Spike TV presents: 'DEA'

Spike TV was given exclusive access to follow a group of Special Agents and Task Force Officers in the DEA Detroit division as they risk their lives daily in the ongoing battle against illegal drugs. The series follows Special Agents as they work cases ranging from street level dealers all the way up to international drug traffickers. Get a first-hand look at what it is like for Special Agents to go out on undercover missions and pose as drug dealers and be there when the DEA busts down doors as Special Agents execute drug raids that put their lives directly in the line of fire. The series also takes a look at the complex relationship that Special Agents have with informants, revealing the strange kinship they share with these criminals who see themselves not as arch enemies, but rather as opponents in "the game" of the illegal drug trade.

Here's Savage's reaction to seeing ads on the street for the show:

Your front row seat to the most dangerous job on the street? Try your front row seat to the most the most unnecessary job on the street. Want to protect these saintly DEA agents from harm? Legalize drugs, tax the shit out of ‘em, and reassign these DEA agents to the jaywalking beat.... Here’s hoping that Spike will have the guts to show the police blowing the head off a year-old baby if their camera crews should happen to capture that on video.

Of course, sadly, the Spike TV demographic seems unlikely to care too much. Comments on the Spike promo site for the show (there are three, to be fair) are all fairly enthusiastic. (Apparently "Woody" is a particular fan favorite.)

Meanwhile, with Showtime into season three of Weeds, and AMC's strike-shortened first season of Breaking Bad in reruns, the nascent genre of "drug war TV" seems to be making in roads. The complex portrayal in The Wire has garnered kudos; documentaries like HBO's Addiction Project push the human side of the story even more into the spotlight. With the History Channel foisting A Psychedelic Odyssey on the world, it seems like an increasing amount of nuance is emerging in popular culture's depictions of various aspects of the situation. So in a sense, it seems kind of inevitable that someone eventually decided to produce a "cops and robbers" show about the DEA. They're major players; they're a part of the story.

That said, when you get right down to the level of actual drug use, you still don't really see it portrayed as anything other than an Achilles' heel. The occasional Ecstasy trip notwithstanding, most prominent drug subplots all boil down to something like Charlie on Lost, hopelessly hooked and constantly making poor decisions because of it. You ask me, it's just lazy, uncreative writing, but when you get right down to it, television as a medium revolves around and depends upon contrived conflicts to push plots forward as fast as possible; drug use is a short cut for moral failing, a vocabulary the writers can use that unpacks itself easily without requiring precious minutes of exposition.

We may never get a show where casual drug use is just something a group of characters do without incident, without moral judgment, because of course watching other people do drugs is boring. This extends to "watching people do drugs and gaining valuable insights about themselves and their society" - yawn. (An exception might be That '70s Show with its inferred marijuana use, except that the sitcom format inherently sets these characters up for ridicule; I mean, I guess old Cheech and Chong records might still be funny, who knows. Aaaaanyway.)

But back to Savage's original complaint: the glorification of an aspect of our society that is fundamentally abhorrent. I'm right there; it's as awful to me as it would be to see "PRIESTS: YOUR FRONT ROW TO THE MOST SICKENING CHILD ABUSE" showing up on the USA Network. (Again, I think "Woody" holds a special place in that show.) But the demographic of people watching Spike TV is quite likely not in a position to accept some alternate message about the drug war, which is ironic since most of them are also quite likely smoking out on a regular basis, when they're not slipping roofies in appletinis at TGIFriday's. So the damage from this show is probably limited.