L.A.’s Finest Season 2 was set to debut on Spectrum Monday, but Charter Communications made a last-second decision to shelve the show due to the ongoing protests of police brutality and racial inequality following George Floyd‘s murder. The move followed similar decisions by Paramount Network and A&E, which shelved the reality TV shows Cops and Live P.D. this weekend. L.A.’s Finest is a spin-off of the Bad Boys movies franchise, featuring Gabrielle Union reprising her role from the second film.
Charter has not scheduled L.A.’s Finest‘s return, reports Deadline. The company used the cop drama to help launch its Spectrum Originals banner last summer after it picked up the Sony series when NBC passed on it. Union stars as Sydney “Syd” Burnett, who is transferred to the Los Angeles Police Department at the beginning of the series. Jessica Alba co-stars as her partner, Nancy McKenna. Ryan McPartlin, Sophie Reynolds, Ernie Hudson, Zach Gilford and Duane Martin also star.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The first season of L.A.’s Finest is set to air this fall on Fox, which acquired the rights in order to fill up its fall schedule. The network did not have enough of its own programming to fill the schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. The series is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. ET on Mondays as a lead-in to Next, a series once scheduled for this summer.
On Friday, A&E announced it would not air a new episode of Live P.D. that night and on Saturday, and instead aired Live Rescue. Paramount Network was set to launch the 33rd season of Cops Monday, but it was indefinitely postponed as well. A&E made the decision “out of respect for the families of George Floyd and others who have lost their lives.”
Floyd’s death on May 25 has inspired protests across the country, with demonstrators calling for an end to police brutality and many wanting to see police force budges cut. There has also been a conversation about how common police dramas are on television, especially as many feature police as the protagonists often bending the rules to stop criminals.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit showrunner Warren Leight was asked about the issue in a Hollywood Reporter podcast last week. “Change will start taking place on TV shows individually. There will be lip service paid,” Leight said, noting that he made a “conscious effort” to bring in “new voices, fresh voices, different voices” into the writers’ room. “This has to be a moment where people make themselves uncomfortable, where people in power have to make themselves uncomfortable,” Leight said.
