Dick Wolf‘s On Call follows fictional law enforcement working for the Long Beach Police Department — but why did the procedural make an effort not to offer commentary?
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Troian Bellisario, Brandon Larracuente, Eriq LaSalle and Lori Loughlin discussed how their new show introduced important conversations without picking sides.
“At least from my own experience, the show left me with more questions than real answers. I hope that that’s what audiences experience as well,” Larracuente, 30, who plays Officer Alex Diaz, noted. “By the end of it, we’re not really trying to paint any narrative.”
Larracuente applauded On Call for “just trying to show the human side” of everyone, adding, “Hopefully audience members can relate to one of the characters [on the show] in some way, shape or form.”
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Bellisario, 39, meanwhile, agreed about not wanting “to have a singular message.”
“We want so many different kinds of people — who have many different views about the police — to come to this show. And we want them to take away what they take away,” the actress, who plays Officer Traci Harmon told Us. [“Executive producer] Elliot [Wolf] put it really well. He’s like, ‘We want to create a buffet and we want everybody to come to the table and eat together.’ That’s the thing. We’re not going to say, ‘Oh, you have that idea, so you’re not welcome here.’ You have that idea so you won’t like this show.’ You will see people make incredible decisions [on screen]. You’ll see us make mistakes. Nobody is a hero. And these are human beings — they just so happen to be doing this job.”
On Call, which premiered on Thursday, January 9, is Wolf Entertainment’s first scripted streaming series. The gritty drama utilized bodycam, dash-camera and cellphone footage to follow cops in the field.
While speaking with Us, Loughlin, 60, showed support for On Call‘s “intention” when “not trying to comment” any which way. Her costar Eriq La Salle found that to be an appealing part of the show when joining as a lead and director.
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“We’re just trying to present real credible characters. We all spent a shift — or at least a minimum of a shift — riding along with a cop, answering calls and observing, which was extremely helpful. For me as a director, being able to be in that cruiser and to be the fly on the wall is the goal for me with the audience,” the actor, 62, who plays Sergeant Lasman explained. “We try to bring the audience in and make them feel like they’re in that car with us and that they’re on these calls with us. Everyone was in sync on what we were trying to do.”
La Salle called the “main goal” bringing the audience in “without the commentary.”
“We’re not saying [anything], we are just presenting. It’s up to you to decide how you interpret these characters. You might like some characters, you might not like some characters,” he continued. “You might agree with some characters [and] you might not. But our job — and I think I am proud of the job that we have done — is to present what we see as the truth and what we see as the multi-dimensions of these characters.”
On Call‘s mission to stand out involved adapting to the times.
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“Our audiences are evolving. The police procedural is something that is not new and it’s definitely a Wolf Entertainment production. It’s classic and everybody loves it,” Bellisario noted. “Younger audiences are mostly streaming. They’re watching less procedural and more character-driven shows. We’re going to use the world of law enforcement but we’re going to show it to you in a place that you don’t really see a lot, which is Long Beach. It’s an entirely new community and landscape.”
She concluded: “We’re not going to show you a case and then solve it by the end of it. There is an overarching story line to this season that our characters are following. but it’s really just about the time spent between us and this relationship and how it builds and how it falls and the betrayals and the beliefs. It’s just a really incredible amalgamation of all of these new ideas that I think present a totally original idea in the show.”
On Call is currently streaming on Prime Video.
