The police mystery series “Memphis Beat” — which returns at 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday for a second season on TNT — is set in the home of blues and barbecue and shot primarily in LaPlace, La., a zydeco and Cajun music center that is the self-described “Andouille Capital of the World,” in recognition of a popular spicy sausage. Protagonist Dwight Hendricks, played by Jason Lee, is a police detective. He also moonlights as a rock and soul singer, crooning Elvis tunes and Memphis classics.
The term “identity crisis” comes to mind. This season, however, “Memphis Beat” hopes to resolve its aesthetic schizophrenia by making Hendricks a more believable police officer — and human being — and by being truer to the title city that is its inspiration, even if Louisiana’s tax incentives and other economic realities prevent the program from being shot in Memphis.
