’ wife and kids come out on the lawn, followed up by all the other blacks in the neighborhood, as the wife sings “But It's Not Going to Happen Here”, a pretty effective song about racism that persists, but how they won’t let it get to them. One of the better songs of the entire series so far, and one of the most powerful.
To round out this section of the storyline, LaRusso hears about the threat to Potts and his family, and pays a visit to tell Potts that he’ll take care of anyone that threatens him. Potts is not happy to hear this, though, (rightfully) claiming that LaRusso murdering Tyrone Powers is the thing that put a target on him in the first place. LaRusso still sticks to his tough-guy shtick: when Potts asks him why in the world he would ever call him, LaRusso responds with, “Because you know I’m the only guy that will get things done,” before coolly walking off the way characters always do in movies when their words are supposed to stick with you.
Speaking of LaRusso, his storyline begins when he freely admits to his legal team that he killed Tyrone Powers without any cause whatsoever. The only fallout from this, is that it turns on Trish Vaughn, the attorney that he’s banging, who comes onto him at a local bar, but who refuses to go home with him. Something’s pretty fishy about this one, so we’ll see if she has some ulterior motives that will eventually come out in future episodes. (She does brutally turn down Officer Gaines, who asks her out, right before he loses his car in a 9-story parking garage and spends the whole time he’s looking singing a song about how nothing’s going right for him, which wins the prestigious “Most Pointless Scene of the Week” award).
Not dissuaded by his admittance in guilt, his legal team tries setting him up to be a hero, by staging an event that he would be in on, like stopping a robbery, or saving a child in a deep hole, that would get the public on his side. He angrily turns down these options, but accepts an opportunity to speak to a gathering of bail bondsmen. In a surprise, an all-girl band (named, and I am not kidding, “Brenda and the Bus Monsters”) opens for him, which I think was just a way for them to hit their five-song quota. During his ensuing speech, he basically admits to murdering Tyrone Powers to the packed room, but their standing ovation clearly shows that he has their support.
Meanwhile, the whole “love triangle” between Andy Campo, his partner Vicki Quinn, and her overweight, middle-aged husband (and forensic expert) Ralph Ruskin comes to a head. You will remember that Quinn was shot while trying to diffuse a hostile situation at a bank, which Ralph blames Andy for allowing to happen. Things don’t get any easier for him to take when he overhears Andy singing to her while she’s in the hospital, essentially about how much he loves her; not something that’s going to ease the mind of a jealous husband.
Well now is her first day back on the force after recovering from the injury, and Ralph is not happy about that. So he does what any fellow cop would do, and follows them while they’re patrolling the streets on active duty. When they stop at a hotel and enter a room, he panics, and as he goes to confront them, pulls out his gun before kicking the door in. Of course, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that they are merely on a call--one that apparently involves a dead man in a bra and women’s underwear (again, no joke), but a call nonetheless. Furious, Quinn confronts him, to which he apologizes, while she assures him that she still loves him and that there’s nothing between her and Andy. Ralph tells her that if she can look him in the eye and tell him that, he’ll believe her; she does, but he still accuses her of lying before storming off. Well that’s not a good look there, Ralph. Obviously, he’s doing more harm than good to the relationship, and will more than likely end up pushing her away. I will say he does actually have something to worry about, because they do seem to be a little closer than just partners, but the show is probably allowing Ralph to ruin the relationship himself so that viewers can cheer Andy and Vicki finally getting together.
In the second bit of hard-hitting topics, Mayor Louise Plank is having a one-on-one meeting with her trusty assistant, Ray Rodbart. Ray is turning in his resignation, because he has gotten word that a local reporter is going to write an article “outing” him as gay; Ray doesn’t want the potentially-negative publicity to affect his job, or Louise, and sees this as the only option. Louise, however, won’t have any of it, claiming that she has his back and that they will go through whatever happens together. This is one of the few scenes of the entire series that is genuinely strong, without any melodramatic overtones--it probably also helps that no song comes out of it.
Upset by the notion of this article, the Mayor arranges a meeting with Lyle Barry, the reporter breaking the story on Ray. In a kind of surprising twist (at least to me), Lyle is gay himself, and so the article is not meant to be an attack on Ray, but rather an inspirational piece to show the gay community that there are plenty of other gay role models in the city. Yet still, the fact that Ray doesn’t want to be “outed” is still a valid point of contention, and one that Louise uses to ask Lyle to leave him out of the story. At first, Lyle is insistent on continuing with the article, at which point the Mayor reveals some dirty info she has on Mr. Barry: namely that his partner of eight years is an illegal immigrant with no green card. Lyle accuses her of blackmail, to which she agrees that’s what it is, to which he stupidly retorts something along the lines of, “You have no right to dig up stuff about me,” leaving her wide open to declare that he also has no right to do the same to Ray. This scene ratchets up the melodramatic quotient a little bit, but it’s still an effective scene, one that’s made even moreso when you realize that, in the early ‘90s when this show was released, gays weren’t nearly as accepted as they are now. For the show to take a strong, pro-gay angle at that time was a pretty gutsy decision; the fact that the scenes are actually well done make them all the more effective.
I have to say that, while this episode still had its fair share of awful (the main culprits once again being, surprise!, the music), it’s been the closest thing we’ve seen yet to a step in the right direction. The themes are getting meatier, by focusing on a couple that remain strong and relevant even today (racism and homophobia), and while the songs remain largely unnecessary and forgettable, the “Burning Cross” number is one of the best ones the show has produced. Unlike most of the musical moments from the series, this one doesn’t seem to be forcing itself upon the viewer, instead letting the heavy message speak for itself. Sure, the song doesn‘t really have much to say that you haven‘t heard before, but the minimalist music underneath is a smart decision, which allows the vocals and lyrics to take center stage, as they should.
To say that I’m looking forward to watching the next one is still a huge overstatement, but knowing that this show is actually capable of being even “average” is a small victory in and of itself. Oh, and I have to admit that I have zero ideas what the title is a play-on-words for, so if anyone else might know, feel free to toss it out there and make me look stupid (hemophiliac comes to mind, but that's spelled very differently, and this episode has nothing to do with blood; searching "felliac" in Google comes up only with this episode title, so no help there, either).
EPISODE RATING: 5/10
Once again we have a lot on the docket in this week’s episode of “Cop Rock”, and no time for formalities, so let’s get going right away.
It starts in a meeting room, something we haven’t seen too often in this show, if at all before. This intro was actually the best one yet, with the lead officer (haven’t seen him before, to my knowledge, and couldn’t locate him in the credits; he might be Mike Finnegan, playing a Lt. Kellogg) running through a list of all the current topics. The sequence is lighthearted, and overall pretty dumb, but it exhibits a playfulness that tends to be sorely missing from many of the episodes up through this point. But, as is required, it’s pretty much ruined when he breaks into song, singing “Let’s Be Careful Out There”, which is obviously about the perils they face on a nightly basis.
"LET'S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE"
I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I’m going to do it again: Randy Newman’s theme song is godawful. It’s really a piece of garbage masquerading as music, and it becomes an even greater annoyance given the show’s formula of always having a song before the opening credits. This means we’re always bombarded with two back-to-back songs, one from the show, which then leads right into Newman’s staggeringly awful theme song attempt that, may I remind you lest you forget about the incompetence of the selection process behind major award shows, won a fucking Emmy. Gimme a break.
The show finally steps up to deal with some real heavy-hitting issues here, and no I’m not being facetious: Right from the outset, we get Donnie Potts going to his captain with a newspaper clipping with the headline “LaRusso Partner to Testify”. Next to that, Potts’ photo is “X”-ed out in red marker with the words “Die Nigger” scrawled underneath. That’s some pretty hefty stuff for network television in the early ‘90s, so I kind of have to applaud it for that. The captain assures Potts that they will guard his house around the clock to make sure nothing happens to him or his family, but things take a little racist turn when Potts points out the way he’s treated in the office, to which the captain responds: “Well that part we got to expect”, before telling him that he’s just “going to have to tough it out.” I’m not going to hold the political-correctness against the show, though, simply because that may have been the mindset in the early ‘90s--hell, it's no doubt the same mindset even today.
This storyline comes to a head when two out of the three officers assigned to patrol Potts’ house leave to investigate a suspicious vehicle, and in that time whoever’s behind the threats has time to light a cross on fire on their lawn (the third officer is the one tasked with guarding the back, so he doesn't see the perpetrators). Potts’ wife and kids come out on the lawn, followed up by all the other blacks in the neighborhood, as the wife sings “But It's Not Going to Happen Here”, a pretty effective song about racism that persists, but how they won’t let it get to them. One of the better songs of the entire series so far, and one of the most powerful.
"BUT IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN HERE"
To round out this section of the storyline, LaRusso hears about the threat to Potts and his family, and pays a visit to tell Potts that he’ll take care of anyone that threatens him. Potts is not happy to hear this, though, (rightfully) claiming that LaRusso murdering Tyrone Powers is the thing that put a target on him in the first place. LaRusso still sticks to his tough-guy shtick: when Potts asks him why in the world he would ever call him, LaRusso responds with, “Because you know I’m the only guy that will get things done,” before coolly walking off the way characters always do in movies when their words are supposed to stick with you.
Speaking of LaRusso, his storyline begins when he freely admits to his legal team that he killed Tyrone Powers without any cause whatsoever. The only fallout from this, is that it turns on Trish Vaughn, the attorney that he’s banging, who comes onto him at a local bar, but who refuses to go home with him. Something’s pretty fishy about this one, so we’ll see if she has some ulterior motives that will eventually come out in future episodes. (She does brutally turn down Officer Gaines, who asks her out, right before he loses his car in a 9-story parking garage and spends the whole time he’s looking singing a song about how nothing’s going right for him, which wins the prestigious “Most Pointless Scene of the Week” award).
Not dissuaded by his admittance in guilt, his legal team tries setting him up to be a hero, by staging an event that he would be in on, like stopping a robbery, or saving a child in a deep hole, that would get the public on his side. He angrily turns down these options, but accepts an opportunity to speak to a gathering of bail bondsmen. In a surprise, an all-girl band (named, and I am not kidding, “Brenda and the Bus Monsters”) opens for him, which I think was just a way for them to hit their five-song quota. During his ensuing speech, he basically admits to murdering Tyrone Powers to the packed room, but their standing ovation clearly shows that he has their support.
"I'M OK" (complete w/ lyrics in description...they're kinda bad)
Meanwhile, the whole “love triangle” between Andy Campo, his partner Vicki Quinn, and her overweight, middle-aged husband (and forensic expert) Ralph Ruskin comes to a head. You will remember that Quinn was shot while trying to diffuse a hostile situation at a bank, which Ralph blames Andy for allowing to happen. Things don’t get any easier for him to take when he overhears Andy singing to her while she’s in the hospital, essentially about how much he loves her; not something that’s going to ease the mind of a jealous husband.
Well now is her first day back on the force after recovering from the injury, and Ralph is not happy about that. So he does what any fellow cop would do, and follows them while they’re patrolling the streets on active duty. When they stop at a hotel and enter a room, he panics, and as he goes to confront them, pulls out his gun before kicking the door in. Of course, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that they are merely on a call--one that apparently involves a dead man in a bra and women’s underwear (again, no joke), but a call nonetheless. Furious, Quinn confronts him, to which he apologizes, while she assures him that she still loves him and that there’s nothing between her and Andy. Ralph tells her that if she can look him in the eye and tell him that, he’ll believe her; she does, but he still accuses her of lying before storming off. Well that’s not a good look there, Ralph. Obviously, he’s doing more harm than good to the relationship, and will more than likely end up pushing her away. I will say he does actually have something to worry about, because they do seem to be a little closer than just partners, but the show is probably allowing Ralph to ruin the relationship himself so that viewers can cheer Andy and Vicki finally getting together.
In the second bit of hard-hitting topics, Mayor Louise Plank is having a one-on-one meeting with her trusty assistant, Ray Rodbart. Ray is turning in his resignation, because he has gotten word that a local reporter is going to write an article “outing” him as gay; Ray doesn’t want the potentially-negative publicity to affect his job, or Louise, and sees this as the only option. Louise, however, won’t have any of it, claiming that she has his back and that they will go through whatever happens together. This is one of the few scenes of the entire series that is genuinely strong, without any melodramatic overtones--it probably also helps that no song comes out of it.
Upset by the notion of this article, the Mayor arranges a meeting with Lyle Barry, the reporter breaking the story on Ray. In a kind of surprising twist (at least to me), Lyle is gay himself, and so the article is not meant to be an attack on Ray, but rather an inspirational piece to show the gay community that there are plenty of other gay role models in the city. Yet still, the fact that Ray doesn’t want to be “outed” is still a valid point of contention, and one that Louise uses to ask Lyle to leave him out of the story. At first, Lyle is insistent on continuing with the article, at which point the Mayor reveals some dirty info she has on Mr. Barry: namely that his partner of eight years is an illegal immigrant with no green card. Lyle accuses her of blackmail, to which she agrees that’s what it is, to which he stupidly retorts something along the lines of, “You have no right to dig up stuff about me,” leaving her wide open to declare that he also has no right to do the same to Ray. This scene ratchets up the melodramatic quotient a little bit, but it’s still an effective scene, one that’s made even moreso when you realize that, in the early ‘90s when this show was released, gays weren’t nearly as accepted as they are now. For the show to take a strong, pro-gay angle at that time was a pretty gutsy decision; the fact that the scenes are actually well done make them all the more effective.
I have to say that, while this episode still had its fair share of awful (the main culprits once again being, surprise!, the music), it’s been the closest thing we’ve seen yet to a step in the right direction. The themes are getting meatier, by focusing on a couple that remain strong and relevant even today (racism and homophobia), and while the songs remain largely unnecessary and forgettable, the “Burning Cross” number is one of the best ones the show has produced. Unlike most of the musical moments from the series, this one doesn’t seem to be forcing itself upon the viewer, instead letting the heavy message speak for itself. Sure, the song doesn‘t really have much to say that you haven‘t heard before, but the minimalist music underneath is a smart decision, which allows the vocals and lyrics to take center stage, as they should.
To say that I’m looking forward to watching the next one is still a huge overstatement, but knowing that this show is actually capable of being even “average” is a small victory in and of itself. Oh, and I have to admit that I have zero ideas what the title is a play-on-words for, so if anyone else might know, feel free to toss it out there and make me look stupid (hemophiliac comes to mind, but that's spelled very differently, and this episode has nothing to do with blood; searching "felliac" in Google comes up only with this episode title, so no help there, either).
EPISODE RATING: 5/10
FULL EPISODE
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