Crime Drama Science

These shows fascinate me for a variate of reasons, but I always find my self wondering something.  How real is the science they're showing us.  If I were in the crime fighting business such as the people depicted in these shows are, I wouldn't want a bunch of people going around, spreading my trade secrets.  I mean, there is a reason besides protecting his loved ones that Bruce Wayne doesn't advertise he's Batman.  It gives him an edge over his competition.  Not just super villains would take advantage of that knowledge, his business rivals would start working at night, when he was busiest, or taking advantage of the fact that he's sleep deprived.

So are the things they show on CSI, NCIS, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, Castle, Bones, Lie to Me* reflections of technology that actually exists?  Are the writers of the show giving more tools to the otherwise inept criminals of our society?  Are we crafting better criminals through television?  Or is it a campaign of misinformation.  I can see writers playing down the possibilities of our technology so criminals make errors; or inventing a device which detects some piece of evidence which leads real criminals to act as if it exists, thereby making their life harder.

The real quandary comes with the possibility that the technology and science portrayed is real.  Certainly there is a bases for all or most of it, but is it all real?  Can you learn about pathology, micro expressions, or investigative techniques from watching these shows?  I find my self watching Castle after seeing Lie to Me and wondering if the Castle actors are coached to act as if they are lying, or don't believe what they're saying, or just to act like what they are saying is true.  Does the science of micro-expressions work against trained actors?

The main reason I like Crime Dramas, being by far the majority of my limited television watching, is that they show our humanity.  They dissect, quite logically, human motivations, emotions and thoughts.  Quite a large portion of them are devoted to teasing out the motive which causes these people to commit crimes.  It follows a special kind of human logic, people get angry, jealous, greedy, lonely, or selfish and act on these feelings.  The characters we follow are the flawed, horrid people we fear we all are, and they chase the even more flawed.  They combat not the deformed monsters from the pits of hell or medical anomalies or teen angst, but the deformed monsters of human psychology.

Medical shows have a tendency to trend towards displaying human tenacity.  I don't have the hormone levels to watch teen dramas.  And "Fantasy" show's are well, fantastic.  They portray people as the pinnacle of life, the epitome of vitality.  With a show about the foibles and problems of humans, we get to see not just the heroics of our protagonists, but the corrosive damage the negative influences have.  They aren't these indefatigable rocks which take everything that comes there way and go home to make dinner and have a perfect relationship.  (There are a few exceptions that prove the rule, Doctor Who, most anything by Joss Whedon).  They are humans in such a real way that we rarely can imagine a better way for them to go.