Memphis Beat "It's Alright Mama" Episode 1

anyone else notice that the car in the promo was a Chevelle and the car in the show was a GTO?

 

Watched 5-10 minutes of it....which was 5 to 10 minutes too much.

 

I hope it gets better but I don't find the chemistry of the police work group very attractive. Compare to Grace, where the cops and the boss and others were all likeable people. The same people in Memphis are not, even though I want to like Ms. Woodard but she seems too tentative to be effective.

And I don't need the singing bits, not my style.

Is Memphis really that ugly a city, or will they show us the good parts in some upcoming episode?

 

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I don't really think Memphis is all that attractive of a city. There are tolerable parts but overall it isn't much to look at, IMO.

But, the show is not actually filmed in Memphis. I don't know where it is filmed but I remember all my Memphis friends being upset when it was announced because it wouldn't even be filmed there.

 

Please explain this comment, because if this is a part-time musical a la "Pushing Daisies" I'll be deleting my SP immediately.

 

Nobody should delete an SP based on any comment of mine. I'm not that influential.

I was just referring to the fact that the show opened and closed with Memphis Blues, sung by the male lead. He is a tolerable singer, imho, but if I wanted music (I don't) I'd watch Glee. I won't, ymmv.

 

Jason Lee sings in the opening and beginning of the first episode.

It is not by any stretch a musical, he happens to sing as a hobby.

I thought the show was pretty good myself, and really liked the Alfre Woodard character.

The most suprising part of it though was to see a promo for Rizzoli and Isles, which I never heard of and which will team Sasha Gray (Kate from NICS), and Angie Harmon as Partners. Also Lorraine Bracco is one of their mothers.

Anyways, I enjoyed the episode, and look forward to next week.

By the way all the songs he sings are Elvis songs, and he really is singing.



I thought this was actually very good in terms of pilots/initial episodes, becase usually they are so filled with trying to cram all the backstory into a single episode they become unwieldily. Really not that much going on here. They did get some key points in.

 

Um, Kate was Sasha Alexander. Sasha Gray is also an actress, but has a "body of work" far, far different than Ms. Alexander's.

 

LOL.

Nice typo on my part. HAHA

 

My assessment was that this show is not funny, but it is too gimicky to be taken seriously. I'm going to give it another shot though, because I like Jason Lee, and as others have noted, some shows are better after the pilot (seems to be especially true on cable).

 

Not crazy about it. And was it me or was there a lot of barely decipherable mumbling throughout the show?

 

My husband and I watched it last night. He said he'd give it another 2-3 episodes to decide, which was surprising. Thought he'd hate it because I'm on the fence.

It's just very hard for me to take Jason Lee seriously. He seems to still be playing "Earl" and is too one-dimensional for me. Alfie Woodward's accent was horrible! His mother was painfully horrible!

Personally I liked all the music and the use of the GTO. Love how so many shows are giving some tribute to classic Pontiacs lately.

Wasn't sure if it was Jason Lee actually singing at the beginning or the end. If so, that last song was pretty impressive.

Cheryl

 

The establishing and downtown exterior shots certainly were...Riverside Drive, the Mem-Ark bridge and the rooftop shots...definitely real. Not sure if the WHER sign is still up but WHER was the first "all girl" staffed station in the US.

 

I'll have to dig up the link to the article again. I remember there being an article and all my Memphis facebook friends having mild outrage at reports that the show wasn't filmed in Memphis. I can probably find it tonight when I can get on facebook again and see exactly what it said.

It might be that they have a few shots like you said but the meat of the show is filmed somewhere else.

Or maybe I have totally bad information.

Edit: Here is a blog that discusses it in a little more detail: http://ilovememphisblog.com/2010/06/a-memphians-guide-to-watching-memphis-beat/

 

I watched about half this episode then cancelled the SP. Just could not get into the characters.

 

I concur. I couldn't quite get the feel for what they were trying to do. Enjoyable cop sitcom? Serious police procedural? Over the top drama with a criminal justice backdrop?

It seemed quite muddled to me.

Meh, not me, already deleted my SP.

 

Though it's Sasha Alexander who is in Rizzoli & Isles, I believe that Ms. Gray has a recurring role on Entourage this summer...

 

I didn't watch, but I did notice the '67 Chevelle in the promos. My dad's a Chevelle nut (he has a '66 SS) so I've been around them for a long time and that was unmistakable to me. Was the GTO also blue?