The Los Angeles Times will host a screening and Q&A session Wednesday night featuring the cast of “On Call,” a half-hour police drama set in Long Beach and produced by television legend Dick Wolf.
The screening will play the first two episodes of the show, which was also shot in Long Beach. It is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Culver Theater, 9500 Culver Blvd.
A question and answer session will follow with the show’s two co-creators, Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf, who is Dick Wolf’s son. Also in attendance will be four cast members: Troian Bellisario who plays Officer Traci Harmon, Brandon Larracuente who plays Officer Alex Diaz, Lori Loughlin appearing as Lieutenant Bishop and Eriq La Salle as Sergeant Lasman.
“On Call” mixes traditional camera shots with a mix of bodycam, dash-camera and cellphone footage to put viewers in the shoes of a pair of fictional patrol officers responding to radio calls around Long Beach.
As of Tuesday, the show ranked second among Prime Video’s Top 10 TV shows in the U.S.
“On Call” was shot almost entirely in Long Beach, with brief appearances by Seal Beach and San Pedro.
The city was on a short list of locations that were ideal for the series; then the co-creators spent time in Long Beach and “we sort of fell in love with it,” Elliot Wolf told the Long Beach Post last month ahead of the show’s release.
“I think Long Beach is both extremely charming and has a lot of grit, in a good way,” he said. “It is a character in the show, it’s arguably the most important character.”
Episodes feature appearances from the Port of Long Beach, Rosie’s Dog Beach and even Battambong BBQ — a well-known local barbecue popup.
Film crews also set up a staged homeless encampment, which appears in the second episode, for two days of filming in April 2023.
Walsh and Elliot Wolf went on nearly a dozen ride-alongs with Long Beach police, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles Police Department to help develop material for the show.
A majority of those ride-alongs were with the LBPD, which provided information on how the divisions are set up and general information about the city but did not have a hand in shaping the narratives.
In the past, Long Beach has often stood in for other cities. It played Miami in “Dexter,” “CSI: Miami,” and “Dexter: Original Sin.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Dick Wolf teased that “On Call” could pave the way for more Long Beach shows including a look at paramedics and maybe even the Coast Guard.
Free popcorn and refreshments will be provided at Wednesday’s screening, which is, part of the Los Angeles Times’ Screen Gab series of live events, along with free 3-hour parking with validation. Those interested in attending can RSVP here.
All eight episodes of “On Call” are streaming exclusively on Prime Video.