Brooklyn homicide detective Nick Bonetti (Jack Scalia) moves to Cali to restart his career after accidentally shooting to death a 12 year old kid. His new home is South Coast PD. It's a clash of cultures. Capt. Midian Knight (Charles Rocket) partners him up with rookie cop Officer Angela Garcia (Mariska Hargitay). Worst, he assigns him a scruffy dog named Tequila (voice by Brad Sanders). Garcia is a single mom to a little girl after her policeman husband was killed by an armed kid.
Producer Donald P. Bellisario has a lot of hit shows over the decades. He must love Turner & Hooch. This is not one of his better ones. This is a mess of tones. The pilot is bad with broad comedy and bad stereotype acting. Every episode starts with the reminder that our lead killed an unarmed black kid in NYC. Even back then, that's not a good look. This is a year after Rodney King. Bellisario is completely out of touch on that point.
Scalia is doing a Brooklyn Italian stereotype and it is annoying. There is a lot L. A. weird that the show is trying to contrast with Scalia. Some of that is toned down in the later episodes, but the damage is done. Sometimes, the show is super serious and dark. Sometimes, it is super stupid and silly. It is a struggle between the clashing tones.
The talking dog is always right there and he is voiced like a black street wise guy. Some people do have complaints. I actually am fine with it. At least, the dog is much better than our lead. I would rather have the dog be the lead as he tries to help the bumbling Bonetti solve the cases. Quite frankly, the guy is not always a good detective either. He literally has his gun stolen and not realize it. He finds it at a murder site and doesn't know that it's his. He is aggressive, but he is not always smart.
For me, the main draw is Mariska Hargitay. It is 7 years before SVU. So, she's a rookie cop struggling with a Brooklyn know-it-all cop. Let's make this a prequel for Olivia Benson. She may be the only unequivocal positive from the show. It was mercifully canceled after a half season.
