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Post by shmeep on Oct 27, 2006 10:23:29 GMT -5
Someone over at IMDB is claiming that Blind Justice was based on a true story. I posted a brief contradiction and then someone else told me I'm wrong. What is that all about? The people on this board know more about this show than most people on earth and between us, have undoubtedly read everything there is to read about Blind Justice. Did anyone ever catch one tiny hint that this was based on a true story? I sure didn't. Just thought I'd ask in case I sustained severe head trauma during the last couple of years and forgot.  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2006 10:28:35 GMT -5
Interesting.....the only thing I'd ever heard was in interviews Ron mentioned that there are blind detectives, but they have desk jobs, and the consultant on the show (whose name escapes me) was blinded in a shoot-out.
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Post by maggiethecat on Oct 27, 2006 10:57:46 GMT -5
No, you haven't sustained head trauma, Shmeep -- sounds like a lot of hooey to me. I believe the consultant's name was Lynn Manning, and he was blinded in a shooting in a bar fight that got out of hand. I can't remember if he was a cop or not, but he did go on to train in martial arts, and has a reputation in that area. I also seem to remember that he put together a one-man show, and tours with that occasionally. If someone out there want's to Google the guy (Yup, Goggle is now a verb), perhaps we can find out. As for Blind Justice being based on a true story -- big city homicide cop blinded in shootout, sues to be reinstated and goes back to work? -- I think if that were the case we would have read about it long before now, certainly at the time the show premiered and there was a ton of press. Besides, those of us who read Stephen Bochco's book Death by Hollywood know that he got the idea from a talking dog.  The way the show (which is also called Blind Justice ) is described in the book is very much on point: a rough-and-tough macho cop at the top of his game is brought low by circumstance, and is forced to both trust and rely on others, which he'd never done before. I seem to recall that the book was published in 2003, which (in all likelihood) means the manuscript was in to the publisher the year before and then there was the time it took to write the thing prior to that. So the idea was rolling around in Bochco's head long before it ever hit the small screen . . . which doesn't mean that it couldn't have been based on a true story, of course, but I do think someone would have mentioned it along the way. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2006 11:18:16 GMT -5
Bless you, Mags, Lynn is the one to which I refer and could NOT remember his name!!!! Darn senility - gets me every time!  |
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Post by shmeep on Oct 27, 2006 11:22:11 GMT -5
Hee! I'm one step ahead of you, Mags. I already posted that stuff about Death by Hollywood over on IMDB. Great minds and all that....
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Post by bluedelft on Oct 27, 2006 11:33:58 GMT -5
Bless you, Mags, Lynn is the one to which I refer and could NOT remember his name!!!! Darn senility - gets me every time! Hehe, Bebe has a senior moment! What can I say I just couldn't resist. If memory serves me correctly Lynn Manning has a website and I remember reading all of the stuff that Mags mentioned there. Don't have it bookmarked so I'd have to do a search to find it again. Edit to add in: www.lynnmanning.com/ |
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Post by maggiethecat on Oct 27, 2006 16:23:19 GMT -5
I had to stop by the library this afternoon, so while I was there I picked up Death by Hollywood. I thought we all might be amused by the section in which the creation of Blind Justice is discussed. I didn''t bother to change any of the language, by the way, or use asterisks. These are Stephen Bochco's words, after all, and I'm not about to mess with genius. I don't think this will spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it. If so, stop now. The section starts on page 155. Bobby, the writer, has given Dennis, the cop, a story treatment to read, which has supposedly been written by Bob the talking dog (it is a very funny book). The last bit Dennis reads is this, narrated by Bob: * * * Well, Bob says, there’s this one idea I’ve been working on, it’s about a tough cop who gets blinded in a gun battle, and he’s too young to retire, he still wants to be a cop, so he gets this guide dog named Bob . . . Dennis laughs out loud. Fucking writers, he thinks, chucking the story onto his desk and going for a fresh cup of coffee. Where do they come up with this shit? Back at his desk, Dennis dials Bobby’s phone number, and when Bobby picks up, Dennis says, without preamble, "You’re a fucking idiot." [Dennis goes on to tell him that the meat of the proposal is garbage. And by the way, Ron Eldard would be perfect casting for Dennis, a hunky LAPD homicide detective with, obviously, a sarcastic attitude.] "You’re a fucking idiot specifically because you just threw away the best cop show idea I ever read, and you didn’t even realize it." " What cop show idea?" Bobby asks, starting to get exasperated. "The one about the young cop who gets blinded." There’s a pause, and then Bobby’s tone changes. "Really?" " That’s the idea you should be pitching to HBO. It’s different. Here’s this cop, a real tough first-through-the-door type, very physical, hot-tempered, doesn’t hesitate to get in your face, and suddenly he’s blind, and if he still wants to be a cop, he’s got to learn how to use his brains, because he can’t just muscle people any more. Plus, he’s got to rely on other people in a way he never did before, and it makes him emotionally vulnerable, not to mention he’s completely dependent on the dog." "So you play his emotional adjustment, how he has to turn his handicap into an asset," Bobby says. "He’s got to learn to trust—his senses, his dog, other people—" "Exactly right, numb nuts. Now you got a game." "Jesus Christ," Bobby says. "You’re right. I am a fucking idiot. That’s a great idea." * * * As I said, it's a very funny book. I also think that is about as on-point a description of Jim Dunbar as I can imagine. For all we know, the initial inspiration may have been a news story about a blinded cop, somewhere along the line, but to me the above just sounds like pure Bochco.  |
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Post by anna on Oct 27, 2006 17:08:04 GMT -5
That’s the idea you should be pitching to HBO. Like we said all along - it should have been pitched to cable. Yeah, yeah, I know - it was too expensive for cable. But, if only . . . it might have found its audience. |
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Post by bjobsessed on Oct 27, 2006 18:13:28 GMT -5
I believe Lynn Manning's one man show is called Weights. I ordered it a long time ago and have not listened to it for a while. It is very good though.
I remember emailing with a question before I bought it and the lady that answered it wanted to know how I'd heard of his work. When I told her it was through Blind Justice, she thought it was pretty neat.
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Post by maggiethecat on Oct 27, 2006 18:15:02 GMT -5
That’s the idea you should be pitching to HBO. Like we said all along - it should have been pitched to cable. Yeah, yeah, I know - it was too expensive for cable. But, if only . . . it might have found its audience. And Jim could have come out with a good healthy "Sh*t!" when he barked his shins on the drawer Marty left out. Not to mention the possibilities for some tasty shots of Shirtless Jim. MODIFIED TO ADD:BTW, Shmeep, I bopped over to the IMDb board (something I haven't done in many moons) and couldn't find the post to which you referred, and which was the impetus for this thread. Too bad they don't have a "Most Recent 20 Posts" function the way we do here. Advice? A direct link? |
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The way the show (which is also called Blind Justice ) is described in the book is very much on point: a rough-and-tough macho cop at the top of his game is brought low by circumstance, and is forced to both trust and rely on others, which he'd never done before. I seem to recall that the book was published in 2003, which (in all likelihood) means the manuscript was in to the publisher the year before and then there was the time it took to write the thing prior to that. So the idea was rolling around in Bochco's head long before it ever hit the small screen . . . which doesn't mean that it couldn't have been based on a true story, of course, but I do think someone would have mentioned it along the way. 
