Tired Cliches in Police/Military Procedural TV Shows

Lol

58. Detective needs to interview a convict in prison because they might have information pertinent to the current case. Police chief/partner/everyone expresses doubt about interview's success because the detective "was the one who sent him there"

59. Every cop acts/looks like the weight of the world's sins is grinding them into exhaustion, rather than they mostly process paperwork.

60. Cops regard journalists as bottom-feeding scum, though still toss back shots with one at the end of the day when passing on a tip. Often accompanied by letting their hard-ass mask slip as they reveal how haunted they are by a current or past case.

61. Off-duty cop on a barstool, shooting the breeze with the quirky female bartender he knows all too well. The bartender is clearly attracted to the mixture of heft, presence and existential pain.

i love all 61 of these cliches

cop is shot, police chief comes out of room minutes after the cop is admitted, and tells concerned police "looks like he's gonna pull through", guaranteeing the cop will make a full recovery with no complication and no further worry or visits required.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNCYpAmsySw

63. Police run down and ultimately dismiss one possible suspect after another, each with some plausible motive and/or shady connection to the crime in question. In the end, the guilty party turns out to be someone who was never previously a suspect because the perps reasons for criming are very murky/borderline nonexistent but, hey, they were the last tertiary character left who isn't a child or a dog so whattayagonnado.

Saw a cliché subverted, or at least sidestepped, tonight — two cops are interrogating a collegiate drug dealer when one suddenly collapses. I was sure they were gonna do an "Oh no! Fentanyl!" but it turned out he had a stroke (thus making room for a different cliché, the male and female detectives who misguidedly slept together once being re-partnered).

Addendum to 23: the Feds show up and are incompetent, borderline maliciously inept. Show finishes with lead cop, who has a particular emotional involvement with the case, punching out the lead Fed agent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dK0Hbf5rEY

Can we talk about the cliched way crime dramas are promoted all over the world? This is a brief selection from the drama site on Channel 4's website - there's dozens of the bastards! The thing is they're from all over Europe (and beyond) but they're so interchangeable it's impossible to tell where they're from (unless you see the title). Miserable people standing around, sometimes at angles to one another, sometimes back to back; arms crossed or hands in pockets etc; usually staring grimly at the camera but, occasionally, in different directions. Also forests seem to be a popular backdrop.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWY2NDllZjQtMTA3ZC00NWVmLTk0NGMtMzgxODllZWM0YTZiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjMyMzI4MzY@._V1_.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/pv-target-images/0631242b79d9b7c471807b35168dfd5cc6e145c9fb21bff8d65b2633fd0e8a24.jpg

https://image.pbs.org/contentchannels/0UDLeVb-show-poster2x3-Gxq9utQ.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZDFjZDMxOGQtZjZiYi00ZDhhLWE2Y2MtZWM1Y2NlNGM5MTA5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODc5Mjc4Nzg@._V1_.jpg

https://resizing.flixster.com/-XZAfHZM39UwaGJIFWKAE8fS0ak=/v3/t/assets/p15825940_b_v9_ai.jpg

https://vodzilla.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/stockholm-requiem.jpg

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/MQKs4fVqbuYFIfgxETpOQw/1200x675.jpg

https://images.aftonbladet-cdn.se/v2/images/8867571b-a005-4c1a-a2f1-c9a040f01847?fit=crop&format=auto&h=990&q=50&w=1500&s=e4ce5c9d0ac04f865e7e2c0d22d5695dcc9a9771

https://ic.c4assets.com/brands/before-we-die/e8b9e45a-b1a0-4f2a-9b26-5f06a3c21ad1.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWJiM2YwMmItMDE2OS00MGFkLThjZTItNGY1MjdkOTA0NmYxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI1Mjk5MQ@@._V1_.jpg

Some more:

https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/original_untouched/299/748211.jpg

https://ic.c4assets.com/brands/no-offence/68ce54fd-b072-4595-bec5-11e6500f8343.jpg

https://ic.c4assets.com/brands/nordic-murders/ff467e27-78b1-4daf-ae8a-93f9c8e59635.jpg

https://image.pbs.org/contentchannels/syLtHoT-show-mezzanine16x9-rTxODf1.jpg

I remember seeing a tweet with a recent publicity photo of New Order done in that style with a caption about the new Manchester-set cop show "Blue Mondays".

64. “bad cop” in the interrogation room becomes enraged at suspect’s smug self-possession and goes off the rails emotionally, throwing things around; “good cop” says their name to get them to stop; they don’t stop; name is said again but more loudly; finally “good cop” pulls the loose cannon aside and the next scene is the cops conferring on the other side of the one-way mirror, possibly with a superior

LOL the latest L&O: orgainsed crime that aired this week did a ridic "omg fentanyl!" scene. Literally they had Jet the hacker girl lean into the cabin of a truck that transported a fent lab, for like 5 mins tops, and next min she is falling all over the place fainting. Ugh. The propaganda.