Partner problems
The cops are wild and free in action show Rush Hour.
Rush Hour
Season 1 Weekdays (from Mon 3 Dec) e.tv (*194) 20:30
Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were a match made in buddy cop comedy heaven in the Rush Hour movies (1998current). But when the 13-episode Rush Hour series (2016) was created, stand-up comic Justin Hires stepped into Chris’s shoes as LAPD Detective James Steven Carter, while British actor Jon Foo took on Jackie’s role as Hong Kong Detective Jonathan Lee. “New plot, same characters, a little younger, a little different, new dynamic,” summarises series co- creator Bill Lawrence, who created medical comedy Scrubs, 2001-2010). “We can’t do the movies over.”
MOVIE vs TELEVISION
The first episode of the series sticks closely to the plot of the original film before heading in a different direction, with a detective who comes from Hong Kong on the trail of Chinese criminals being stuck with an obnoxious, loud Los Angeles detective as his partner. But after that, Detective Lee will become lighter and funnier and the fish-out-of-water element will slowly tail off. “I think they grow to love each other because they aren’t that different. They both care about their family. They both care about doing what is right at any cost,” adds Bill. The show plays up that family angle in the opening episode by having Detective Lee investigate the Chinese crime syndicate’s murder of his sister (instead of his boss’s daughter being kidnapped as in the film), who was also a detective. And Carter is also given some family in the shape of his dodgy cousin Gerald (Page Kennedy), a streetwise secret police informant.
ACTION EXPLOSION
We can also expect a more athletic TV version of Carter. “I have a first degree black belt in karate. I have that natural athleticism in me,” says Justin. “I’m only 5’6 (1.67m), so for it to be believable to viewers that I can take on bad guys, I have to show that I can kick some ass.” And Jon, who’s been studying martial arts since he was eight, won’t be hanging back either. “It’s some of the most crazy stunts and crazy things I’ve experienced, from running up cranes to jumping on yachts,” he reveals.