BEVERLY HILLS, California — Dick Wolf hopes his new CBS drama series, FBI, shines a light on the good work of its many agents.
Although neither U.S. President Trump nor his attacks on FBI and other law-enforcement leaders were mentioned, the mega-producer behind the the Law & Order and Chicago franchises alluded to agents’ morale in recent times.
“Positive images of the bureau make them happy. A lot of them, in the past couple of years, have told me they feel underappreciated for what the real work is,” he said recently at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
Wolf, making his first show for CBS in years partly because “there was no more beachfront real estate at NBC,” had a personal reason for making the series (Sept. 25, 9 p.m.), which focuses on the New York office and stars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Ebonee Noel and Law & Order veteran Jeremy Sisto.
“The opportunity to do this show has sort of fulfilled a dream for me. My uncle was an FBI agent in the ’50s and ’60s. I grew up not only idolizing my uncle but having a warm feeling for all the agents I met back then,” he said. “They were great role models to have growing up.”
Wolf said FBI agents are “assiduously not political” in their work and added that he’s held to that philosophy in his shows.
“You can go back over the years. You can’t find many episodes of any show I’ve done that are politically oriented because … if you do that, 50 per cent of the audience is [ticked] off,” he said.
In FBI, “We’re celebrating the troops on the ground. The New York office has 1,300 agents and there are endless stories in there,” he said. “I’m not trying to change hearts and minds. People are going to get a very realistic view of how that office operates. … It’s a good day when nothing happens. An enormous amount of time is spent in preventative efforts.”
However, Wolf said FBI is no more of an effort to educate viewers about the bureau “than Law & Order was an effort to teach the law.”
“I tell stories and this is an entertainment company,” he said. “It’s not a political PAC. As I’ve said in the past, I’ve probably spent more time with cops than anybody who doesn’t have a badge. 99.8 per cent of them become cops to help people. There are bad cops, but the overwhelming majority are out there on the street every day putting their lives in danger and not getting paid very much money.”
