''Memphis Beat'' is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series created by

Joshua Harto Joshua Denver Harto (born January 9, 1979) is an American actor, television producer and writer. Early life and education Harto was born in Huntington, West Virginia. He is a graduate of the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Career As an actor ...

and

Liz W. Garcia Liz W. Garcia is an American television producer and writer. Career As a writer her credits include ''Dawson's Creek'', ''Wonderfalls'' and ''Cold Case'' (also executive story editor and consulting producer). Garcia's film credits include worki ...

that aired on TNT from June 22, 2010, to August 16, 2011, with a total of 20 episodes spanning two seasons. It was produced by Smokehouse Productions, in association with Warner Horizon Television. On October 14, 2011, TNT canceled the series of ''Memphis Beat'' after two seasons.

Overview

The show follows Dwight Hendricks (

Jason Lee Jason Lee may refer to: Entertainment *Jason Lee (actor) (born 1970), American film and TV actor and former professional skateboarder *Jason Scott Lee (born 1966), Asian American film actor * Jaxon Lee (Jason Christopher Lee, born 1968), American v ...

), a police detective assigned to the General Assignment division of the MPD, who loves his mother, the blues, his city, and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

and calls himself "the keeper of Memphis". His passionate devotion to his hometown is offset by his relaxed approach to his job, an attitude that frustrates by-the-book Lt. Tanya Rice (

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King), ...

), his new boss.

Cast and characters

as Detective Dwight Hendricks *

as Lieutenant Tanya Rice *

Sam Hennings Samuel DeWitt "Sam" Hennings (born December 17, 1950) is an American actor, best known for his roles in ''Memphis Beat,'' ''Four Good Days'', ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'', and his starring role in ''The Work and the Glory' ...

as Detective Charles "Whitehead" White * DJ Qualls as Police Officer Davey Sutton * Celia Weston as Paula Ann Hendricks *

Leonard Earl Howze Leonard Earl Howze (born April 26, 1977) is an American actor that has been credited in over 20 movie and television roles, most notably for his role as "Dinka" in the first two films of the '' Barbershop'' trilogy, '' Barbershop'' and '' Barber ...

as Detective Reginald Greenback * Abraham Benrubi as Sgt. JC Lightfoot (Season 1)

Development and production

Jason Lee said he was drawn to the show because the concept was original and the protagonist was fun to play. Lee said, "The whole package was unique and once I came to found the character and the material and the scenarios and his relationships and he's such a great guy and is so multi-layered and cares such a great deal for his city and his family and the people that he's protecting." Lee listened to hundreds of Presley songs in preparation for the role, and said his respect for the artist grew as a result. The vocals for Lee's character are sung by Mark Arnell. The title ''Delta Blues'' was originally considered, but it was eventually changed to ''Memphis Beat''. The show was created by married couple

and

, with actor

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

and his production partner writer/actor/director Grant Heslov serving as executive producers. Harto and Garcia wrote the first two episodes of the series. Liz Garcia said of the show, "Broadcast TV is being influenced by cable in so many ways in terms of reinventing genres and taking chances, and this is part of it. ... The forefront of creativity is on cable TV." Despite the show's setting, the first season was primarily filmed in

Laplace, LA LaPlace ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, United States, situated along the east bank of the Mississippi River, in the New Orleans metropolitan area. In 2020, it had a population of 28,841. LaPlace ...

and

New Orleans, LA New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Memphis. This has largely been attributed to the better tax incentives by filming in a state other than

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. On September 16, 2010, TNT announced that ''Memphis Beat'' was renewed for a second season, the first episode of which was broadcast June 14, 2011. On October 17, 2011, TNT decided not to pick up a third season of ''Memphis Beat''.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2010)

Season 2 (2011)

Reception

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

season 1 has a score of 56% based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

season 1 has an approval rating of 38% based on reviews from 24 critics. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said of the pilot episode "This series is to Memphis what the HBO series ' Treme' is to New Orleans and ' Justified' on FX is to Harlan County in Kentucky—timeless indigenous music is set against the exoticism of temporal subcultures". The New York '' Daily News'' gave another positive review saying that "TNT's new 'Memphis Beat' has a great soundtrack and a pretty good cop drama in between". ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' also gave the pilot a positive review:

But even as the cop genre seems beyond saturation, along comes TNT's Memphis Beat, a series with a fresh character in a fresh environment with a fresh look and sound that proves, against all odds, that good actors and agile execution trump format every time.

Awards and nominations

International broadcasting

References

External links

* * {{TNTShows 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American crime drama television series 2010s American mystery television series 2010s American police comedy television series 2010s American police procedural television series 2010 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings American action television series American English-language television shows Films shot in New Orleans Television shows set in Tennessee TNT (American TV network) original programming Television series by Warner Horizon Television American action comedy television series