When their series “The Red Line” was picked up by CBS in February 2018, showrunners Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss enjoyed, albeit surprised.
Months in the past, every other broadcast and cable television company denied the program about three Chicago families handling the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Black man. And the topic was considered “ambitious” for TELEVISION’s most-watched network, which boasts a predominantly older, white audience.
Les Moonves, then-CEO of CBS Corp.– who stepped down in September 2018 following allegations of sexual misconduct– informed executives at the time he wanted to take “a huge swing,” Parrish told HuffPost in a video chat with Weiss today.
” Our only female queer executive at CBS pulled ‘The Red Line’ out of the slush stack and stated, ‘Well, I really liked this script that we rejected over the summer season,'” Parrish stated. “Therefore we went from having no pilot to 24 hours later on flying back to L.A. on a Friday and beginning preproduction on a Monday.”
A similar circumstance occurred with Veena Sud, who hit numerous dead ends while pitching her series, “Seven Seconds,” prior to it was ultimately picked up by Netflix. The story checks out a police cover-up following the hit-and-run of 15- year-old Black bicyclist Brenton Butler (Daykwon Gaines) in Jersey City, New Jersey, and his grief-stricken mother’s (Regina King) fight for justice.
” The worry was palpable and dispiriting,” Sud informed HuffPost of the general reaction of the networks. “Netflix was the one place ready to tell the story the only way we would: no holds disallowed, no feel-good ‘Kumbaya’ bullshit, no incorrect pleased endings.”
For the last numerous years, that “feel-good” TV police officer story has actually shaped our understanding of law enforcement It is uncommon to find a police reveal that holds a mirror up to the flawed institution.
In the last several years, as fatal cops shootings of unarmed Black males have gone viral on social media, such programs as “The Red Line,” “7 Seconds” and Fox’s “Shots Fired” have attempted to shift expectations by showcasing the effect of brutality cases on victims’ families, the police and the judicial system.
In interviews with HuffPost, the showrunners of these three dramas– which each only lasted one season– shared stories of resistance, suboptimal time slots and less-than-stellar promo by their networks. Their experiences likewise doubled down on an urgent need for an overhaul in TELEVISION’s greatest ranks to make sure that diverse stories are being told on the small screen.
” The prevalence of representation of the criminal justice system and the police is one that glorifies and discounts civil liberties infractions, that gives cover and a stamp of approval to the way things are, that perpetuates the hero-cop narrative, that– in an effort to not be un-PC– now makes certain that the crooks are white and don’t deal with the actual percentages of the incorrectly accused,” Weiss stated. “Hollywood has a lot to respond to for when it concerns our mindsets toward police and criminal justice. And I believe we have an incredible part to play in helping with a cultural shift.”
A spokesperson for CBS stated the network desired “The Red Line,” executive produced by Ava DuVernay, to feel like an event, therefore it chose to air back-to-back episodes in two-hour blocks to provide a mini-binge session for audiences. Parrish and Weiss, nevertheless, didn’t compose the show to be experienced that method. To them, the eight-episode arc– about how a cop (Noel Fisher), a victim’s family (Noah Wyle and Aliyah Royale) and a Black female running for city board (Emayatzy Corinealdi) deal with the aftermath of an authorities shooting– was finest served one piece at a time.
Weiss knows what an opportunity it is to have the most-viewed network of the Huge 5– ABC, NBC, Fox, The CW and CBS– as a platform to air a nuanced look at race relations and cops violence.
” We were thought about a scores failure, even though 5 million people watched every week on Sunday nights,” Parrish said, adding that the network is used to seeing viewership for shows such as ” NCIS” or “FBI” struck above or close to 10 million “Our premiere weekend was the same weekend ‘Avengers: Endgame’ came out, … and the end of us was the ending of ‘Game of Thrones.'”
Weiss added that CBS pulled out of print advertising and billboards in the lead-up to “The Red Line” best, and it appeared the show’s social media accounts were neglected as they just gained a number of thousand follo