A Matter of “Morals”

I have been hearing for a while about Public Morals, the new TNT-TV police drama from Edward Burns and Steven Spielberg, but now I realize that its debut date--Tuesday, August 25--is rapidly approaching. This has brought on a sudden flurry of publicity, including another trailer (embedded above, and following this earlier, shorter teaser) and a bunch of promotional posters, all designed as tributes to classic crime films, from Dirty Harry and Tony Rome to Get Carter. Mashable has the whole set of those posters on display.

As most of you probably know, Public Morals is set in New York City in the 1960s and stars Burns as Terry Muldoon, a Hell’s Kitchen-based cop with the NYPD’s Public Morals Division--“where cops walk the line between morality and criminality as the temptations that come from dealing with all kinds of vice can get the better of them,” according to press materials for the show. As Variety explains, “It has taken [Burns] nearly two decades to get his passion project about Irish-American gangsters onto the screen. … Burns’ father and uncle, who are both retired New York City police officers, inspired the plot of Public Morals.” This series, which will initially offer 10 episodes, also stars Michael Rapaport (who I still remember best from Boston Public), Elizabeth Masucci, Neal McDonough, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and the willowy Lyndon Smith (from Parenthood).

Deadline Hollywood brings the news that TV binge-watchers will be able to view several installments of Public Morals right off the bat. “For the first time,” explains Nellie Andreeva, “TNT will make multiple upcoming episodes of a series available on-demand. The day after the Aug. 25 premiere of the Edward Burns period drama …, episodes 1-4 will be viewable through set-top VOD, the Watch TNT mobile app, and http://www.tntdrama.com/watch, as well as on participating TV providers Web sites and apps.”

Personally, I’ll be happy with just one episode a week, beginning at 10 p.m. on the 25th. There’s no reason to use up the show all at once.