NBC
Chicago PD airs on Wednesdays on NBC at 10 p.m.
The Bottom Line
Mega-proceduralist Dick Wolf expands his Chicago Fire franchise with a hard-boiled cop show.
Airdate
10 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8 (NBC)
Cast
Jason Beghe, Jon Seda, Elias Koteas, Jesse Lee Soffer, Sophia Bush, Patrick Flueger, Marina Squerciati, LaRoyce Hawkins, Archie Kao
Nobody loves a formula more than Dick Wolf, and no network loves a Dick Wolf formula (that actually draws viewers) more than NBC. So it should come as no surprise that Wolf and NBC, who made good with Chicago Fire, are back with Chicago PD.
The only slightly unexpected twist is that the detective at the center of Chicago PD is Sgt. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), who will be familiar to Chicago Fire viewers as an angry, corrupt cop who was sent to prison. Well, guess what? He got sprung somehow (perhaps this all will be explained later) and now runs the Intelligence Unit of the police department.
He’s still dirty - or, if you prefer, both a good cop and bad cop because we also get to see him be effective and sympathetic - and under his command, it sure looks like the Intelligence Unit will be cutting corners.
Fans of Shawn Ryan’s legendary cop show The Shield will see hints of Vic Mackey in Hank Voight, although this series obviously won’t go that dark (even though NBC has no problem showing not one but two severed heads next to their bodies, plus photos of the crime scenes later).
While the odds are that Chicago PD will be as straight up predictable as most network cop shows (numerous elements in the pilot could be seen coming like a neon truck rambling down a highway), this series should be applauded for putting a shady detective at the center of the show, since broadcast has a bad track record at creating shows that seem cable-ready rough-and-real.
The problem with a show like Chicago PD is, if it truly does want to be cable-like, it has to have more going for it in the writing department and present less cookie cutter, seen-them-before characters.
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That said, even though Michael Chiklis can’t be duplicated - just as the Vic Mackey character can’t either - don’t rule out Beghe as he’s a very magnetic presence here. Along with another familiar face in Jon Seda, who plays Detective Antonio Dawson, and Elias Koteas, as Detective AlvinOlinksy, there’s enough hardened acting chops to make Chicago PD a watchable distraction in the Dick Wolf mode.
Sophia Bush, Patrick Flueger Join NBC's 'Chicago PD'
Will it end up being something consistently good? It probably depends on your definition of good. There is a lot of mechanical elements to the rest of the show, where good looking detectives mingle with good looking street cops and the banter veers between tough, witty and tender as the strings are manipulated with familiar precision.
TNT’s Southland was the last great cop show, but that doesn’t mean something that passes as comfort food - much like Chicago Fire does - can’t be embraced for what it is.
And, given the Wolf brand, you know exactly what Chicago PD is.
Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine
