Paul Winfield on City Confidential

[Tallison]

Does he strike anyone else as a bit of an asshole? He just described the township of St. Charles, Missouri - the location of this episode's crime - as "mile and midwestern mile of generic, blue-collar subdivisions." Seemed kind of a rude way of introducing a place of which few people have probably heard. Come on, tell us what you really think, Paul.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. Give Paul a break...he's been dead for two years now.

Besides, I'm sure that he was just reading what was written for him.

[ForrestGump]

3. Paul is dead?

Sure, like I haven't heard that before.

:P

[Tallison]

9. Didn't realize he was dead

If I'd known I'd never have criticized him. }(

His voice, though, lends even the most innocuous comments such a snide, conspiratorial twist - perfect for the genre, I suppose.

[ForrestGump]

2. Isn't he, essentially, dead?

Or am I thinking of someone else?

Always thought he was kind of a dude, if he's the one I'm thinking of.

[terrya]

4. That show is so tacky. Just my opinion.

I'm sort of saddened that he lent his voice to it, IMO.

[Tallison]

10. Which is all I can process at this hour... n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Surely he didn't write the narrative

but just read it.

Besides, St. Charles is rather generic. Cool downtown but the subdivisions are pretty much as he described them.

[ikojo]

8. St Charles is also VERY Republican....

When Bush was campaigning in 2004 he almost exclusively visited St Charles and not the more blue St Louis city or St Louis County. Paul Winfield (or the writers) were correct when he said that St Charles is composed primarily of fourth and fifth generation Americans from formerly working class families.

I get a kick out of pointing out to people I work with, who live in St Charles, that it is not the paradise they think it is. They think St Louis is bad, bad, bad but St Chuck has its share of problems as well, such as meth and child molestation.

[KT2000]

6. I think he told the truth

No one wants to admit the the US has a class structure. City Confidential always describes the classes though. It does seem to play a role in the stories too.
The one that is on tonight has a couple who were deeply in debt in their efforts to live above their means. This was one of the motives for murder.

[Tallison]

11. It always seems to profile crimes in

southern cities. Is this just me or the actual format?

[KT2000]

13. Now that you mention it

It sure seems that most of them are from Southern states. ?!?!?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Not always, the episode I saw last night was from Minneapolis

In fact, it took place in the suburb where my mother and stepfather live.

[jmm]

17. They've done two on MA cities I've lived in

If my memory serves me correctly the very first episode of that show was on the Charles Stuart case.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. I don't think so

I am a big fan of this show and I never noticed that at all. I can think of shows they did in Akron, Detroit, Milwaukee, and a couple in New England.

[autorank]

7. Actually, I loved his voice and intonation. He could make the dullest

drabbest places in the US sound just fascinating (I'm not saying your's is one of those). I remember one on Huntsville, AL...my God, you'd think that they partied round the clock. I think these narratives are classics.

Winfield was an accomplished artist and President of the Savanah College of Art and Design. Very bright, creative guy. He is missed already.

[Kickin_Donkey]

12. I think he just reads the scripts they give to him ...

and the writing for CC is WAY over the top.

They take the stereotypical nature of a place and continue to repeat it in a dozen different ways during the program: glitzy Hollyhood, sensual Miami, blueblooded Greenwich, hardscrabble Wichita Falls, non-nonsense Spokane, geriatric Sebring, conservative town in South Carolina, etc.

I actually don't care for his voice or style of speaking, but I have a morbid fascination with it -- sort of the Howard Cosell phenomenon. His grating narration makes it so cheesy -- and fun.

I take it all with a grain of salt. I love "City Confidential."

[scarlet_owl]

16. Sounds like St. Charles to me.

:shrug: