Rookie of the Year

TV Squad reports that Brett Ratner, the Cuban-American director behind this year’s film X-Men: The Last Stand, has been asked to develop a new FOX-TV series based on Edward Conlon’s 2004 authobiographical work, Blue Blood. That book looked back on Harvard graduate Conlon’s wide-ranging experience during his early years with the New York Police Department, working in the Bronx. In reviewing Blue Blood (which was named one of January Magazine’s favorite books of 2004), Anthony Rainone wrote that the book

is perhaps the finest, most eloquent portrayal of life on “the Job,” disdaining heroics for the give-and-take of unforgiving streets. ... An intelligent man who can combine the grandiosity of police theory with the nuts-and-bolts daily grind of the street cop, Conlon articulates not merely the gruff law officer’s take on things, complete with police vernacular and acronyms, but he’s unafraid to offer a glimpse into the gamut of emotions that cops go through, as well. One learns quickly that the Job is frequently mundane and fraught with red tape; that the “bosses” hold their officers accountable at all times; and that most cops hope for a good collar, which usually translates into a gun arrest. Conlon is a dedicated policeman with good instincts, and he makes enough collars (including successful gun arrests) and has connections with the right people in the department--often the only way to rise up through the NYPD hierarchy--that he achieves detective rank in one of the city’s busiest precincts. Blue Blood is filled with accounts of frustration (a gun raid that turns out bogus, due to a lying informer), horror (having friends killed in the World Trade Center attacks) and elation (the chance to work directly for the police commissioner). ... Ed Conlon showcases the humanity of the NYPD in all of its glory and with its abundant foibles, and the reader gains a truer sense of what it really means to carry a gun and a shield--and the awesome responsibility it puts upon men and women who, more often than not, are just like you and me.

Given that FOX tends to seriously underestimate the intelligence of its audience (with a few notable exceptions, including the Hugh Laurie series, House), and that X-Men III drew very mixed reviews, there’s every reason to be cynical about the prospects for this series. Also, because decent TV cop shows come few and far between; for every Homicide: Life on the Street or Crime Story, you get five or six T.J. Hookers. Still, Blue Blood gives Ratner and his writing partner, Neil Tolkin, good “bones” to start with--a behind-the-scenes perspective on life as a rookie cop--and viewers might finally be hungry for a police drama that’s not a Law & Order or CSI spin-off. Cross your fingers.