A&E to air a ‘live’ police ride-along reality series
Cumberbatch hints at ‘Sherlock’s’ end
LOS ANGELES, Oct 4, (RTRS): A&E Network has given the greenlight to “Live PD,” a live reality series that will show police at work in real-time across six different US cities.
The series hosted by ABC News vet Dan Abrams is set to air in eight two-hour installments on Fridays starting Oct 28. The episodes will air live, albeit on a delay because of the unpredictable nature of law enforcement activity.
A&E aims to dive into the national debate over law enforcement and the criminal justice system at a volatile moment for police in many urban areas. The rash of deadly police shootings of African-American men over the past two years has sparked protests, heightened tensions between law enforcement and the public in many communities and fueled the Black Lives Matter social justice initiative.
“Every day the demands for more transparency in law enforcement continues to come from both civilians and police across the country,” said Rob Sharenow, exec VP and g.m. of A&E and Lifetime. “‘Live PD’ will not only highlight the difficult work being done by our men and women in uniform as they go out into the streets never knowing what to expect, but also answers citizens’ calls for clarity.”
“Live PD” will use dashboard cameras and other high-tech means of capturing the work of police officers on routine patrols. Each episode will feature a mix of incidents in six different settings, both urban and rural. The show’s social media presence will include special feeds offering a look behind the scenes in the “Live PD” studio.
Abrams, chief legal analyst for ABC News, will be joined in the studio by Dallas Police Department Detectives Kevin Jackson and Rich Emberlin, who have been partners for more than 20 years. Dallas’ law enforcement community was caught up in the maelstrom of outrage over police shootings when five officers were killed by a sniper during a peaceful demonstration in July.
David Doss, an ABC News alum, will serve as showrunner of “Live PD.” Doss is exec producing with Dan Cesareo, George McTeague, Kara Kurcz and John Zito.
“Sherlock” could be coming to an end after its fourth season, so says its star.
In a recent interview with GQ UK, Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the quickwitted detective Sherlock Holmes, said the series may have run its course.
“It might be the end of an era. It feels like the end of an era, to be honest. It goes to a place where it will be pretty hard to follow on immediately,” Cumberbatch said. “We never say never on the show. I’d love to revisit it, I’d love to keep revisiting it, I stand by that, but in the immediate future we all have things that we want to crack on with and we’ve made something very complete as it is, so I think we’ll just wait and see.”
Cumberbatch added, however, that the idea of never playing the character again would be “galling.”
The BBC One series has been on air since 2010 and has taken several gap years throughout the series. Most recently, the show aired a special titled “The Abominable Bride” on Jan 1 and production for the upcoming Season 4 just wrapped in August.
“Sherlock” has been nominated for 34 Primetime Emmy Awards and has won seven of the nominations, including outstanding made for television movie and outstanding casting for a limited series, movie, or special in 2014.
A special, 90-minute live edition of “Talking Dead” will follow the Season 7 premiere of “The Walking Dead” on Oct 23, AMC announced Monday.
The recap show will feature guests Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Michael Cudlitz, Sonequa Martin-Green, Chandler Riggs, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Ross Marquand, and Jeffery Dean Morgan — all of the actors featured in the final Season 6 scene. Executive producers Scott M. Gimple and Robert Kirkman will also appear on the recap show, which is hosted by Chris Hardwick.
Last season’s cliffhanger left viewers wondering which person Negan (Morgan) beat to death with his barb wired-covered bat, nicknamed Lucille.
CBS premiered new seasons of “Madam Secretary” and “Elementary” Sunday night, seeing diminished numbers for each.
The third season of “Madam Secretary” debuted to a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49 and 9.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers — down 21 percent in the demo from last fall’s season debut and 20 percent in the total viewers. “Elementary” shifted from its Thursdaynight perch of last fall to the Sunday, 10 pm post-”Madam Secretary” slot previously occupied by “The Good Wife.” It opened its new season to a 0.8 in the demo and 6.3 million viewers — down 27 percent in the demo from last fall’s Thursday-night debut, but up 13 percent in viewers. Newsmagazine “60 Minutes” kicked off the night for the Eye with a 1.4 in the demo, followed by “NCIS: Los Angeles” with a 1.5, even with its performance last week.