Preparing for the Rise of 'Low Winter Sun'

Lennie James (L) and Mark Strong Star in 'Low Winter Sun.' (AMC/Frank Ockenfels)

This Sunday (Aug. 11) at 10 p.m. EST, the next chapter in Detroit's storied television history officially begins. Low Winter Sun, the intense new cop drama that has been filming on the streets of the Motor City for the better part of a year, premieres on AMC. It will occupy the wonderfully cushy time slot following the final episodes of the landmark, Emmy-winning series Breaking Bad, the show it essentially is expected to replace in the eyes and hearts of AMC viewers.

One promo commercial for the new 10-week series describes Detroit as "Broken City." At the moment, it may even be a broke city. But in The New York Times last week, AMC executive vice president Joel Stillerman also describes it as "the most inherently cinematic city in the country, which is both unfortunate and true," and it is that element that may help lift Detroit out of its current perceptual black hole in the national discourse, if only a tiny bit. It is that quality ABC must have sensed when it greenlighted Detroit 1-8-7, the 2010 police series that was canceled after one season, far too soon. There is a horrid yet mesmerizing beauty to Motown, and it surely will be captured within the span of these episodes.

I will be reviewing the debut episode of Low Winter Sun online this week as a blog entry for the Metro Times, where I occasionally write about television, and will link it back here to Big Glowing Box. Subsequent episodes will be recapped and discussed right here.

If you just emerged from your cave on the East Side and have heard nothing of the show, here's the AMC trailer:

And here's virtually everything else you need to know about Low Winter Sun, through a major feature I did on the show for the Metro Times back in March. Mine was the first story of any substance written about the series in America. (Ahem.)

You can read it here.

If you're in the metro Detroit area, you can bet there will be viewing parties a-plenty for the series throughout the area Sunday night – a Hollywood-style screening was staged Monday night in Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater – but here's one of special note. The Baltimore Bar and Grill, a prominent shooting location for the series (albeit under a different name), will host a screening of the show Sunday with music by Detroit blues luminary Jeff Maylin preceding and following the 10 p.m. telecast.

Doors open at 6, music starts at 8 and there is no cover charge. The Baltimore is located at 1234 Randolph Street downtown. Let the Sun rise.

I'd Rather Be on the Throne, Playing a Game

When I was television critic for The Detroit News, and later for the (Detroit) Metro Times, I would be approached frequently by semi-jealous civilians who gushed, "Man, you got the best job in the world! All you do is sit on your a-- at home all day and watch TV! And you get paid for it!"

Well, to some extent, that was true.

However, I would quickly respond with two "Yeah, but"s: (1) I actually had to write about what I saw, which tended to cut into my TV viewing time; and (2) I really didn't get to choose what I wanted to watch. When you're a professional television critic you're expected to be knowledgeable about everything on television, the good, bad and too-often ugly. At some point you must see it all, and for every Seinfeld, there's a Cavemen; for each Sopranos, a Stars Earn Stripes.

Well, thank heaven it's a new age. Thanks to the blogosphere, I can write these posts about television for fun, and about the series and specials that interest me. I'm an amateur now. A dilettante. And in that light, I have a confession to make.

I have absolutely no desire to watch or review Game of Thrones. Does that make me a bad critic?

Love Peter Dinklage, but... (HBO Photo/Helen Sloan)

I fully understand that the HBO fantasy epic, which launches its passionately anticipated third season at 9 p.m. EST Sunday, March 31, has exploded into something of a worldwide cult obsession. A simple Bing search of the words "Game of Thrones" generates more than 20 million responses. It has its own language. References to the show seem to jump in your face everywhere you look. Sports Illustrated made a play on its name for the cover of the magazine's first "Power Issue."

And, predictably, every television critic and pop culture outlet on earth has weighed in this week on the blood and lust coming soon to a Westeros near you. Even Tom Long at my old workspace The Detroit News, arguably the worst movie critic in America, took time this week to praise Game of Thrones in glowing detail. (Has anyone had the nerve to mention to him that this is a TV show?)

I'm certain the series, which I'm told has more than its share of nudity and vulgarity, is a sight to see. I've been a big fan of Peter Dinklage (no pun intended) since The Station Agent a decade ago, and I hear he's something of a sex symbol here. (Bully for you, Pete!) Game of Thrones obviously boasts a fine cast, dense multilayered storylines and eye-popping scenery and special effects. And that's all wonderful and stuff.

But I'm just. Not. Interested.

Maybe it's a cultural thing. I never played a knight with an imaginary sword as a kid growing up in small-town Michigan, never fantasized about "Dungeons and Dragons" as a teen. I saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy and found it impressive, but not life-changing.

Actually, I think we're both better off here: I'm not forced to write about something I don't want to watch, having to overcome a possible inherent bias in the process, and you literally have millions of other sources who can wax about the third season of Game of Thrones with rhapsodic glee. Everybody's happy.

I'm chalking this up to just another of the many things about television I don't fully understand. I can think of 10 more without reaching for my remote:

• How The Jerry Springer Show can still be on the air after 22 seasons;

• The undeniable, intrinsic appeal of Duck Dynasty; 

• Why anybody still cares whether it's Jay or Jimmy at 11:35;

• Honey Boo-Boo (of course);

• The continuing explosion of bloody, gory, serial-killer dramas in prime time;

• The proliferation of bloody, gory, serial-killer reality series everywhere else;

• Why anybody who watches TV would voluntarily go on Judge Judy as a litigant;

• How too-cool-for-the-court, master-of-the-obvious Clark Kellogg manages to keep his job as lead analyst for CBS college basketball;

• How I can be the only person who thinks Jimmy Kimmel is the smarmiest, most unlikable person on television;

• Any Kardashian.