NYC 22 (CBS) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review

‘NYC 22’ (CBS, Sundays, 10/9c) revolves around six NYPD rookies. Although this is a drama series, there is also room for some comedic situations, and more importantly: action. After all, that is what one would expect in a show revolving around police trainees.
The rookies come from very different backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common: It’s their first day, and what a first day it is. Ahmed, born in Afghanistan, and Kenny, who comes from a long line of cops and has quite a lot to prove, have to deal with one side of an imminent gang-dispute, while Jayson, a former basketball legend, and Jennifer, a former marine, have to handle the other side. As if that isn’t enough excitement for one episode, Tonya and Ray, a girl born in a criminal family and a former police news reporter, respectively, get into a hostage situation when dealing with domestic violence. They all get out of it safely, but pretty much none of this would have happened if they had made better choices. It’s no surprise that their field training officer was not pleased with the way they handled the situations. Still, they all get to keep their jobs for another day. Besides, the job can’t get any worse than this. Or can it?
This series is off to a flying start. I can’t remember the last time I saw a series that brought so much energy and excitement in the first episode and still managed to make you understand the characters and their motivations. ‘NYC 22’ does exactly what you’d expect from this genre; a few quick words on someone’s background and on to the action.
When I read about this series, I was afraid that it would be hard to follow due to the large amount of main characters. Six rookies, played by Adam Goldberg, Leelee Sobieski (‘Deep Impact’), Stark Sands (‘Six Feet Under’), Judy Marte, Harold Moore and Tom Reed. All with their own intentions and obviously all of their stories will have to be dealt with. Fortunately, they are divided into teams, so the six storylines become three at most. This makes the whole ordeal way better to swallow.
Exciting as it is, I didn’t get sucked into the storyline as much as I could have. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve seen enough of these shows to no longer be impressed as easily, or maybe it’s just that it’s the first episode and I don’t know the characters well enough yet to empathize. It didn’t bother me much though. What did bother me was the obliviousness of the rookies. I realize that it’s easy for me as a viewer to predict what is going to happen, but I’d expect these people to realize something is wrong when they know there might be a clash between two gangs, and suddenly all the guys’ phones ring simultaneously and they run off.
Another thing I didn’t understand was that none of them called the fight in. Four rookies going after these guys and none of them calls it in. And it isn’t that they didn’t think of it, because Jennifer clearly said they needed to call for backup. So why didn’t she? Or Jayson? Or one of the other two for that matter? It could be just me, but if I was about to take down a group of about 25-30 young adults, I wouldn’t feel very comfortable doing it with just three others. I suppose they needed something that made them screw-ups on their first day, so they just put this unrealistic turn of events in the story. Either that, or they were all out to get all the glory to themselves, but that’s even more unrealistic, considering what they showed us about their personalities.
This small hiccup aside, ‘NYC 22’ was very entertaining. It’s exactly the kind of series we viewers needed. No more trying-to-be-original-comedy, no constantly-reaching-for-tissues-drama, just a good old fashioned police series, with a lot of renewing touches to make it something new and enjoyable.

What did you think?
- Spring TV Cancellations and Renewals
How are 'NYC 22' and other shows that premiered this Spring doing in the ratings? Will they get a second season or will they be cancelled?