Re: On Call

On 1/11/2025 11:30 PM, Rhino wrote:

Thanks to Robin, I've just found a new show that I'm already very fond of. In today's TV News post, she mentioned an article about a new show called On Call. I read the article and was sufficiently interested to check it out.
 The whole first season was dropped at the same time. Despite being a cop drama, episodes are only half an hour long rather than a full hour. That's a bit retro and harkens back to the 50s when many dramas were just a half hour. But it is set in the present and uses a lot of body cam and occasional surveillance cam footage so it's more like The Rookie than Dragnet. The first season is just 8 episodes and I've watched half of them already.
 It's set in Long Beach California rather than in LA proper so that's a bit different. The two leads are an experienced female training officer and a young male rookie, played by Troian Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente respectively. (I remember Larracuente from The Good Doctor but have never seen Bellisario in anything before.) Two familiar faces, Eriq LaSalle, and Lori Loughlin, play more senior officers, a sergeant and a lieutenant respectively. Monica Raymund makes a guest appearance in the pilot.
 There are a few plot lines intertwined in the episodes I've seen so far. An officer is killed by gang-bangers in the first episode and tracking down the shooter is a high priority. Bellisario's character is regarded with some concern in the rumour mill; her rookie gets wind of this and wonders if she can be trusted. The rookie, being a rookie, makes mistakes and that causes tensions with his training officer. And some other stuff but I don't want to spoil too much.
 I recommend this show to anyone that likes a good cop show. It somewhat reminds me of SouthLand, a show I was quite fond of and must rewatch before too long. This is a Dick Wolf production and I've gotten into the habit of avoiding those in recent years but this one if better - in my opinion - than the umpteenth Law and Order spinoff.

And, strangely, Amazon seems to have released all episodes at once.