 Gee,
what a stunner! Rampart, the Los Angeles police station at the center
the city's most embarrassing cop corruption scandal, is making its
way to Fox television.
Until only recently, FX - the Fox owned cable network - had been
gearing up to air Rampart with advance publicity materials
and promotional spots describing the show as focusing on the "morally
ambiguous world" of fictitious L.A. cops. Problem was, the "World's
Wildest" tone of those spots really pissed off their real-life inspiration.
Picture, if you will, actor Michael Chiklis in an evil take on his
role for ABC's The Commish issuing a Mafia style beating
with a telephone book to an interrogation room suspect. "The good
cop and the bad cop have left for the day," the bad lieutenant snarls,
"I'm a new kind of cop."
It wasn't enough that, in August of last year, Fox leapt from the
frying pan (where the cop show was called The Barn - a place
where pigs live) and into the fire, by renaming it as an already
sore L.A.P.D. topic. At the time, Sgt. John Pasquariello, an L.A.P.D.
spokesman, told the L.A. Times that shows like Rampart do
little more than "capitalize on sensational headlines" and "negatively
influence youth." (As if headlines like: "Police in Secret Group
Broke Law Routinely, Transcripts Say," and "Officer Held In Cocaine
Sting" inspire confidence.)
 The
Fox spin machine went into action. Vice president of publicity for
FX, John Solberg, claimed that Rampart wasn't intended to
be reflective of the actual police division. He insisted that no
parallels between real events at the Rampart Division and the events
depicted in the series were intended.
"Clearly
- believe me - this is a fictional program," Solberg said. "We are
not setting the program at [the actual] Rampart Station."
It must've been Fox's assertion that Rampart viewers in Paw
Paw, Michigan would never conclude that the series covered the corruption-ridden
police division of the same name (yeah, the one the federal government
regularly threatens with laws designed to halt organized crime).
Perhaps as a diversion, Solberg even asserted that series executive
producer Shawn Ryan, who created the pilot, got the idea during
his San Francisco police ride-alongs.
Solberg later told reporters that the writers, producers, and network
executives behind the creation of the series "have every respect
for police officers," but added that they believe the series addresses
"legitimate concerns" over the state of law enforcement in this
country. How this goal - this public service - could be achieved
while still avoiding parallels to actual events is difficult to
comprehend, but let's not quibble.
Publicly, the department's director of media relations, Lt. Horace
Frank, was fairly conciliatory. While he found depictions of the
L.A.P.D., like those in the FX series, to be frustrating, he said,
he ultimately trusts the public to know the difference between television
and reality.
Generous fella.
 "I
think it's very unfortunate that [Fox] would seek to capitalize
on such a disturbing and depressing part of our history for money,"
Frank told a local paper. "There is no doubt that the Rampart scandal
was very disturbing for everyone involved - for the department and
the community - but it's over."
Yet despite Solberg's urging that Rampart - not intended
to represent the L.A. division - was somehow at the same time not
misrepresentational, many Los Angeles police officers still lambasted
the show as "irresponsible" and "offensive." Some even suggested
that once it aired, their safety would be jeopardized.
In September, the playing field changed in their favor. As support
for law enforcement swelled, Fox's spin machine started to lose
steam. It failed to appease the L.A.P.D., whose continued scorn,
insiders say, prompted another name change as the machine switched
to a damage control cycle.
Solberg declined to say whether police response factored into the
name change, but the L.A. Times reported that after the Brass saw
the pilot, they increased their resistance five-fold. They demanded
that all references to the city - including badges and police cars
- be covered, since L.A.P.D. approval had not been obtained.
The move would not have been as effective in August - another civic
authority in a beef with a production company over content. Ho hum.
But these days, police frustration with what they see as reckless
or distorted depictions of their work is no longer taken as a sentiment
that'll blow over.
So Fox neutered FX's first original drama series, now known simply
as The Shield. According Solberg, even though it's shot in
L.A., the series is set in a fictitious locale.
In a comical 180°, Solberg also told the Times: "We found that people
who were aware of the Rampart allegations thought the show was straight
out of the newspaper - despite the fact that we've always maintained
that it is in no way a docudrama." But he continued: "And because
no one outside of Los Angeles was familiar with Rampart, the title
didn't make sense. The series is very important to us, so we opted
for a more accurate and descriptive title."
The
Shield? Accurate and descriptive? Shot in Los Angeles, but not
Los Angeles? All about rotten cops, but none we've ever seen on
Dateline or read about in the papers?
Where's the show about television execs?
The new FX promo for The Shield boldly declares: "The road
to justice is twisted."
Bet it ain't so twisted in Paw Paw.
Further
reading:
News stories on
the Rampart Scandal from the Media Awareness Project.
Rampart
Scandal Timeline from PBS.
Christopher
Commission recommendations to improve the LAPD.
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