New
York City - It doesn't take long, hanging around the set of a television
production, to figure out why it takes days to create one hour-long episode.
Scenes
with numerous cast members and bystanders are rehearsed over and over before
the cameras roll for real. And even then, someone in the scene almost always
is off just a little - and so another take, or two, is called for. CBS'
``Brooklyn South,'' the first-year cop drama from Steven Bochco, is certainly
no exception as regards its production process.
During
a recent visit to Brooklyn to film exterior scenes - the interiors are
all shot in Los Angeles - the cast and crew worked hours on shots that
would take up just a few seconds of airtime. In one scene, Officers Jack
Lowery (Titus Welliver) and Nona Valentine (Klea Scott) pull up in their
cruiser as a woman lies on the sidewalk with her throat slashed. Over and
over, Welliver and Scott jump out of the car and recite the same lines.
Welliver lifts the bloodied actress into the car and heads off.
Time-consuming
as the process is, the cast believes it's worth the effort.
``I
wish we could do the whole show here,'' said Dylan Walsh, who plays policeman
Jimmy Doyle - a role loosely based on the real-life exploits of former
Gotham cop Tommy Doyle, a consultant on the show. ``It's just easier to
act it when we're here. In L.A., we're driving past palm trees.''
``Brooklyn
South'' is the latest in a line of gritty and controversial cop dramas
from Bochco. CBS launched the show in September with high hopes, although
ratings so far have been disappointing. The network is hoping to relaunch
the show this month, now that its chief competitor in the 10 p.m. ET Monday
time slot, ABC's ``Monday Night Football,'' is off the air.
``These
are cops concerned with day-to-day, mundane events that go on,'' said William
Finkelstein, co-executive producer of the series. ``We don't want to tell
the same story every week.''
The
show launched with some controversy stemming from a nine-minute opening
scene in which a police officer was graphically shot in the head. Eventually,
the killer was captured, and died while in police custody. The episode
drew criticism from Brooklyn leaders for portraying the borough in a bad
light.
Finkelstein
stresses that not all episodes have included, or will include, that level
of violence, or that such violence is ``formulaic'' on the show.
And,
in general, the good guys win.
``People
like the idea that justice will prevail,'' said Yancy Butler (Officer Anne-Marie
Kersey) during a break in taping.
Walsh
agrees: ``It's a profession that brings people into contact with other
people in dangerous ways. It's life and death.''
Meanwhile,
the cast members who are not busy in the scene stand off to the side as
Welliver walks back to the squad car and prepares to lift the victim/actress
one more time. With Scott alongside him in the passenger seat, Welliver,
in character as Lowery, rounds the corner at high speed - and a hubcap
falls off. His cast mates laugh while a director halts the action. Get
ready for one more take.
``I've
had some training,'' Welliver said a while later of the driving stunt.
``I like doing stuff like this. You never know what's going to happen.''
And
when it does, well - let's do it again.
(c)
1998, New York Daily News.
