Shawn Ryan's "The Chicago Code"

[WyldeMan45]

Ride Along was officially announced for a pickup by FOX, to debut in the midseason Monday's at 9PM. I am very intrigued by the premise for this, due to the fact that Shawn Ryan has proven he can create incredible stories focused on cops and corruption. Wysocki sounds like a cleaner version of Vic Mackey from "The Shield." The casting is great so far, and I am really excited to see the final product in the fall on Fox. Jennifer Beals has recently been on "Lie to Me" so I'd assume Shawn enjoyed working with her so much, he signed her on as a star here. Delroy Lindo is always excellent, especially in that slick, villainous role he's shown us many times.

Ride-Along," set and filmed in Chicago, centers on a Chicago born-and-bread Detective Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke) aka "the Polish cowboy," one of the city's toughest cops. He is a local legend and outsized character with a wicked sense of humor who struggles to clean up the town's violence and corruption, along with the help of Teresa (Jennifer Beals), Chicago's first young female police chief. Alderman Gibbons (Delroy Lindo) is a longtime building magnate-turned-politician who is loved by his constituents, but there have always been whispers about possible ties to organized crime and Jarek and Teresa are convinced he's dirty.

Shawn Ryan's hope is that if Fox orders a full series, "Ridealong" will be filmed entirely in Chicago. Ryan said the show is "mostly about cops, but we will deal with how cops are affected/stymied/supported by local political elements." The show will be "filmed primarily on the streets with our cops' vehicles serving as their offices. It will be part cop procedural, part buddy comedy, part political thriller, part undercover drama... or it will just be a huge mess," Ryan said. "But I'm going to try to make it good."

[WyldeMan45]

Well the show has officially been picked up by Fox. We will indeed be seeing this in the fall. No surprise there.

[Gamma_Winstead]

I'll be watching.

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by gamma626

I'll be watching.

Oh no doubt, this is a fantastic cast from a brilliant mind. I'm in.

[Gamma_Winstead]

I wonder if it will be a fall show...

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by gamma626

I wonder if it will be a fall show...

More than likely, apparently the network absolutely loved the pilot and would love to use it as soon as possible. We both know mid-season is typically for shows they have less faith in, so I expect to see this by October.

[WyldeMan45]

Just updated with the first official images of the show.

[WyldeMan45]

Just watched the official fox released trailer for this show, and it looks way better than I thought it would, and it's one of my most anticipated pilots. I already had very high hopes and that preview just got me even more excited and I didn't think that was possible. I noticed Luke from this season on Friday Night Lights plays a lead role as the new partner to Jason Clarke's Wysocki, awesomeness!

[WyldeMan45]

Well according to this article, "Ride-Along" has officially been titled "The Chicago Code" which I actually think is a too much of a mouth full, I much preferred the original title, but what can you do?

Shawn Ryan on how 'Ride-Along' became 'The Chicago Code'

On last week's Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, Dan and I talked with producer Shawn Ryan about whether "Terriers" had been hampered at the start with a name that, as Shawn put it, made some people think it was a reality show about dogfighting. The key, he said, was to find a title that intrigues viewers, and he feared that "Terriers" just wound up confusing people.

"Terriers" was one of two new shows Shawn has for this season. The other is a mid-season drama for FOX, initially called "Ride-Along," starring Jennifer Beals and Jason Clarke (from "Brotherhood") as a pair of Chicago cops (she's the new superintendent, he's a detective) trying to clean up a corrupt department and city. So when I heard that "Ride-Along" had been rechristened "The Chicago Code," I immediately wondered if the "Terriers" experience had scared him and/or the executives at FOX into a title change.

Not the case, he told me by e-mail. Rather, the plan was to emphasize that the show was as much about the city as its police force.

"This isn't tied to the 'Terriers' experience at all," he wrote. "The network and I have been discussing a name change since before 'Terriers' premiered. Ultimately, we wanted something with Chicago in the title and something that implied an experience of more than just another typical cop show. Hopefully this will work. I think the title works well in the ads that Fox has ready to run. Don't know why titles never come easy on my show ('The Shield' was a very late choice after 'The Barn' and 'Rampart,' 'The Unit' was forever debated by CBS, 'Terriers,' and now this)."

Regardless of what it's called - and Shawn said on Twitter they didn't want to use "The Chicago Way" because it would be ripping off his friend (and former "Unit" partner) David Mamet's "Untouchables" script - "The Chicago Code" was one of the strongest network pilots I saw over the summer, and should be well worth your time when it debuts after "House" in January.

[detective392]

Never even heard of this show before but I love Terriers and I heard the Shield is one of the best shows to air on TV so I am excited about this show. Not really liking the new name though as Ride-Along seemed like a better name.

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by detective392

Never even heard of this show before but I love Terriers and I heard the Shield is one of the best shows to air on TV so I am excited about this show. Not really liking the new name though as Ride-Along seemed like a better name.

I am on of those people who ranks "The Shield" as one of the greatest shows of all-time. There is not a chance in hell another cop should will ever even come within miles of it. But I am a Shawn Ryan fan and have watched all of his other projects, I really liked the trailer I saw for this in the spring, and will be watching it come January.

[MDJ]

Originally Posted by detective392

Never even heard of this show before but I love Terriers and I heard the Shield is one of the best shows to air on TV so I am excited about this show. Not really liking the new name though as Ride-Along seemed like a better name.

you heard correct !

[WyldeMan45]

Just saw a pretty great new promo for this during football under it's new title "The Chicago Code" but it said it premiers in February. I thought it was supposed to premiere in January following House? So they changed the name and pushed the premiere back another month? LAME.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

Just saw a pretty great new promo for this during football under it's new title "The Chicago Code" but it said it premiers in February. I thought it was supposed to premiere in January following House? So they changed the name and pushed the premiere back another month? LAME.

I loved the guy in Brotherhood but again I worry about watching these shows because unless they do amazing they hardly ever get picked up.

[detective392]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

Just saw a pretty great new promo for this during football under it's new title "The Chicago Code" but it said it premiers in February. I thought it was supposed to premiere in January following House? So they changed the name and pushed the premiere back another month? LAME.

That sucks about it starting in February but hopefully it's still follows House to get a ratings boost.

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by detective392

That sucks about it starting in February but hopefully it's still follows House to get a ratings boost.

It is still slotted for 9pm so it will follow House for the remainder of it's season I'd assume. I don't have anything on at 9pm Mondays so this fits perfectly into my schedule.

[detective392]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

It is still slotted for 9pm so it will follow House for the remainder of it's season I'd assume. I don't have anything on at 9pm Mondays so this fits perfectly into my schedule.

That's good and since it's a cop show it should do fairly well I assume.

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by detective392

That's good and since it's a cop show it should do fairly well I assume.

Well we can hope it gets better ratings than Shawn's last two efforts with Terriers and Lie to Me, both have never done good in ratings.....

[detective392]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

Well we can hope it gets better ratings than Shawn's last two efforts with Terriers and Lie to Me, both have never done good in ratings.....

Yeah I'm really hoping Terriers picks up in ratings as that's a very good show. Never even knew Shawn Ryan made Lie To Me but at least that show keep's getting picked up which is good for its fans.

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by detective392

Yeah I'm really hoping Terriers picks up in ratings as that's a very good show. Never even knew Shawn Ryan made Lie To Me but at least that show keep's getting picked up which is good for its fans.

Shawn left Lie to Me, to work on this new one, and it's fate is very much in the air right now, it's on the bubble along with Fringe. Dish Network and FX worked out a deal a few days ago, so hopefully SOA and Terriers see an immediate ratings increase.