a rollar coaster (contains spoilers)

jgreen8824

I think the show was kind of a rollar coaster as far as quality goes.  It had a slow start in the first season.  It really took off after the second season, and remained high up until the beginning of the final season.  It dealt with just about every kind of issue that a community may have to deal with over the course of time.  Racial strife, murder, love affairs, robbery, rape, incest, stalking, drunk driving, government corruption, and so on. The Sparta police force was able to deal with the problems with professionalism and a determination to do things right.  Even if it wasn't easy, or struck too close to home. But then the last season and the following TV movies all seemed rather tacked on to me.  I think the retooling of the show that happened during the last season was a blunder on the part of the producers.  Especially with the departure of Anne-Marie Johnson and Howard Rollins from the show.  I think that the show had its moments during the final season, and remained a good show throughout the entire run, but the final season and the movies didn't measure up to the seasons that came before.

score /10

jgreen8824 6 June 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0252840/