NBC’s drama pilot starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba, a spinoff from the Bad Boys movie franchise, finally has a title: L.A.’s Finest.
The project follows the Special Agent Syd Burnett character played by Union in 2003’s Bad Boys II movie as she moves to Los Angeles and joins the LAPD. Like often is the case with offshoots from popular franchises that don’t feature the lead characters, the TV series could not carry the Bad Boys moniker.
The TV show represents a female take on the Bad Boys movies — which focused on two partnered Miami Police detectives, played by Martin Lawrence and Will Smith — with two female LAPD detective partners, played by Union and Alba, at the center. Likely for that reason, the spinoff had been unofficially referred to Bad Girls. That name didn’t stick, and NBC already has a drama series called Good Girls, which would have made the juxtaposition awkward. Officially, the pilot had been called Untitled Gabrielle Union project, which also became awkward after Alba was cast as the co-lead opposite Union.
The pilot, from Bad Boys movies’ producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Doug Belgrad, Primary Wave Entertainment and Sony Pictures TV, has been garnering solid early buzz.
In L.A.’s Finest, written by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier and directed by Anton Cropper, the free-spirited former DEA agent Burnett has a fresh start in her new job as an LAPD detective. She’s partnered with Nancy McKenna (Alba), a working mom who can’t help but look at Syd’s freedom with some grass-is-greener envy. These two have totally different lifestyles and approaches, but they both are at the top of their fields in this action-packed, character-driven procedural. (You can see the duo in character on the set below.)
Alba and Union executive produce alongside Sonnier Margolis, Bruckheimer, Belgrad, Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed, Jeff Gaspin and Jeff Morrone.
NBC’s ‘Bad Boys’ Offshoot Pilot Has Title
