On Call

On Call follows the police force in Long Beach, California and all they have to go through protecting and serving the community. It mostly follows a pair of police officers (Trojan Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente) as they respond to call after call on their daily shift. I have to say that I really enjoyed this even more than I expected too. I was just looking for a show to kill some time with and what I found is one of the better cop shows I've seen this year. It's too gritty for network tv so don't expect a show like the ones you see all the time. This is a raw and believable show on what cops have to go through on a daily basis. The episodes are short at a half hour apiece but they pack plenty of excitement in that half hour.

Rookie officer, Diaz, joins the Long Beach police department, and is under the watchful eye of Officer Harmon (Troian Bellisario powerful as ever), who just had one of her past trainee's gunned down. So on the hunt they go for the high-profile killer in what seems to be another typical police series. But the series makers have viewers on edge, never showing the officers private lives, but always on patrol in the concrete jungle of Long Beach, by using jarring handheld images, body-cams, security cameras and the likes as officers navigate the hellish pit of a society unkind to itself. Also the dynamics among the officers is well built-up and handled, never knowing who to trust. A giant learning curve for the rookie, and an intense observational experience for us viewers...

Title kinda says it. Pretty well written characters on both sides of the law. Plot line is wild but kinda realistic. Really solid acting across the board. Even the minor characters are pretty great.

The story takes place in Long Beach's port, beaches, and cultural hotspots as well as the slums and homeless camps. I think it does a good job of featuring the city as a backdrop for the diverse mix of characters portrayed.

My only issue is the show chooses to not translate Spanish even when it helps the story. I end up doing a little google auto translate to keep up. My Spanish is too poor to keep up.

There are so many police procedurals that are out there to choose from that one has to really stick out if it's going to be worth your time to watch. Well, On Call is one of those police series that's absolutely worth the time to watch. It's been getting compared to the ridiculously underrated Southland because of the way the show is shot, and while it's not as good as Southland, it's still pretty good show. The first season consists of only 8 30min episodes so it's an easy binge. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a new entertaining police series that's both original and entertaining. I hope we get several seasons of this series.

I wasn't in Long Beach, but I was a CA street cop and this show catches the tone, cross-talk and culture well (so far, I'm halfway through the series). There are very few shows that accurately do that (two others being Bosch and Southland). But unlike those shows, it's only 30 minutes.... one of the few cop dramas I've seen in a 30 minute format since Adam-12, and I like it.

It follows a trainer and trainee unit, Officer Harmon and Officer Diaz (Troian Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente) patrolling in Long Beach, CA. You have the usual drama you've seen on COPS that comes from responding to patrol calls, plus the rookie needing to apply the academy to real life, conflicts of cultures and work eras.

When Harmon and Diaz are told to stand by and observe street drifters at an intersection, the rookie is frustrated at the inability to do anything. The show has the "old-school" cops that remember being able to react to a crime, not just observe. Sergeant Lasmen and Officer Barlowe (Eric LaSalle and Mac Brandt). LaSalle is always great as a competent, but endlessly frustrated by the system, employee (which he mastered on ER). There are tidbits he brings to the character, like a quick swig from a non-labeled baby-blue bottle never addressed, but anyone that's had heartburn will recognize as antacid. LaSalle also directs most the episodes.

Brandt's Officer Barlowe feels a bit darker. He's reminding me of a character from a Joseph Wambaugh book. Officer Barlowe's handling of a homicide body part had a hint of Rosco Rules from The Choirboys.

If you enjoyed Bosch and Southland, you should like On Call. If you don't like those shows you should still check this out because at only 30 minutes it's quick and you might find something else on the show that works for you.