By Brandon Nolta

Several years ago, I went to New Orleans for a conference. It was the mid-90s, a full decade before Katrina, and the city was every bit as wild and fun as its legend…and that was in November. Watching the premiere episode of K-VILLE, the Fox Network’s latest police drama to hit the airwaves, I felt a lot of nostalgia for the city I so enjoyed, and a lot of sadness for what has happened, not to mention for what hasn’t happened. All good shows are about more than what they’re about, and K-VILLE, despite the police characters and situations, is really more about New Orleans than anyone living in it.

As the episode opens, it’s September 2005, and Marlin Boulet (Anthony Anderson), a dedicated New Orleans police officer, is doing his damnedest to save the beleaguered residents of the Ninth Ward. Unfortunately, not everyone shares his enthusiasm, and Marlin is abandoned by his partner Charlie (Derek Webster) as the waters rise. Fast-forward two years, and Marlin’s still in the Big Easy, living in his same neighborhood and fighting to reclaim his home, even though his wife and child have moved to Atlanta. Enter Boulet’s new partner, Trevor Cobb (Cole Hauser), a former Army Ranger who has left the service to be a cop. Boulet finds it odd that Cobb would come down from Cincinnati to be a cop, and given the reasonable paranoia and rage leftover from his partner’s betrayal, it makes things a little tense.

But, there isn’t time to worry about that right now, because New Orleans is experiencing a high level of lead in the air. A local charity is having its fundraisers shot at repeatedly, and a singer friend of Boulet’s is the first fatality. The fact that he’s trying to convince his wife to return home isn’t helping his state of mind. Add a suspicious security firm with connections to FEMA and mercenaries, a plot or two concerning the ownership of the Lower Ninth and the general difficult state of affairs that being a cop in a major metro area is—now, that’s drama.


In a nice change of pace for network TV, the black guy is the main character, and Anderson’s just the man to carry the load. Longtime fans know him from his comedic roles (ME MYSELF AND IRENE is my favorite example of this side of him), but his long-running guest stint on THE SHIELD has proved he’s more than capable of handling dramatic lifting, and he brings a solid physicality and moral intensity to Boulet. Hauser has a tougher role in the pilot episode; there’s a lot of mystery about him (the reasons for which are made clear at the end), so he has to keep a lot of his emotions on simmer. Cobb isn’t as showy or outspoken as Boulet, but he has just as much steel, and they make an interesting pair. Among the supporting characters, John Carroll Lynch stands out as the precinct’s no-b.s. captain.

Will K-VILLE withstand the rigors of the fall TV schedule? Well, the first episode is a solidly entertaining effort, and to K-VILLE’s benefit, New Orleans herself is the most important character in the show. This series literally could not happen anywhere else; the wreckage, the makeshift headquarters, the neighborhoods struggling to rise again give the show a texture that is utterly unique. But, this is Fox after all, where many good series have gone to die before they even got going; just ask Nathan Fillion. Better enjoy the episodes of K-VILLE, and experience the fine work of Anderson, Hauser and New Orleans, while you can.