TV Talk: Cop drama ‘L.A.’s Finest’ premieres on Fox

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

A spin-off of the “Bad Boys” movie franchise, police drama “L.A.’s Finest” (8 p.m. Monday, Fox) originally premiered on Spectrum Originals in May 2019. But since Spectrum Originals is only available to subscribers to Spectrum cable systems, which don’t exist in Western Pennsylvania, this Fox run will mark the first time the show can be viewed locally.

Actress Gabrielle Union brings her “Bad Boys” character Syd Burnett from Miami to Los Angeles where she joins the LAPD and is paired with a new partner, Nancy McKenna (Jessica Alba).

It’s a pretty light-hearted action-drama, the kind of show where Syd and Nancy banter their way through a bullet-riddled convenience store hold-up/hostage crisis.

“Don’t make me shoot you because I’m missing family book club!” McKenna shouts at a perp.

Fans of “Rizzoli & Isles,” this show may be for you.

Of course, it’s a problematic time for TV cop shows that situate the cops as heroic following a summer of protests against systemic racism and police brutality. The second season of “L.A.’s Finest” was supposed to debut on Spectrum in June but got pulled following protests over the killing of George Floyd while in police custody. Season two rolled out earlier this month on Spectrum and will play on Fox sometime later in the 2020-21 TV season.