letterten 2003-04 fall preview

debuts Sunday, Sep 28, 8:00pm

premise from	Based on a former sheriff's real experience, Danny Nucci plays Rico Amonte, a Brooklyn bad boy who becomes a cop. But nothing prepares him from the taunting he receives as a trainee, under the watchful eye of a tough veteran determined to make Rico into a by-the-book officer. [ABC link]
stars	Danny Nucci ("Titanic", "Snoops"), Ernie Hudson ("Oz", "Ghostbusters"), Christina Vidal, Scott William Winters ("Oz"), Alex Meneses, Travis Schuldt ("Passions"), Miguel Sandoval ("Kingpin")
producers	Aaron Spelling, E. Duke Vincent, Jorge Zamacona
studio	Spelling Television and Touchstone Television

opinions
	"10-8" is CB code for "in service." It feels like I've seen this before. It's a cop show, so the action sequences need to be done well for the show to have any legs, but there's also the hazing aspect with his fellow officers. Ernie Hudson is great, but I don't have a feel that this is a show that anyone will feel strongly about.
	If "Training Day" had been pitched as a somewhat lighthearted coming-of age story, it might look like this. Hudson is the hard-ass sheriff's deputy who's assigned to train -- and tries to break down -- new academy graduate Nucci, who's trying to live down his larcenous past. The action you'd expect from a cop show is there, but the focus will more likely be on the rookies and the hazing they receive on the job.

my thoughts on "10-8"
	Possible full season, probably new slot. Touchstone connection. It's not in an overly competitive slot (aside from "The Simpsons"), but does go head-to-head with the new and seemingly older skewing "Cold Case" on CBS as well as more family oriented, "American Dreams."