TVSquad

TNT's original dramas are kind of hit or miss for me. I'm absolutely in love with The Closer, but have zero interest in Saving Grace, despite its good reviews and Holly Hunter's Emmy nomination. It was while I was watching The Closer that I saw the ads for Raising the Bar, TNT's newest series, which premieres on Monday, September 1 at 10 pm. I've got to say, I had the same reaction when I first saw promos for Saving Grace: "meh."

I love a good lawyer show, but there was something about Raising the Bar that just struck me as bland. I really didn't know if I'd even bother checking out the premiere. However, when I got the chance to see the first three episodes, I decided to jump on it. This way I could check it out at my leisure, but more importantly, I could figure out just what the hell is going on with Mark-Paul Gosselaar's hair.

All right, let's get into this Cop Rock thing that the A.V. Club has just mentioned as one of the top "lamentably lost" television shows. Trust me folks, the show was not something to lament about. In fact, I'm sure there are people out there who wish the show would just be lost and buried deep into the ground.

I guess you could say that the concept of the show was unique. Created by Steven Bochco, who was known as the driving force behind the police drama Hill Street Blues, Cop Rock combined said police drama with musical theater. Each episode of the short-lived series, which ran on ABC from September to December of 1990, began with a music-video style credit sequence with theme music by Randy Newman. Then, throughout each week's program, characters would break out in song and dance during the middle of a scene. For example, a jury would sing out "He's Guilty" in Gospel format, or a lineup of Hispanic suspects would proclaim racial discrimination in a pithy little ditty.