K-Ville - Truth or Hollywood?

from LazlosBasement

We’ve had a few requests for a review of K-Ville. Since we covered the show earlier, we figured why not. So here’s a little quiz from the Basement, which just happens to be located down south in New Orleans.

- Truth or Hollywood -

The Opening – The series follows two police officers policing New Orleans two years post-Katrina (hence, K-Ville). One of the officers was on the force during the storm, and was deserted by his partner in the middle of the storm’s mayhem. Did this really happen?

Truth or Hollywood?

Essentially Truth: Every police officer, every single one, who was serving during the storm has a story to tell that you would not believe if you didn’t hear it directly from his or her own mouth. A friend of ours, an ex-Marine who was discharged due to a massive injury he received overseas, was celebrating his anniversary on the force the day the storm hit. He was stationed in the Convention Center, the other emergency shelter, which housed thousands of predominately low-income African-American residents – and spent the next several days with a handful of other officers trying to keep the refugees calm. At one point, after several days with no emergency supplies, food, or water, a loud explosion rocked the city. The chemical plant had blown. Rumors immediately began to circulate that the government had blown the levees, and were going to let the survivors in the city drown. Fewer than ten officers had the responsibility of keeping order in these conditions – and shockingly, they did. When they heard the rumor that they had all been marked for death by the government, he and his few fellow officers were told to inform the evacuees that the chemical plant had blown, and if it made them feel any better, they had no idea what was leaking into the air or groundwater right now. God bless them all one by one, the crowd settled down.
Not everyone fared so well, on either side of the thin blue line. Evacuees trying to cross the Mississippi (as locals are reminded repeatedly by people who’ve never been through anything approximating this particular catastrophe, it was a mandatory evacuation) were met on the bridge by police and residents from the wealthier and Whiter neighborhood across the river; police and residents with shotguns. They fired those shotguns over the head of the other evacuees and forced them back into the drowned city. The L.A. riots ain’t got nuthin’ on us.

The Twist - All of the police records in the city were really destroyed in the storm?

Truth or Hollywood?

Truth, we hope, for the following reasons: We’re not cops, so we can’t speak directly to this issue. What we can tell you is we’ve been surprised which of our old acquaintances have found themselves eligible to serve. On the other hand, the city needs all the help it can get. One of our own writers has been mugged twice, once at gunpoint, once at knifepoint, in the last year, both in supposedly safe areas of the city that might be frequented by any tourist. Though the police response has been quick and motivated, the fact is that there is more crime than there are cops in the city right now, and I’m happy to have these guys on our side. I don’t know what the requirements are to be an officer here, but I know that no one is employing the officers who deserted during the storm.

The Car - I can buy a tricked out classic Cadillac from two FEMA checks?

Truth or Hollywood?

Hollywood: I can’t really tell you what most people got for their FEMA checks because no one I know actually received their FEMA check. Remember those debit cards they were handing out to Katrina survivors and refugees? Funny thing, most of those were blank. Not a penny on them. If there’s someone getting wealthy off of your tax dollars here, I can assure you that person is on the other side of the government.

The Insult - People are overwhelmingly generous toward those who were affected by Katrina.

Truth or Hollywood?

Hollywood: A character in the show says a line suggesting that Katrina wasn’t a storm, “it was a cleansing.” As I was noting my surprise that the network would let this line through, even with a bad guy saying it, it occurred to me that someone I never met before said the exact same thing to me this weekend. In the interest of clarity, I did not live here during the storm, she was not talking about me. But for the love of Miss Manners, I do share this city with people who did. Pretend to have some kind of filter on the things you’re willing to say about them America; whatever your point, it can be made without continuing to wreck the lives of the many many people who lost loved ones in a situation the likes of which most of us could never even imagine.

The Review - Yeah, but how was the show?
Is this where I point out that Cole Hauser sounds way more local (and loco) than Anthony Anderson? I’m pretty sure they were both born in California, but Hauser’s always had that smooth smarmy southern drawl thing going on. Anyway, it was worth the hour to me just for the scenery. I mean the architecture. Damn.