As much as I’m not a huge fan of movie-to-television adaptations, this news is interesting. A female-driven spin-off of the Bad Boys movie franchise is coming to television. This new show, L.A.’s Finest, stars Gabrielle Union, reprising her role as DEA agent Syd Burnett from 2003’s Bad Boys II. Syd has left Miami, and a personal secret, to become a detective for the LAPD. She is partnered with Nancy McKenna, played by Jessica Alba, a working mom with an equally complicated past. The two have wildly different personalities and lifestyles, which sounds like the central conceit of just about every buddy cop show, but I’ll allow it this time.
The series has been in the works since October of last year, when it got an order for a pilot from NBC. According to Deadline, the pilot was dropped by the peacock network back in May. While there was no official reason for the abandonment of the project, it’s speculated that NBC’s negotiations with SonyTV over two current series and two pilots, paired with the pilot’s reported $12 million budget, led to the network letting the show go.
The series was picked up by Charter Communications for Spectrum, making it the service’s first original scripted series. In a statement announcing the pickup, President of Sony Pictures Jeff Frost said, “Charter has a strong passion for the project and we could not be more excited. Immediately we knew this innovative new platform was absolutely the right home for L.A.’s Finest.”
Gabrielle, whose BET series Being Mary Jane was recently cancelled after four seasons, shared the good news on social media. Posting a photo of she and Jessica on Instagram, she wrote, “The will they or wont they is over – it’s happening people!!!” She went on to add, “Cannot wait for you to watch @jessicaalba and I kick ass and take names! 13 episodes coming at ya in 2019!”
It’s interesting that this project brought Jessica Alba back to acting, as, back in December, she told Good Housekeeping that it “would feel weird” acting again if she wasn’t in control. (She and Gabrielle are serving as executive producers for the series.) At the time she also said, “Hollywood is finally allowing women to star more in action franchises, which is a passion of mine.” I think it’s great that this is happening, although not quickly enough. I am actually kind of looking forward to watching Jessica and Gabrielle kick ass.
Photos: Instagram, WENN.com, Getty Images
I like this!
I hope its successful, I really do.
I am so here for this – Jessica can kick ass and she was good in Dark Angel..
I just came here to say this. JA kicked butt on Dark Angel. She was amazing there and I love GU. So i hope this is a success. I will support it!!
What did they do to Jessica’s face in that promo pic? I literally didn’t know who that was!
I won’t be watching because I don’t have cable, but I hope it does well.
Love watching women in action flicks kicken ass instead of being the ‘innocent yet sexy’ or ‘wronged and neglected’ girlfriend. A new world order!
I hope it goes well for both ladies.
That last picture is really cute.
PASS!!!!
Sounds similar to some show that a former 90210 actress is on..forgot the name.
Hopefully I can see it in Canada
Alba seems nice and is a good business woman but she can’t act a lick. Union is the real draw to me.
Yep. If anything, im upset that this is what they gave to gabrielle union to work with…shes fantastic at what she does and deserved a better supporting actor.
What is spectrum? A channel? A streaming service?
Never heard of it before which is odd because they pulled 2 big names with this pilot pickup.
Gotta say I’m totally here for this. Love female action movies, love buddy cop shows, Gabrielle can do no wrong, and JA action sequences were great in the only action role I’ve seen her in, the worst spy kids movie lol
Gabrielle personally recruited Alba to be in the show.
It doesn’t really look like my cup of tea, but I’m here for a welcome change so i’m crossing my fingers for its success.
Is it live action or animated lol? That promo pic of them looks like a damn cartoon. Stop with the f*cking photoshop already !
That poster is SO terrible.
I’m sorry but I can’t see this going past a couple of episodes….
Of course Jessica’s character had to have a white name. She’s not Latina, remember? Can’t with her.
THats exactly what I was thinking. In this time of hatred and racism against Mexicans/immigrants, it would be awesome for them to give her a Latin name. She’s disappointing.
Great minds, Jenns. 😉