by Bobbi A. Chukran

Murder in the First is a new TV drama that aired on TNT a few weeks ago. The series was created by Steven Bochco, and Eric Lodal.

The show explores one crime through ten episodes, going from the commission of the crime, through the investigation, to the arrest and trial.

The first episode introduced two murders that might or might not be related to each other. It also introduced a character, Eric Blunt, a Silicon Valley prodigy, played by Tom Felton. Many will recognize Felton as Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series.

Taye Diggs (who is always fine, no matter what part he’s playing) plays Inspector Terry English.

Kathleen Robertson (Hildy Mulligan) plays English’s partner, a single mom. The chemistry between the two actors seems to work, and they play the “good cop, bad cop” roles very well.

The show is set in San Francisco. It seems like a long time since we’ve seen a good cop show set in that city, and I enjoyed seeing outdoors location shots. In the San Francisco Police Department, inspector seems to be the normal title for what we know as a detective. The investigative branch of the SFPD is called the Bureau of Inspectors.

The first episode felt different from other cop shows we watch. And we watch a lot of them. I loved it because it immediately showed the characters as real people with lives other than their jobs. Although some criticized it, I liked the fact that the first episode portrayed English as a husband who was caring for his cancer-stricken wife.

Bochco, brains behind other favorite shows (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, Doogie Howser, M.D. etc.), seems to have combined all of his interests into one show. We’ll definitely be watching future episodes in this new series.

Murder in the First airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on TNT. You can watch the first few episodes on their website.

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Bobbi A. Chukran is a Texas-based author of mystery and suspense fiction. She’s been watching cop shows since she was a young tot. She remembers “Dragnet” as her first one. She blogs about her writing at http://bobbichukran.blogspot.com.