The board of advisers for “The Chicago Code” is now in session.
Chicagoans, who know their city well enough to want it portrayed correctly, are probably the toughest critics for the Fox show that premiered Monday night, and I got loads of e-mail after I wrote about the show’s shortcomings. Here are a few responses, slightly edited:
“Of course the cool cop was the South Sider — Sox fan — and the nerdy cop was the Cub fan,” sniffed Peggy Malloy of Chicago. “Please.”
I’m with you, Peggy, but we have to admit that all cliches are rooted in reality.
“I spent 37 years in the CPD and have never, ever met the likes of the characters,” wrote a former cop. “The biggest laugh was the chase going under the elevated tracks. The bad guy in the stolen car is looking over at the (detective) with a pistol out the window. He never looks in front of him for about 20 or 30 seconds. I was hoping that he was westbound on Lake Street from Western. I was really hoping he was going to hit the support. Now that would have been real.”
Strict reality is not the real goal of most entertainment television, officer, but you’re right that plausibility helps. And for some readers, the rules of plausibility are as strict as the rules of baseball.
“The payoffs at the hardware store are a joke,” George Avet wrote. “Payoffs at the nightclubs and bars and to tow truck drivers is much more the rule.”
Don Wozniak was displeased that one of the main characters, Jarek Wysocki, referred to himself as a Polack.
“Secondly,” Wozniak wrote, “‘Wysocki’ is pronounced WHY-sock-ee, not WA-sock-ee. A minor detail, but important.”
And from another former police officer, Tom Sadler: “I knew a lot of women detectives, citizen dress supervisors and command personnel. Not one of them would wear their weapon in such a sloppy position when working out of uniform as our ‘Chicago Code’ superintendent does.”
Several readers rolled their eyes at the show’s references to the Irish mob, a term, they noted, that they had never heard or used in relation to Chicago.
Chicagoan John Knoerle had a different view: “We do have an Irish mob in Chicago. It’s called the government.”
Several readers shared true tales of corruption Chicago-style.
“My uncle was the ultimate Chicago ‘bag man,'” wrote Michael S. “The corruption shown on this show is chump change compared to some of the stuff my uncle was involved in … I remember some great stories from the ’50’s and ’60’s. Rigged bids were no big deal in those days. In fact, it was a given. The reason my uncle was never busted (was) he paid his federal income taxes.”
Stuart Shiffman was among those who objected to my suggestion that with some work “The Chicago Code” could be Chicago’s version of “The Wire,” the great HBO show set in Baltimore: “It’s like suggesting that if I start running a little more I could someday run a 4 minute mile. I only need to cut 6 minutes a mile off my current pace.”
You can do it, Stu.
Most everyone agrees that “The Chicago Code” offers a thrilling range of city views, but it’s still not enough for everybody.
“We better see a clip of Butch McGuire’s (Tavern) in the next episode or two,” wrote Tom Phillips of Chicago, “or I’m gonna think these people do not know Chicago and Irish.”
Finally, from Phil Minga, “I think they missed one more cliche: How about some deep dish pizza?”
