The new cop drama in development by HBO is set to save the genre, continuing what another show started. HBO’s reputation for making masterpieces has only grown over the last few decades. While many other streaming services and cable networks have risen to the challenge over the last 10 years, HBO has always been known for crafting some of the best TV shows of all time.
Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Succession, Band of Brothers, and countless other HBO productions are the best the TV medium has to offer, and the network shows no sign of slowing down going forward. Some of the most popular TV shows at the moment come from HBO, with new announcements promising even more to come.
Inspired by one must-watch HBO show, a new cop drama is looking to save its genre.
HBO Max Wants To Replicate The Pitt Success With American Blue
Robby talking to Langdon in a scene from The Pitt, and looking frustrated, in season 2
As reported by Deadline, HBO is looking to take the success of The Pitt, the aforementioned must-watch TV show currently on HBO, and apply it to the police drama genre. HBO is developing American Blue, a cop drama starring Milo Ventimiglia with David Ayer attached to direct and Jeremy Carver serving as showrunner.
American Blue will tell the story of Ventimiglia’s Brian “Milk” Milkovich, “who returns to his hometown of Joliet, Illinois, to rescue a beleaguered police force while seeking redemption of his own.” This is similar to the in-depth exploration of the medical world found in The Pitt, only this time with a police force at the center.
This similarity to The Pitt is not a mere loose connection, though, with HBO representatives drawing direct comparisons between the two shows. This comparison was made by Sarah Aubrey, HBO’s Head of Max Original Programming:
“As with The Pitt, our goal of longer seasons will allow viewers to sink deeply into this world across multiple episodes and to return to it on an annual basis. We can’t wait for Jeremy Carver’s vision for American Blue to come to life…”
With this in mind, what HBO wants to achieve with American Blue after The Pitt’s success is clear.
How American Blue Will Be Different From Other Police Shows
Milo Ventimiglia is cast to portray David Mason in BO7
As The Pitt showcased with medical shows, American Blue will save the police drama genre by blending what used to work with new elements. Cop shows, like a lot of medical stories of the last few decades, were primarily long-running procedurals in which specific stories, characters, and cases were introduced and concluded within the same episode.
The Pitt kept some of these elements, with each episode centering on one hour of a workday in a hospital, while also having overarching elements that better emulate the tropes of subversive, prestige TV. The 15-episode format of that show allowed it to strike a good balance between being a procedural and quality TV, leading to its excellent response.
Thanks to the comparisons made by Aubrey, American Blue will seemingly be the same. The procedural format that grew stale and boring for police shows will likely be scaled back and replaced with more quality elements. This has rarely been done in the realm of police dramas, proving how American Blue will save the genre.
HBO Max Is Setting The New Standard For Streaming Dramas
Joy Kwon (Irene Choi) and Dr. Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif) in The Pitt season 2, episode 4
All of this typifies how HBO and HBO Max are setting new standards for streaming dramas. While other streaming services have some solid dramas, the likes of Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video tend to skew more towards huge, blockbuster-style TV shows like Stranger Things, those from Marvel and Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings.
Undoubtedly, HBO still produces the best outright dramas. Shows like The Pitt demonstrate this; hopefully, American Blue will pick up the baton and keep running with it.
Callsign
HBO
Station Type
Satellite