“This City Owns You”

If all goes as scheduled, tonight will bring the debut, on American TV network TNT, of Mob City, a crime drama mini-series set in Los Angeles during its gangster days of the 1940s. Wikipedia synopsizes the show’s plot thusly: “Mob City is the true story of a decades-long conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department, under the determined leadership of Police Chief William Parker, and ruthless criminal elements led by Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of L.A.’s criminal world. The series is a fast-paced crime drama set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and ’50s. It is a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force, and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.”

The series is designed to run for three weeks, with two episodes being broadcast every Wednesday. I’d be shocked if it proves to be faithful to history. But with producer Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Walking Dead, etc.) behind the camera, and stars such as Neal McDonough and Ed Burns in front of it, Mob City should at least be entertaining. The trailer above certainly demonstrates that.

Episode No. 1 starts this evening at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

READ MORE: “Before You Watch ‘Mob City’--Bugsy Siegel, Mickey Cohen, and Chief Parker” and “Another Good Story Ruined: William Parker vs. Bugsy Siegel” (The Daily Mirror); “‘Mob City’ Review: Is It Really Noir?,” by Anthony Venutolo (Bukowski’s Basement); “Before ‘Mob City’: A Look Back at the Mobsters of L.A. on Screen,” by Patrick Kevin Day and Jevon Phillips (Los Angeles Times); “Mob City,” by Brent Allard (Criminal Movies).