I can swear the character of the young new Sergeant, the one who is on a fast-track to promotion but who can't find his *** when the **** hits the fan, is based on a Sergeant at my department
When I saw the series premiere, I wasn't impressed. A lot of those "cop-show stereotypes" were present: Davis as the idealistic rookie out to save the world from itself, Sully as the burnt-out "been there, done that" veteran, Bosco as the good cop whose future career is stifled by his hot temper and rule-breaking ways. By the end of the premiere I was wondering how long it would be before Yokas would sleep with someone else in the precinct.
Thankfully, the writers have (so far) steered clear from that plot line, and that they've given each character his/her own individuality.
But I still think the best recent cop show (that focused on patrol instead of detectives) is a short-lived one that's already been mentioned here: ABC's High Incident.
Jeeper, it's set in a small suburban LA-area department (which I can most definitely identify with
). The scenes were almost all filmed in the San Fernando Valley, a bit ironic as that part of the city is now trying to secede from the rest of Los Angeles and form its own city. The most high-profile "stars" are actors David Keith (Richard Gere's pal in "Officer and a Gentleman") who plays a hard-nosed FTO, and LA Law's Blair Underwood who portrayed a recent lateral from LAPD (at the time, and still now, LAPD was losing people like crazy to smaller departments).
The rest of the cast was comprised of actors who were, and with one exception still are, relative unknowns. The exception is actress Lisa Vidal, who's gone on to play Doc's almost-wife in Third Watch. I think now plays a detective on some cop show on the Lifetime channel (which I absolutely refuse to watch).
I liked the show because it was free of those stereotypes that I mentioned above. The female Sergeant actually knew what she was doing, was trusted by her subordinates, and didn't sleep with anybody in the department. David Keith's character reminded me of my own FTO. I liked the unique filming style as well, a sort of fictionalized "COPS" in which you feel like a ridealong.
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