Jamie Foxx Has an Interesting New Project in the Works

Jamie Foxx is taking on a new project that has many fans perking their ears up. The actor will be getting behind the camera to executive produce a new drama series called Alert, which Fox ordered to series last month. The show will put a unique spin on the police procedural format, focusing on missing persons cases.

Alert comes from Foxx and Josh Eisendrath, the showrunner of The Blacklist. It is about the L.A.P.D.’S Missing Persons Unit — the L.A.M.P.U. The show will center around the character Nikki Parker, an L.A.P.D. officer who joins the L.A.M.P.U. when her own son goes missing. Through Parker’s perspective, the audience will learn about missing persons cases and the methods that authorities use to try and solve them. Meanwhile, the story of Parker’s personal case will play out as a longer, serialized narrative with a break after several years of fruitless searching.

From the sound of it, Foxx will not appear on screen in the show, but will be an executive producer. Eisendrath will serve as the showrunner from day to day while Datari Turner will be another EP. The show will juggle Parker’s search for her son with a missing person case in each week’s episode. Along the way, viewers will learn about missing persons cases and how they are investigated.

The break in the case comes in the form of a “proof-of-life photo” of Parker’s son, letting her know that he is still out there somewhere. However, Fox’s announcement indicates that this clue won’t be very straightforward. It may raise more questions than it will answer.

Eisendrath has an overall deal at Sony Pictures Television according to a report by Deadline. This show is a co-production between Sony and Fox Entertainment. Alert already has a pilot script, a format and a back-up script commitment plus penalty — an indication that Fox is serious about this project. The network has been pulling out all the stops in developing new dramas recently.

The missing persons angle is actually somewhat similar to another new series coming to NBC. The rival network has ordered a pilot for the series Found from writer Nkechi Okoro Carrol. Found stars Shameless star Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosley, a public relations specialist who works on solving missing persons cases through aggressive publicity campaigns. Viewers will gradually discover that Mosley was herself once designated a “missing person,” making the crusade highly personal for her.

The 2022-2023 TV season is shaping up to be a big one for lovers of crime dramas and procedurals. Stay tuned for more news on these brand-new shows as it becomes available.