Inside the F.B.I.

For the first time in its 70-year history the F.B.I. has allowed cameras to record day-to-day operations...and the results are fairly mundane. We watched the opener of this 4-part American-British co-production, From Fedoras to Flak Jackets, which contrasted the modern F.B.I. with J. Edgar Hoover's authoritative regime from the 1930s-1970s. Interviews with former and current special agents offer a few interesting anecdotes, archival film footage of Hoover and his legendary G-men is sprinkled throughout, and one historical bureau snafu (a pair of black judges in Cleveland were the innocent victims of a botched sting operation) offers an example of former F.B.I. mismanagement. But much of the hour is given over to actual footage of the F.B.I. surveilling, arresting, and booking suspects, which is no more or no less interesting than actual footage of supermarket checkers ringing up groceries (people are used to the hyped drama of TV reality-based cop shows and, despite the hype, F.B.I. arrests look no different from regular old police arrests). Offering no new insights (at least during the first hour), unable to compete with network television you-are-there type crime shows, and rather hamstrung in its bouncing back and forth between past and present, Inside the F.B.I. is a bit disappointing. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)