Secrets of TV Crimes Shows
HAMMER: Right now on this special edition of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" "Secrets of TV Crime Shows." We are counting down the top five TV crime show myths or truths? Do the cops really use their guns as often as we see on TV and just how fast does evidence really get analyzed? Also, we are taking you behind the police tape and revealing the stunning secrets of TV`s biggest crime shows.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not a good idea to lie to people. This much gas around.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing? You`re going to kill both of us!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am. I missed you. Answer my questions.</s>HAMMER: So, what are the secrets to making the drama behind shows like "Burn Notice" look so real? "Burn Notice" star Jeffrey Donovan reveals all the secrets of the nail-biting CIA drama. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" continues tight now.</s>HAMMER: Welcome back to "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." I`m A.J. Hammer. And this is a special edition of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." "The Secrets of TV Crime Shows." Now, get ready for us to investigate the TV investigators. Of course, sometimes our favorite crime dramas feature brave, dedicated good guys, sometimes, of course, they feature murderous meth making bad guys. But how realistic are they? Well, we have with us tonight two real life crime solvers who are the minds and inspiration behind two of these biggest shows on TV right now. And they are going to tell us what TV crime show get right then, what they get wrong. But first, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" is counting down the top five myths and truths about TV crime shows. As we watch the gang from "NCIS" solve crimes .</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That may be also in downtown.</s>HAMMER: Or Walter White from "Breaking Bad" commit them .</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m the danger.</s>HAMMER: It`s easy to wonder how much of what we see on TV crime shows is fact and how much is fiction? Crime show producers do try to get it right.</s>GREG PLAGEMAN, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, PERSON OF INTEREST: The writers in this business are doing themselves a disservice if they don`t attempt to try to find out what the reality is.</s>HAMMER: Still, just like criminals on "</s>CSI" . UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes we have to wait for a killer to make a mistake.</s>HAMMER: TV crime shows make some factual mistakes, too. So in our "SHOWBIZ" countdown we are investigating, TV crime show myths or truths? Number five cops using their guns often. Cops on TV crime shows tend to get in a lot of shootouts. Even the forensic investigators on "CSI." In fact, on "Criminal Minds" the law men and women are able to follow up a tense shootout with humorous bickering.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you out of your mind? You blew out my eardrums.</s>HAMMER: And now, at number four on our countdown, TV crime shows myths or truths .</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow. Talk about death by chocolate.</s>HAMMER: Cops making jokes at gruesome murder scenes?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, that red stop is my (inaudible)</s>HAMMER: OK, Castle is a writer, not a cop. So, we`ll excuse his corny crime scene jokes. But what was Horatio Caine`s excuse on "SCI Miami?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s as cold as ice.</s>HAMMER: Do real cops make crime scene jokes and are they really followed by a song by the Who? And now, number three on our countdown, TV crime shows myths or truths, extremely prolific murderers. In "Breaking Bad`s" first few seasons, Walt White`s body counts soared well into the double digits and Dexter`s? We stopped counting at 30. Do Dexter and Walt even have police in their hometowns? Number two on our countdown "TV Crime Shows Myths or Truths?" Crime scene evidence is always found, collected and analyzed quickly.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s something in here.</s>HAMMER: In "CSI" the technicians can locate crucial clues after only seconds at a crime scene.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you notice the female ghost hunter was missing and earring?</s>HAMMER: While back at the lab the fingerprints matches .</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got prints?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have those, partner.</s>HAMMER: And complex lab analysis take about as long as it does to get a pizza delivered.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (inaudible) results of the tissue reveal fluid loss from damaged blood vessels.</s>HAMMER: And speaking of "CSI", here is number one on our countdown, "TV Crime Shows Myths or Truths?" Forensic labs are modern and well equipped. The gleaming TV crime labs like the one we see on "CSI" are certainly very high-tech and sleek. But that`s one of the things we see on TV crime shows all the time. Are they myths or truths? Only the real cops know for sure.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No need now. The verdict is in.</s>HAMMER: Well, fortunately, my guests tonight have worked to crack hundreds of real life criminal cases. They are with us to separate fact from fiction as we count down the top TV crime show myths and truths. With me tonight from Hollywood, Jim Clemente, he is a retired FBI agent, now consultant for CBS`s "Criminal Minds." From Las Vegas, crime scene investigator Yolanda McClary who solves real cold cases on TNT`s "Cold Justice." Yolanda also inspired Marg Helgenberger`s character on "</s>CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." So great to have you both here. I want to get right to it with one of those classic shoot `em up scenes. Because it really seems that most TV crime shows, they just can`t do without the big gun battles. This one comes from "</s>CSI: Miami".</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speak!</s>HAMMER: Pretty typical on TV. We get the gun toting bad guy really risking it all to battle it out with the law. Yolanda, the first secret we want you to reveal is this: Is it a myth or the truth, do the cops really use their guns as often as we see on these TV crime shows?</s>YOLANDA MCCLARY, TNT "COLD JUSTICE": I would say that is a myth. They do not. They would age 20 years every day if their life - if their days actually went like that all the time.</s>HAMMER: I was going to say, I had a feeling about that. Because it seems like it`s such a dramatic and traumatic thing, obviously, when guns are pulled and gunfire is exchanged. So, that is good to know. A myth. And it allows us to move on toward our next TV crime show secret. And when are we not seeing this scenario playing out on a TV crime show? A serious crime is going on and somehow humor gets mixed in. This scene is coming from "Castle".</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did it look?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like you waited too long.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was strangled, but she went down with a fight. Prelims suggest the sign of a struggle. She took one to the face.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A well-dressed attractive woman in a city motel and a guy who flees the crime scene. Gone wrong.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are we talking about the victim or Castle?</s>HAMMER: OK. Now, listen, sometimes a serious situation, those require a little levity. But Jim, I want you to take this one, because we do see it all the time. Myth or truth? Do real cops make crime scene jokes?</s>JIM CLEMENTE, CONSULTANT, "CRIMINAL MINDS": Absolutely. That`s not a myth at all. Actually, it`s a psychological mechanism that they use to defend themselves from the horrors they have to live with every day. It is very common to have a lot of dark humor in the middle of a crime scene. And it`s actually refreshing to see some of that on TV, because a lot of shows won`t show that.</s>HAMMER: Yeah, it does seem a little untoward, but, of course, you should expect that. Again, whenever there is a serious situation like that, people do have those defense mechanisms. Everybody also seems to love the TV serial killer. We the lives of "Showtime`s" Dexter, we see "Breaking Bad`s" Walt White on AMC. You know, just kind of going about their business almost without a care. So, this myth or truth for you, Yolanda, do most murders go unsolved?</s>MCCLARY: You know, do most murders? No. I think the ratio to them being solved versus unsolved is definitely higher than your cold cases. But people like Dexter, serial killers, and as we know from the past, we have serial killers that definitely got away with what they did for a while. But they eventually get caught. I don`t think they ever get to the numbers that Dexter has or ever will.</s>HAMMER: Fortunately. Fortunately. But yeah, it does seem if you watch and pay attention to only TV crimes and not what goes on in the real world you would think, now, these guys get away with it all the time. But let me move on now to the next secret they would like to know about. It comes from yet another classic cop scene. You know, they walk into the room, right away somebody knows exactly what happened just from looking around. Watch this from "Criminal Minds".</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The position of the body suggests he is one of the last ones killed. He tried to escape and almost made it to the exit.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jane Bernie and Vinnie and Dave were here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jane tried to run and Vinnie didn`t.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you know?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is half under her desk, which means she tried to hide and found her.</s>HAMMER: OK. I mean I realize they have to cram it all into a one-hour TV show. But Jim, let me go to you on this as a consultant on "Criminal Minds." Myth or truth here? Are investigators really able to analyze the crime scene that quickly?</s>CLEMENTE: Well in "Criminal Minds" case they are talking about crime scene behavior. This is a process called "crime scene reconstruction." It`s not actually the forensic science. That takes days and weeks, sometimes months to do. But the behavior exhibitor at the crime scene you can walk in there, you can see how they got in, how they got out, what the different movements were. It`s very easy for somebody who is very sophisticated and experienced at this to actually tell what is going on. The behaviors that occurred at the crime scene in a very short period of time. So, that`s actually not a myth.</s>HAMMER: Really cool to get your perspective on all of this. Both of you, Yolanda and Jim, thank you for separating fact from fiction.</s>CLEMENTE: Thank you.</s>A.J. HAMMER: And thanks for being here.</s>MCCLARY: All right, well now that we have busted the myths about TV`s hottest crime shows, I can`t wait to reveal their biggest secrets to you. Get ready, I`m taking you right behind the crime scene tape tonight to reveal just how much real life drama is actually represented in your favorite TV addictions? Like the smoking hot "Burn Notice."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not a good idea to lie to people with this much gas around.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing? You`re going to kill both of us</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am! I missed you! Answer my question!</s>HAMMER: What a great show. Seven amazing seasons of crime fighting in that show. And tonight, I`m putting the star of "Burn Notice" Jeffrey Donovan in the "SHOWBIZ" hot seat. He`s got to reveal all is behind the scene`s secrets. This is a special edition of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," secrets of TV crime shows. And now the secrets of ABC`s "Castle".</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m wondering if my character`s police buddies might have .</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you`re hero`s fictional cop buddies are anything like your real cop buddies, then they`d have real work to get back to.</s>HAMMER: Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas played detectives on "Castle" and I asked them how they make their performances seem so real.</s>JON HUERTAS: First, the pilot episode we got to ride along with some homicide detectives from the NYPD, which was great. It was great inside. But now we use kind of, you know, cops that are local and homicide procedures, I think, across the board in most agencies are kind of very, you know, similar and you know, we stick to the procedures as much as we can.