Is TV really TV without Peter Krause?

Though he was regular presence in guest roles throughout the 90s, his breakthrough was on “Sports Night” in 1998. Then came “Six Feet Under.” Then “Parenthood.” Then “9-1-1,” which he exited last year.

Now he’s set to star in a new series for NBC called “Line of Fire,” premiering in the fall.

Here’s the synopsis:

"A family of law enforcement agents bridges personal differences and crosses professional boundaries as they tackle cases for the FBI, US Marshals, Secret Service, and Department of Justice. After a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy, they must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice ... even if it means betraying their sworn code.

Oh, by the way, Jenna Bush Hager is an executive producer.

Hollywood is forever selling audiences on the idea that police are salt-of-the-earth, unfairly maligned and in danger every moment.

Consider this description of Krause’s character from an earlier report on the show (when it was still called “Protection”; the title has since been changed to “Line of Fire”):

A former Secret Service agent and now Assistant Director of Intelligence … [he] is a career blue-collar government worker who doesn’t want his job to end.

I remember staring into space when I read that.

In what world is a former Secret Service agent and the current assistant director of intelligence a “blue-collar government worker” except in the fever dream of NBC’s marketing spiel? 

But the proliferation of copaganda continues apace. We should ask why Hollywood keeps making shows where law enforcement is portrayed as highly a dangerous job to have, rather than one that poses a danger to the public.

In 2023, for example, according to the research collaborative Mapping Police Violence, police in the U.S. killed more than 1,300 people.

That same year, according to the FBI, a much smaller number of police officers were killed while on the job: 60.

To be clear, I don’t want anyone to be killed.

But the numbers are what they are.

In fact, as of 2023, these were most dangerous jobs:

1. Tree trimmer

2. Cargo and air ambulance pilots

3. Farm/ranch workers

4. Loggers

5. Roofers

Cops didn't even make the Top 10

I'm not saying law enforcement jobs do not come with risk. But as far as Hollywood is concerned, it might as well be the most risk.

Let’s look at it differently.

This story was reported in the Chicago Tribune a few months back, wherein a federal jury found that a former Chicago police detective:

… coerced a confession and manipulated evidence in a 1989 murder case, awarding $750,000 to a former Latin Kings gang member who spent 17 years in prison for the crime.

Is there any other profession in which multiple workers do their job so poorly that they cost their employer hundreds of millions each year in lawsuit judgements and settlements — and it’s treated as if were just the cost of doing business?

For a decade-plus, network TV has been losing viewers to streaming, which has left those TV executives scrambling.

But cop shows remain a steady audience draw, so here we are.

What are the alternatives?

It’s too bad the Josh Charles series “Best Medicine” on Fox — a U.S. adaptation of the British series “Doc Martin” — is so meh, because decision-makers at the networks need to see that there’s a sizable audience interested in non-cop shows. 

In that vein, ABC has renewed the private eye romp “R.J. Decker.” Starring Scott Speedman, he plays a shambling, roguish investigator in Fort Lauderdale.

In theory, this is exactly what I’ve been asking for: A show with all of the satisfaction of a case-of-the-week format, without lionizing cops. Too bad the show is such a dud.

Speedman is being asked to play a certain archetype — the rascal with more smarts and decency than his scruffy appearance suggests — but he’s not enough of a presence to pull it off. And the writing, and ensemble around him, are forgettable. 

I’m in the minority on this; a lot of people like it! (I’ve been urged to give it another try and maybe I will, so I reserve the right to change my mind.)

I think what people are actually responding to, though, is the fact that the show doesn’t center the police.

Another investigator is about to hit network TV next season, thanks to the reboot of “The Rockford Files,” which originally ran on NBC from 1974-1980 starring James Garner.

The show’s entire point-of-view is that he’s not a cop. In fact, he served time in San Quinton on a wrongful conviction before he was pardoned.

Despite his history and current line of work, he eschews violence and would rather use his wits to get out of a jam. (He stores his gun in a cookie jar, of all places!) He’s got a relaxed rakishness, a deep mellifluous voice and sense of humor — about himself and life itself.

The series is streaming on Amazon and one of its hallmarks are the opening credits. The phone rings and his answering machine picks up. And then we hear an entertaining riff from the caller (a different one each week) and it’s a gimmick that adds a bit of color to this guy’s world.

The reboot will star David Boreanaz in the Garner role annnnnd … I wish I were more optimistic. Like Krause, Boreanaz has been a steadying presence on television for decades, from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (and its spinoff “Angel”) to “Bones” to “SEAL Team.”

Boreanaz played a military guy in his last two shows (technically, ex-military-turned-FBI in “Bones”) and brought a very cop-like energy (and haircut) to the proceedings.

I just don’t see NBC hiring a guy like him for “The Rockford Files” and not asking him to kick some ass. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe they only want Boreanaz to lean into his playful, chatterbox instincts. Here’s hoping. But even so, he seems too clean cut to play a guy like Rockford.

For what it’s worth, Gigi Garner (James Garner’s daughter) is fully on board with the reboot, and wrote this about the pilot:

They started shooting “The Rockford Files” last week! I can honestly say I was astounded when I saw David literally channel my dad! I know you all have your thoughts and opinions but, I respectfully ask that you wait until you see the show! PLEASE STAY TUNED!

Alrighty, then. We shall stay tuned.

By the way, the critic Tara Ariano has a great piece on the original show for Defector that’s worth a read: ‘The Rockford Files’ Remains One Of Television’s Greatest Hangs

It’s Los Angeles in the 1970s. Cars are as long as boats. Beachside tacos are practically free. The sun glares through chunky brown fog, but does nothing to prevent assorted bad acts from happening. A man with a casual, even careless manner may not seem to have what it takes to see justice done, but being underestimated is essential to his process. If you’re thinking, “Yes, I already watched ‘Columbo’ during Covid like everyone else,” I have some great news for you about “The Rockford Files.”

She points out the distinct pleasures of case-of-the-week shows that do not rely on copaganda:

Ethical consumption of TV procedurals thankfully is possible, because there are shows built around private investigators. Typically disdainful or openly hostile to law enforcement, PI’s can help get justice for clients whose grievances haven’t been or wouldn’t be properly addressed by cops; they can also do cool shit like pick locks, steal evidence, and help a scared witness flee a jurisdiction or fake their death.

Boreanaz’s casting in the reboot has me concerned that the new version will go in a different direction. Here’s Ariano on the original:

It’s important that “Rockford” makes its protagonist seem like a great hang, and that success is integral to what makes the show work. He’s resourceful and charming, motormouthed or taciturn as the situation requires; above all, he’s touchingly vulnerable to physical attacks. Early on, Rockford gets the better of a goon (or, to use his preferred term, “gorilla”) by covering a men’s room floor with liquid soap so that once the guy lunges at Rockford, he wipes out instead; on balance, though, Rockford is a lock to lose any physical fight that doesn’t end with him punching someone once, then running away.

He wasn’t archetypically macho, in other words. I like that.

Ariano is queasy about Boreanaz’s casting, as well, and thinks someone like Jake Johnson (“New Girl”) would have been a better fit.

Well, do I have news for you.

Next season, Johnson will star as a private eye in show called “Sunset P.I.” on NBC. It’s a comedy and the show will (according to the tongue-in-cheek press materials) continue the “proud tradition of Los Angeles private eyes that began with Philip Marlowe and will end with this show.”

But the networks really like their cop shows. And new ones are on the way.

Matt LeBlanc — Joey on “Friends” — is attached to star in a cop drama for CBS about a:

… burnt-out LAPD detective who, on the verge of retirement, is blindsided when the city extends his service by five years. Determined to get fired, he breaks rules and disobeys orders, which, to his dismay, makes him an even better cop.

So, not following the law makes him a better (“better”??) cop. Got it.

All I ask is that, as viewers, we think about what kind of message a show like this might be sending.

Because unless his rule-breaking amounts to doing a Kool-Aid Man through the blue wall of silence and calls out the brutality and corruption he witnesses among his co-workers, then these “rules” are just the roadblocks — I’m talking about a person’s civil rights — most cop shows portray as an impediment to getting the job done.