Amazon Prime’s “On Call,” the latest drama from executive producer Dick Wolf, is so intent on selling audiences on the idea that police are unfairly maligned and in danger every moment, of every day, that it forgets to tell a coherent or even fitfully entertaining story.
This is the first scripted streaming original from Wolf, who currently dominates the TV schedule on the network side. He’s behind the One Chicago franchise as well as the “Law & Order” and “FBI” franchises. That’s quite a single-minded focus on fictional law enforcement. Back in 2018, he told reporters his shows are not politically oriented, but he has since doubled down on that disingenuous statement in terms of what he’s putting on screen. Police departments across the country, including Chicago’s, are under court orders mandating reform. Yet in Wolf’s world, officers are strictly heroes beset by dangerous civilians with an antipathy towards police that is unearned and worthy of disgust.
Co-created by Wolf’s son Elliot Wolf and Tim Walsh (the latter of whom previously worked on “Chicago P.D.”), the show follows a veteran patrol officer (Troian Bellisario) and her trainee (Brandon Larracuente) as they drive their SUV around Long Beach, California, where there are enough shootouts that you’d think this version of Long Beach was the O.K. Corral.
The series begins with a patrol officer shot and killed during a traffic stop. The aftermath — and grief and guilt felt by colleagues — is the primary storytelling engine, with Bellisario’s character hellbent on getting the guys who did it. That’s one way to tell a story.
The other would be to tell the story of people who are shot and killed by police. Wolf & Co. aren’t interested in exploring that, but the numbers are what they are. In 2023, more than 1,300 people were killed by the police.
The show occasionally plays around with things like bodycam footage or bystanders recording on their cell phones, but to call it a cinema verité effect (or “innovative,” as the show’s marketing prefers) would be overselling these stylistic choices. Looking at the phone screen of someone recording an unfolding event isn’t visually compelling, nor does it complicate the narrative.
Actors usually only have great things to say about Wolf. If he likes you, he’s loyal. That means you see a lot of returning faces on his show (this isn’t a critique, they are all good actors) from S. Epatha Merkerson going from “Law & Order” to “Chicago Med,” and now Eriq La Salle (who was a producer and director for five years on “Chicago P.D.”) showing up here. His character says police are too hamstrung by the rules: “I came up a million years ago, when you handled your business. Now everybody’s so woke, nobody wants to put (expletives) in jail. General principle: They hit us, we gotta hit ’em back. All right? Order versus chaos. Laws of the universe.” It’s a point of view that’s more or less left unchallenged. On the show, people of color are physical threats to the police. An officer casually refers to people living in a homeless encampment as “zombies.”
For all my issues with copaganda, particularly the shows that come out of Hollywood, “Southland,” which ran from 2009 to 2013, was one of the best of the genre when it focused on the day-to-day grind of a veteran patrol officer and his rookie. “On Call’s” basic premise has a lot in common with that, but the show has no flair for “Southland’s” portrayal of workaday, prosaic realities.
In the days after I watched “On Call,” there were several stories of police crime including police in Alabama shooting and killing a 16-year-old boy in his home during a no-knock raid in the middle of the night, and a report outlining child sexual abuse by law enforcement that has gone largely unaddressed within the criminal justice system. There were also numerous stories of police corruption: New York City’s top cop resigned and had his home raided after allegations he coerced sex from a subordinate in exchange for overtime pay; though Phoenix police colluded with county prosecutors to invent a fake gang and falsely charged protesters as members, they will not face criminal repercussion; a jury awarded a woman $34 million after finding Las Vegas Police fabricated evidence about her for a crime she did not commit.
A number of major cities reported falling crime rates in 2024. According to a recent headline in the New York Times: “The Number of Murders Kept Falling This Year, but Fear of Crime Persists.” Those perceptions are shaped by the news media, many pointed out. But that also extends to perceptions shaped by cop shows, “On Call” included.
“On Call” — 1.5 stars (out of 4)
Where to watch: Amazon
Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
