Let's be clear here - the strong part of this show is not the reenactments, which is most of the show, but the actual person the show is about talking about their crimes. That's interesting.
So you see the reenactment and then the real guy talks about it. I don't know of any other show that does this. It's entertaining and the one really good thing about this show.
What's not is how cheap a lot of the reenactments are. I mean you see the bad guy running with a white hoodie, then a minute later, his hoodie has turned black. Huh?
The cops all wear the same uniform in whatever town they're in but don't even try to make it look real. You see some with half their shirts untucked or no belt or equipment, even just a black shirt. I think they just have two uniforms and get people who fit them - or not - one episode has a super fat guy, hair all over the place, beard and the shirt didn't fit, he's literally arresting a guy with his shirt COMPLETELY UNBUTTONED AND UNTUCKED. This would not happen at any police force nor would they hire a guy who looks like this. At least try and people who look like cops, NOT guys with pony tails, or super overweight or look like stoners. It's annoying. The "Swat team" are all wearing different things. In some instances they're just wearing a button up shirt with a badge attached, not even trying to look real.
A lady is "reading the paper and sees herself on the front page" and the "paper" is the Penny Saver, literally, it doesn't look like a real paper in any way, you can see the ads for cars on the back. You can't get a real paper at least??
I mean there's one room in someone's living room, wood paneled room, that has been a "courtroom" (that one was the worst), a jail cell, numerous offices, a police station, a shoe repair shop, a "secret service" office etc. I think there are one or two "rooms" in someone's house that is used in every episode. It looks like a video some kids would make and passing off the living room as a court room. It's super cheap and annoying.
The same police car is used in every episode (#0302). Whether it took place in 2009 or 1979, it's the same car. Yeah, the story is supposed to be 1979 but here's a 2010 police car in half the shots. At least TRY and look like the period.
You see the bad guy on the highway then a "roadblock" comes up and the "roadblock" on on a residential street (yet they still claim it's the highway). A lot of the cops are the same cops in different cities. I think it's okay to use the same actors in a lot of these which they do (You'll see one guy play the bad guy in one episode and a cop in the next).
There's a Vietnamese gang who killed some people in a robbery, the main guy is on the loose. He goes to his "cousin's" house WHO IS WHITE. He just squints a lot. I kid you not. It's incredibly insulting. There's one scene where a guy is driving and his "teenage" son is in the truck with him. The "teenage" son is at least 25, if not older. I mean you can't even get some producer's kid to play the son???
But really, what they should do is rename this show "Cops are stupid." Because literally every episode, the person is getting away because the cops are morons. They see them in the checkpoint and let them go. They walk past them as they hide behind a tree or behind some boxes. They're constantly letting bad guys go because clearly these are the dumbest cops ever.
If you can get past the super cheapness of the reenactments and some of the bad acting (oddly sometimes they cast someone who looks JUST LIKE the real person and other times they don't look anything like the real person), it's not a bad show.
I know the show isn't in production anymore so there's that but if they ever bring it back, STOP WITH THE SHOTS OF THE REAL CRIMINAL LOOKING OUT A WINDOW every episode.
