I’ll watch just about anything filmed in Chicago. As someone who’s lived here a long time, I like to see my city onscreen. But films and TV shows almost never get it right. CNN’s Chicagoland was a multipart campaign infomercial for Rahm; Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq burned with righteous vitriol but could’ve been set in any American city. Several dramatic series film here, including the wacky Shameless, which is an entertaining show but doesn’t really have much to say about the city. And for the last few years we’ve also hosted Dick Wolf’s ever-expanding franchise farm. It started with Chicago Fire, then came Chicago P.D., now there’s Chicago Med, with Chicago Law looming. Could Chicago Streets & San be on the horizon?
Suspects are beaten mercilessly, and these beatings are never questioned. Viewed over the past few months, with the Laquan McDonald video and other revelations of misconduct as background, the interrogation scenes on the show play especially tone-deaf—it’s as if the show’s makers had hired Jon Burge himself to consult on getting the details right. In P.D.‘s moral universe, police are heroes and everyone else is either a victim or a perpetrator. On a recent episode a psychologist refers to the squad’s headquarters as “one of those famous black sites.” The detective tells him not to believe everything he reads. So are we being told to ignore the news stories about Homan Square? Is that the message?
