Cop Out.

I have a theory that the portrayal of federal bureaucrats on TV and in the movies has improved dramatically in recent years, for various reasons. But there's one big exception. On any TV show involving a local law enforcement agency (which includes most cop shows), the feds are invariably portrayed as arrogant overlords, determined to throw their weight around and trample all over the clearly superior detective work of the local cops. I happened across two examples of it over the weekend, on NBC's odd Crossing Jordan and USA Network's fabulous Monk. I've always wondered whether this notion had any basis in fact, or if it was just a convenient story line foisted on Hollywood by the former cops who serve as advisers on many of these kinds of shows. Either way, it's completely played out as a plot point and ought to be shelved, pronto.

Update 1/4: Bill Rados of the FDA argues (and I agree) that the high-water mark of local/federal cooperation on TV was on Twin Peaks. "In that quirky David Lynch series," Rados writes, "FBI agent Dale Cooper teamed up magnificently with local sheriff Harry Truman (no known relation to the former prez) as they both showed their crime-fighting talents in trying to solve the mystery of Who Killed Laura Palmer. And they both knew a 'damn good cup of coffee' when they tasted one. Why can't we all just get along?"