By Jessica Hickerson

Truth be told, the 21st century is a dangerous, violent, messed-up time for this world. However, if for some reason you forget about that, all you have to do is simply turn on your TV. The fall television season brings its audience a plethora of “dramas” that will put you on the edge of your seat AND scare the crap out of you.

Please do not tell me that I am the only one who has noticed just how many police or crime solving shows the networks have included in the season. From all the Law and Order shows and CSI to NYPD Blue, I am sensing an overkill. What happened to the real dramas that dealt with issues that almost everyone could relate to? Now the television airwaves are filled with whodunit mystery shows, and while, yes, they are interesting and in some cases fun to watch, they are also very scary. The images of some of these crimes displayed on these shows are horribly grotesque and not for the weak of heart.

So, take a minute and explore with me the many criminally based mini-movies controlling our TV viewing, and if they really should ever have been made in the first place.

The Law and Orders: yes, that’s right. I meant to write that in the plural form, because there are clearly about a thousand of them. Truthfully, there are three: Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Each, though they have different departments, style of cases, and characters, have the same basic setup. Find a body, have the detectives question a variety of people, hopefully find a suspect, begin a trial, end with a verdict. Law and Order, which was and maybe still is an excellent show, has become entirely too predictable. The spark of the show has blown out, and the loss of Benjamin Bratt a few seasons back certainly did not help.

CSI is by far the best of the crime solving dramas…or maybe the most grotesque. CSI differs from Law and Order by the occupation of its characters, who are all scientists slowly putting evidence together to put one more bad guy away. CSI takes a victim and shows you what is really going on in that body which frankly I find disgusting. If I wanted to see the insides of a body, I would switch to The Learning Channel, not CBS. But I digress… CSI is new and interesting, and slowly, America is becoming addicted to the evidence technicians. However, with the new CSI: Miami beginning this season, I smell a pattern. After one season, there is already a spin-off. How many CSIs will there be in say three years? Or next year for that matter? CBS needs to take a good look at NBC and learn from their mistakes.

Then there are the new cop dramas Without A Trace and Robbery-Homicide Division. Both babies of CBS, who obviously think the justice system is the definition of drama.

Without A Trace could actually be worth watching, with its cast and different spin on crime. However, a show about a missing persons unit is almost bound to have the same basic pattern every show, just with different people. Audiences will come away either relieved that the victim was found or sad and depressed if they were not. A show concerned with finding lost loved ones is new and has not been done before, I believe, and has not been repeatedly shoved down our throats, so we shall see.

Robbery-Homicide Division: is this not the same concept we have been watching for two years now? And how many “divisions” are going to have their own show? Pretty soon there will be Traffic Safety Division. (And don’t think I’m being stupid; you never know what networks will do for money.) Robbery-Homicide Division could have some great moments this season but it is my opinion that viewers will have their fill of crime drama with Law and Order and CSI.

But if they don’t…

They can just as easily turn the channel to ABC where the powerhouse known as NYPD Blue is located every Tuesday night. Blue, as it is known, is a prime example of what a police drama should be like. An unlikely lead actor, Dennis Franz, has kept NYPD Blue strong and successful for the past decade. This season marks the tenth anniversary of the show’s creation, and there have been no spin-offs (no JCPD Blue or LAPD Blue, etc.) to downgrade the original. It is a show about one of the greatest police departments of all time, and if it were up to me, NYPD Blue would be around for another ten years.

There you have it: the new definition of drama. As long as the networks keep finding shows with vicious crimes and a few sexy actors, then it must be successful. I miss the old dramas like Once and Again, Beverly Hills 90210, and Melrose Place. Rarely are there dead bodies in those shows.

Nevertheless, I am a huge fan of CSI and NYPD Blue, and I am not saying that any of these shows are completely awful. Television is just becoming too repetitive.

Note to networks: You are paying a slew of people to find new, innovative, and fresh shows. Make them do their job.