To its credit, “L.A.’s Finest” gives both its leads complex histories that are called on early to provide added twist appeal to the series.
Ron Batzdorff/Sony Pictures Television/Spectrum Originals Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union in “L.A.’s Finest”
(Bless you, Evan Handler, an always welcome presence, but this isn’t your role.) “L.A.’s Finest” has about as much of a chance at attracting die-hard “Bad Boys” fans as that fandom does of filling up a high school basketball arena. Sure, someone says “this shit just got real” and pilot director Anton Cropper dutifully mimics Michael Bay’s spinning 360-degree shot, but the former feels forced and the latter is mistimed, ending on the back of the speaker’s head as he delivers some cool-guy police jargon. In the sequel Roger Ebert called “a bloated, unpleasant assembly-line extrusion,” Syd was an undercover DEA agent on assignment in Miami, but she’s now part of the LAPD after an unspecified fallout in Florida.Īs far as “Bad Boys” tie-ins go, that’s it. Gabrielle Union reprises her role as Syd Burnett, who was first introduced in “Bad Boys II” as the sister to Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett and secret girlfriend to his partner, Mike, played by Will Smith.
Finest”: For one, the series is only loosely tied to the “Bad Boys” franchise. Let’s go over the core of Spectrum’s pitch, also known as what’s going on in “L.A. 'What We Do in the Shadows': Jemaine Clement Brings Comedy Back in the Dramedy Eraĥ0 Essential United Artists Movies Amazon Will Own in MGM DealĮmmy Predictions: Best Actor in a Drama Series - One More for Porter, or a First for O'Connor? ‘Lethal Weapon’ Season 3 Premiere: What Happens to Riggs - or The Subtle Art of Blatantly Swapping a Series Lead That means this first offering is meant to keep current subscribers happy, draw new subscribers to Spectrum, or both - and after three episodes, it’s hard to believe such a familiar cop drama will do either. “L.A.’s Finest” is launching Spectrum Originals, a new original programming service available through video on-demand to Charter Spectrum customers only.
Its ratings success makes sense given the continued demand for procedural dramas from audiences who still tune-in for live TV (or keep up via their DVRs). (Though “L.A.’s Finest” never explains how an LAPD detective and an assistant district attorney afford a freaking mansion near downtown Los Angeles - more on that later.)īut “Lethal Weapon” premiered on a well-established, freely accessible broadcast network. “L.A.’s Finest” looks a lot like Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” - there’s the loyal-but-edgy partner dynamic, the crazy action scenes, the hourlong, case-of-the-week structuring, the lead characters’ loner and family woman archetypes - even the spouse’s profession is the same.
On the one hand, it should come as no surprise that a TV spinoff of a 1990s action movie franchise is reverse engineered from a semi-successful TV spinoff of a 1980s action movie franchise.