What remained largely the same, however, was Falk’s charismatic portrayal of the lovable, titular detective. Presented as a series of mini-movies spread out over the course of nearly 35 years, Columbo had its inevitable ups and downs, with some cases being infinitely more interesting than others. Indeed, unlike most police shows at the time, Columbo always started by following the perspective of the perpetrator, with the audience then tracking how Columbo would crack the case (referred to by the show’s creative team as a “howcatchem” instead of a “whodunit”). In an age where every cop now needs to be a troubled, yet brilliant, antihero, a character like Columbo thrived on his unassuming, affable nature, which inevitably resulted in the show’s villain-of-the-week underestimating him, unknowingly giving themselves away in the process. “Just one more thing…” With those words, audiences knew that Peter Falk’s Columbo was about to very casually tear into whatever suspect was unfortunate enough to be in the same room as him. But at least Pretty Hard Cases understands why, and seems prepared to address it. Because at the end of the day (tiny spoiler to follow), all you really need to get out of the kind of trouble that would derail pretty much any young, Black life is to be a white boy with ties to literally anyone in power. Letting women have institutional power helps, too, it argues, but it won’t fix what’s broken within that same institution’s basic structure. A diverse police force helps, the series suggests, but it can’t solve everything. The result? A complex, thoughtful (and still funny!) story that-though its moments of progressive catharsis do occasionally ring too much of fantasy to be satisfying-doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. But ultimately it was the fact that series creators Tassie Cameron and Sherry White, who had just finished writing the first season when COVID locked the industry down in the spring of 2020, watched what happened with George Floyd and summer of reckoning that followed and took the same considered step back as B99 did, scrapping whole scenes and rewriting storylines to better address the rot of police brutality and systemic racism at the heart of North American-style policing. Herbert and Dean McDermott, certainly helped. The strength of its explicitly diverse core cast, which includes both Hollywood vets like Karen Robinson ( Schitt’s Creek) and Tara Strong (literally any cartoon you’ve ever watched) and Canadian stalwarts Al Mukadam, Daren A. And letting both halves of that dynamic be steered by women? You love to see it. I mean, there’s a reason the Odd Couple dynamic (especially in detective shows) is such a classic. Moore ( Orange is the New Black) and Meredith MacNeill ( Baroness Von Sketchshow) as a comically mismatched pair of Toronto detectives-one irons her t-shirts! one wears mismatched socks!!-who are obliged to team up to take down a local opioid operation, Canadian import Pretty Hard Cases (née Lady Dicks) is, as one might expect with leads like Moore and MacNeill, extremely funny. Below, we have gathered the best shows to watch on Freevee, originals and syndicated series alike (and in no particular order), that you can watch for totally free. And if you’re already a Prime subscriber, Freevee can be easily found nested within the Prime Video app. While an Amazon account is required to view, no purchase is necessary to discover the wonders that Freevee has to offer-reachable through their website or their app, which is available on iOS, Android, and most smart TV devices. And if you are more in the mood for a movie, Freevee has a wide selection for browsing as well. Alongside those original shows, Freevee also offers some classic shows perfect for binging. Its biggest break-out original hit, Jury Duty, was just added to Prime Video for ad-free viewing, but Freevee’s other originals are worth sticking out the ads for. Though, what makes Freevee stand out from the likes of Tubi or Pluto TV is its blossoming library of originals. This ad-based streaming service is one of many FAST (free, ad-supported streaming television) channels currently being inundated into our streaming landscape. Amazon Freevee (née IMDb TV) is an off-shoot of Amazon’s paid Prime Video service.
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