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Perhaps lost in the all the big legal news this summer was the announcement that Live PD, the popular police ride-along reality show, is returning to weekend television in its previous time slots, beginning Friday, July 22, at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Live PD was a ratings powerhouse for the A&E Network, and a show that developed a significant social media following, before it was cancelled by panicky executives in June 2020.

Live PD, which premiered in 2016, was axed by A&E and producer Big Fish Entertainment in June 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s death, which spurred national outrage over police brutality. At the time, it was A&E’s top-rated series and had just received an additional 160-episode order — New York Post

Live PD also found itself in a controversy surrounding unaired and later deleted (per standard practice) footage of a man who died in the custody of  Williamson County, Texas, sheriff’s deputies after allegedly being tasered.

As readers of this blog are aware, anchor Dan Abrams, the pro-police liberal, had vowed for the past two years that that the law enforcement docuseries, in which videographers followed officers in multiple departments on night patrol, would return, and he has made good on that promise.

Live PD 2.0 is being rebranded, for now, as On Patrol: Live, but with the same general format (real-time sequences with a precautionary tape delay of anywhere between five to 20 minutes or so). It will air on the same Friday and Saturday night, three-hour block, schedule as before, with the same production company behind it.

The difference is that it is airing on the Reelz network, which doesn’t have the same reach as A&E. “Reelz will be a smaller stage for the police reality show than A&E was. Reelz is available in about 39.9 million homes, compared with 71.1 million for A&E, according to Nielsen,” the Wall Street Journal noted.

On Patrol: Live has reportedly received a multiyear commitment from Reelz.

Analyst Sean “Sticks” Larkin, the now-retired Tulsa, Okla., cop, is also returning as a studio analyst alongside Abrams, the latter who is is getting an executive producer credit.

Tom Morris, Jr., the other member of the trio, has moved on to other projects, so Deputy Sheriff Curtis Wilson from Richland County, S.C. is joining Abrams and Larkin on set. The Richland County agency will continue to be featured on Live PD “2.0,” along with a number of new departments.

Friday’s series opener will feature the Paterson Police Dept. (Paterson, NJ); Beech Grove Police Department (Beech Grove, IN); Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office (Moncks Corner, SC); Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (Albuquerque, NM); Marion County Sheriff’s Office (Ocala, Fla.); Nye County Sheriff’s Office (Pahrump, NV); Richland County Sheriff’s Office (Columbia, SC); and Volusia County Sheriffs Office (Fla). — New York Post

Hopefully, more cable systems and streaming services will pick up Reelz given the expected interest in On Patrol: Live. If so, this blog will again start posting summaries of each episode.

Over the past two years, some law enforcement agencies have modified their procedures in terms of permissible pursuits and/or what justifies a traffic stop.

While not to minimize the serious ramifications of police-community interaction, it remains to be seen if the standard trifecta consisting of no license, no registration, and no insurance, plus contraband remains in play.

Viewers also have probably missed familiar refrains such as “not my car,” “not my pants,” and “I only had two beers,” etc.

Presumably, the show will relay on pre-taped packages (as before) when nothing particularly exciting or quirky is going on in real time. Live PD Nation, as its fans are known, made it clear that it would never accept a watered-down Live Social Worker, but the show has added one (so far) new component to the mix:

On Patrol: Live will also feature Citizen Ride-Alongs, giving local residents, within the communities of the departments appearing on the show, a first-hand perspective as they ride along with officers followed by cameras on live nights. They’ll then share their Ride-Along experiences and observations in the studio as guests on the show — Deadline Hollywood

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published on July 18, 2022, Abrams seemed to reject the premise that Live PD was a form of “copaganda.”

I would say that a lot of the critics of the show never watched it. I did one interview after the show was taken off the air, and it was clear to me that the woman interviewing me had never seen the show. To the critics of the show, I would say if there are specific criticisms of the show, I’m all ears.

He also addressed the above-mentioned Williamson County incident and protocol changes that it has prompted.

“I was very proud of Live PD. I was very proud of the show we did, I’ve been working on either getting [Live PD] or a new show off the ground since the day it was canceled,” he also told EW.

[Reelz CEO Stan E.] Hubbard said that he doesn’t need On Patrol: Live to have the same-size audience Live PD had on A&E for it to be a success for Reelz. He said he expects the popularity of the show to help boost the network’s distribution. “If we can do a quarter to a third of A&E’s audience, that is a home run for us,” he said, adding, “This is a game changer for Reelz.

He said he isn’t worried about any potential backlash.

“We don’t shy away from much,” Mr. Hubbard said. — Wall Street Journal

Around the same time as Live PD‘s cancellation, Paramount dropped the long-running Cops series that presents similar content. It now airs on Fox Nation.