Tag Archives: The First 48

Feb 28 2015

From 1st Degree to 2nd Degree in 60 Minutes in the First 48 Hours

I’ve seen every episode of The First 48 Hours on A&E. Every once in a while I’ll catch one that I think I’ve never seen and then as it continues, I realize, nope, seen it.

So when a new season starts and they’re in a new city, I really get excited. This new season they’ve branched out into Atlanta (though they’ve been there before) and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The first few episodes they were … well … not that exciting. Actually, they’ve been boring up until now.

But this past episode, which aired Thursday, Feb. 26, has brought Tulsa into it’s own. First let me just say that I had no idea that Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) had a much younger brother working in law enforcement and living in Tulsa.

Corporal Nathan Schilling © AETV

Corporal Nathan Schilling © AETV

More on that later. When a car heist goes wrong and a “Stray Shot” kills the car owner, Corporal Nathan Schilling is up next in the rotation to solve the homicide.

On the scene to help is Det. John Brown and Sgt. Dave Walker. Solving a homicide is definitely team work and having a sense of humor must be an important asset, because I can’t ever remember hearing a man ask another man (much less a cop ask another cop) “do these pants make my ass look fat?”

Or maybe it’s just Det. Brown with the sense of humor. Upon leaving the parking garage it’s “exiting the bat cave.” And when he’s searching a 16-year old suspect he’s looking for “guns or bazookas.”

Detective John Brown © AETV

Detective John Brown © AETV

Even when he’s looking at the ammunition from the handgun to see if it’s the same type from the homicide he’s cracking wise about “he’s the oldest guy in here.” To which one of the other detectives brings him a magnifying glass 5 times the size of the one used by Sherlock Holmes.

With the 16-year old suspect in custody and the gun confirmed as the murder weapon the case is on track and now The Rock’s younger brother can go to work. Head of the Fugitive Warrant Squad, Sgt. Luke Sherman has a profile that would have any woman believing he’s Dwayne Johnson’s baby brother.

I’d show you ladies a picture but A&E doesn’t have one posted with the rest of the “Meet the Officers” photos.

Once they have a majority of the underage suspects in custody and interview them, they have a clearer picture of exactly how the homicide went down and exactly who the killer is. And after searching for him (who is not underage), but not finding him, he eventually turns himself in.

From the very start of the interview he denies involvement … “I was home that night.” I wanted to reach into the TV and smack him in the back of his head.

Sgt. Dave Walker ©AETV

Sgt. Dave Walker ©AETV

We’ve heard every one of the suspects say he was the one who had the gun and did the shooting. Sgt. Walker and Corporal Schilling tell him that as well. They tell him this is his opportunity to tell his side of the story.

Sgt. Walker gets frustrated … angry … pissed off … or is it just a ploy and exits the room and leaves Corporal Schilling in the room with the suspect. Which works and the suspect opens up and admits that the shooting was an accident. He didn’t mean to shoot anyone.

Which brings it from first degree murder to second degree murder, giving all of them some possibility of a life after serving their sentences.

Don’t take me for one of those bleeding hearts – they definitely deserve to go to jail. But as Corporal Schilling said, the victim lost his life and a bunch of families are going to lose their children. Their are a lot of victims of crime, on both sides of the table.

The officers who fight it see the devastation on all levels.

 

 

 

 

Jan 24 2015

A Wolf Films/44 Blue Show – Nightwatch – Is Worth a Watch on A&E!

An average of forty-two calls an hour; as many as 1,000 calls a night. No matter how you say it, New Orleans gets a helluva lot of police, fire and EMS calls in a 24-hour period. A&E has a new show on Thursday, following one of my favorites (The First 48) that comes on at 9pm CST entitled Nightwatch. It’s a Wolf Films (yes, follow along here, a Dick Wolf Production: Law & Orders) that follows the police, fire and EMS squads of New Orleans as they go about their nightly … business.

Let me be perfectly clear, it’s not Cops; it’s not even anything like Cops. It is a reality show but it will certainly keep your ass in your chair so I suggest you set your DVR so you don’t miss a single moment.

It’s no secret that New Orleans is one of the cities that The First 48 added to it’s roster in 2013. I was in New Orleans in December 2013 and was pleasantly surprised when I settled in my hotel room to watch my favorite show (The First 48) and that particular episode took place in New Orleans.

But I’m not writing this to tell you about my last vacation. This is a show you should definitely check out because you will be rewarded with an insight into modern police work, dedicated and knowledgeable EMS workers who you hope (or not) you meet one day, and firefighters who save a cat from an arson started burning house and actually have oxygen masks on board their truck that are meant for animals. (Yes, the cat makes it.)

Holly of the team Gavin & Holly, closes the door of the ambulance. © A&ETV.

Holly of the team Gavin & Holly, closes the door of the ambulance. © A&ETV.

EMSers Gavin and Holly and Titus and Dan start work at 8pm. Gavin is an iceberg. I have never seen anyone so cool; even when he’s dealing with a lying doper and delivers a dose of Narcan to a man in the back of his ambulance while his partner Holly drives.

Titus and Dan, the other well matched pair of EMSers, assist with some calls, but also answer their own. A man has congestive heart failure and can’t breathe. Of all the calls they’re sent to, one particular address gives Dan a deja vu and as they go in, he recalls the patient and talks to him like an old friend.

Victor and Cedric of the NOPD in the meantime are “wolfpackin'” in an attempt to find the shooters who gunned down Anthony, the first case the EMSers responded to in this episode.

Over at Firehouse SQURT 27, dinner is being made and Chief Terence is impatient. An alarm goes off and everything is dropped for a residential fire call.  An arson job.

Just as Gavin and Holly get ready to leave Tulane University Emergency they’re called back to the neighborhood where Anthony, their first call, was shot. Retaliation shots have been fired and members of the neighborhood have suffered. They bring an elderly lady in with three gunshot wounds.

NOPD continues their wolfpackin’ strategy in an attempt to catch the shooters. Driving in a pack, patrolling the streets in the area where the shooting took place, checking out foot traffic, hoping the shooters get nervous and make a mistake. Around 12:30pm that’s exactly what happens and they recover two guns, the magazines and some pills.

“Cousins” Titus and Dan stop off at SQURT 27 just in time for dinner. It’s way after 1am and Chef/Capt Kevin has finally put dinner on the table. As they laugh and eat and compliment the cook, Titus makes a joke about them being the kind of cousins “you let ’em on the porch but not in the house.” (I use to have a boyfriend like that.)

Yes, there is some humor, yes there is plenty of drama. At the end of this particular episode, there is a great deal of sadness, and a good deal of truth. Even when Gavin and Holly’s shift is finally over and they stop for a coffee, they still cannot let it go. A citizen tells them there’s someone over at Jackson Square having a seizure.

Turns out it’s just someone who’s overpartied. That happens a lot in New Orleans. I wonder if Nightwatch is going to have a Mardi Gras episode (or two).

Sep 27 2012

Prison Gang Whistleblower Sues A&E for Broadcasting His Picture – Hollywood Reporter

Prison Gang Whistleblower Sues A&E for Broadcasting His Picture – Hollywood Reporter.

Sep 21 2012

My Reasons for Watching “The First 48” – Reality Show #2

More times than not, I have said I should be a TV critic. The First 48 was a winner in my book from the first episode. I haven’t missed an episode since it began. I own both “Best of … ” DVDs and it’s part of my Thursday night ritual along with popcorn and cuddling up with my chiweenie Buddy.

According to Wikipedia, “as of the August, 2011, end of its 11th season, A&E has aired 180 episodes of the series. By season 6, The First 48 had become the highest rated non-fiction justice series on American television, and had gained considerable critical acclaim along with controversy. The season 8 premiere on January 1, 2009, garnered a domestic audience of 2.3 million viewers making it the series’ most watched episode, thus far.”

The First 48 is a “reality show” in the truest sense of the word. I don’t watch The Bachelor (ick) or The Bachelorette (ick x 2) or Survivor (I will confess to playing the office pool).

From A&E’s website, it describes The First 48 like this: The biggest enemy for any homicide detective is not the suspect…it’s the clock. In fact, if they don’t find a lead in the first 48 hours, their chances of catching the killer are cut in half. The First 48 tracks real homicide detectives as they struggle to solve murder cases across the country. Gripping, authentic and dramatic, viewers are brought along for the ride as the detectives hunt for killers to bring to justice.

The First 48 has featured or plans to feature detective units in 23 US cities.

One of the most exciting season premieres of The First 48 featured Kansas City, Missouri. This two-hour premiere featured a serial killer case in the Prospect Avenue corridor. Terry Blair was eventually found guilty in the deaths of six women in 2008.

The case began with 911 cell phone calls to police on Sept. 3 and 4, 2004. The caller told police he killed two women whose bodies had just been found. He continued to call police and told them where to find three more bodies and had details only the killer would know.

For the whole story on Terry Blair, go here: http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/blair-terry.htm

Dion Graham is the “voice” of The First 48 on A&E

Dion Graham has narrated The First 48 from the very beginning. In all the episodes I’ve seen, I may have heard one that was not narrated by him and it was a slightly different format.