‘BOSTON BLUE’ AND ‘SHERIFF COUNTRY’ ON CBS

Television network executives always find ways to be boastful regarding any data to bolster claims of superiority over their competitors. 

CBS, which has been known as the Tiffany Network for high-quality programming, is no different than its rivals.
   
Case in point would be the claim that CBS is on track to win its 17th consecutive season as the most watched network. 

The network is banking on two new police procedurals to help deliver good ratings.
   
For the fall season, “Boston Blue” picks up, in a manner of speaking, where “Blue Bloods” left off after more than a decade as the popular show about the Reagan law enforcement family in the New York Police Department.

Moving from the Big Apple to Beantown, NYPD detective Donnie Wahlberg’s Danny Reagan ends up in Boston when his son Sean (Mika Amonsen), a rookie in the Boston Police Department, becomes seriously wounded while attempting a rescue in a burning building.
   
While “Boston Blue” is considered a drama that expands the beloved “Blue Bloods” universe, the other new police series is “Sheriff Country,” which is similarly viewed as an extension of the hit drama “Fire Country.” 
   
“Boston Blue” is off to a promising start. It’s fresh, and yet Donnie Wahlberg informed critics at the CBS press conference that he looked “forward to bringing faith, family, and tradition back to television on Friday nights,” which stays true to the “Blue Bloods” principle.
   
When Danny Reagan comes to Boston, he wastes little time getting involved in chasing a suspect. Out of his law enforcement jurisdiction, Danny runs afoul of Boston detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green), who just happens to be a member of a law enforcement family not dissimilar to the Reagans.
   
Lena’s mother is District Attorney Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben). Her stepsister is Boston Police Superintendent Sarah Silver (Maggie Lawson). Sarah is Mae’s stepdaughter. Add into the mix rookie cop Jonah Silver (Marcus Scribner), half-brother to Sarah. Well, that appears to be how they are all related.
   
Jonah is a friend and partner to Danny’s son Sean; both went through the police academy together. Both also ran into the burning building on that fateful night, with Jonah saving Sean when he was seriously hurt by an explosion.
   
During the first two episodes, Danny is authorized by the Police Superintendent to work with Lena to investigate the case of a murder victim that Jonah and Sean came upon when attempting to save workers from the fiery conflagration.
   
Given the title of “Boston Blue,” one expects that Danny Reagan may have to trade his Mets t-shirt for a Red Sox jersey, if only because he does, in fact, wind up working with the Boston Police Department.
   
While spun off from another series based in the same fictional town of Edgewater, California, “Sheriff Country” stands alone in storytelling that tangentially refers to its connection with the rural nature of wildfires in “Fire Country.”
   
Morena Baccarin stars as the interim sheriff Mickey Fox, who is unlike the Reagan law enforcement family in “Blue Bloods.” While she wears a badge, her father Wes (W. Earl Brown) is a criminal who is now trying to be a legal grower of marijuana.
   
Trouble at home for Mickey causes distractions not just in dealing with her father, but her teenage daughter Skye (Amanda Acuri) struggles with staying sober, while her boyfriend Brandon (John Daniel) has been arrested for selling narcotics.
   
To say that life is complicated for Mickey overlooks the additional matter of her political survival in an upcoming election. Her top deputy Nathan Boone (Matt Lauria) may be angling for the job himself by ingratiating himself with local kingmaker Punch Elliot (Sean Bell).
   
If all this is not enough drama for the Sheriff, Mickey’s ex-husband Travis Fraley (Christopher Gorham), a local attorney, is now romantically involved with Sheriff’s deputy Cassidy Campbell (Michele Weaver). 
   
At a CBS conference for critics, Michele Weaver summed up the dynamic of the series, noting the “writers do such a good job of making these characters human, and you get to know these humans, the good and the bad, and the messiness of them.”
   
Edgewater turns out to not to be a sleepy town. Rampant crime may jeopardize Mickey’s bid for election. Still, “Sheriff Country” juggles plenty of personal dynamics to hold interest in where relationships play out. 
   
The fall season had originally planned to include a new drama from Dick Wolf, best-known as the producer of the “Law & Order” television franchise and familiar for creating other law enforcement series like “Chicago P.D.” and “FBI.”
   
What’s next for Dick Wolf is new series “CIA,” a one-hour drama centered on two unlikely partners. Tom Ellis stars as a reckless CIA case officer teamed up with a by-the-book FBI agent who believes in the rule of law.
   
Apparently, “CIA” is now destined for mid-season to allow for creative thinking, or something of the sort, for a show that’s also considered an expansion of Dick Wolf’s “FBI” universe.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.