Has anyone else noticed the legion of psychiatrists that have joined the crime shows on TV? The Law and Order franchise always had one or two on speed dial but I was surprised when Criminal Intent brought one in for Goren in the last season. After all, Goren always got into the heads of the bad guys quite well on his own. Then Jeff Goldblum's father was a psychiatrist which took over a couple of shows. The new USA drama Common Law has two male partners doing marriage counseling sessions, Mary Shannon had to talk with one before the end of In Plain Sight, and that guy in Awake has two psychiatrists.
Is it so important to get into the heads of both the cops and the criminals? Do they add anymore insight to the show or are we supposed to believe that everyone needs a good psychiatrist to make it through the day? And I wonder, is this going to spill over into books? Are we going to need a professional to explain what's going on in our character's heads or will we still trust our readers to figure it out? Just curious.
3 comments:
If you look at the Robotham books, the stories alternate between a police officer and a psychologist. I think we are more interested in why then how or who now.
I'll only be satisfied when it's the psychiatrist who's the criminal.
Yes, Patti, our curiousity about the why is probably why we write crime stories. But does it require an expert to give us the why? I always laugh at the profiles on TV. They don't actually tell you anything and constantly changes as the cops get closer to their bad guy.
Now, that would make a great story, Ron!
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