A half-hour police drama following a pair of fictional patrol officers in Long Beach debuts Thursday on Prime Video.
“On Call” features a mix of bodycam, dash-camera and cellphone footage that aims to put the viewer in the shoes of police officers responding to radio calls around Long Beach.
It marks the first foray into streaming for television legend Dick Wolf, who is the show’s executive producer. He has previously produced 10 shows including juggernauts like “Law & Order” on NBC and “FBI” on CBS.
“On Call” was shot almost entirely in Long Beach, with brief cameos by Seal Beach and San Pedro.
Long Beach offered “a lot of tools in the metaphorical toolbox” for storytelling, said Dick Wolf’s son, Elliot Wolf, who is the co-creator of the show with Tim Walsh — who produced dozens of episodes for “Chicago P.D.”
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 said.
“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.”
As for its human cast, the show also stars Troian Bellisario, of “Pretty Little Liars” fame, as officer Traci Harmon, a 12-year veteran tasked with training ambitious rookie Alex Diaz — played by Brandon Larracuente best known from “The Good Doctor.”
Lori Loughlin, of “Full House” fame, plays Lieutenant Bishop, the hardened leader of the department’s West Division.
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 for two days of filming in April 2023.
Legal hurdles didn’t allow them to film an existing encampment, but Elliot Wolf said he tries to “push the boundaries of realism every step of the way.”
One example of that was having a crew member driving a patrol vehicle around the streets of Long Beach from the hood of the car, while cameras captured dialogue between the two actors inside.
Walsh and Elliot Wolf went on nearly a dozen combined 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 vast majority of those ride-alongs were with LBPD, who were “incredibly kind in allowing us to sit in on their day-to-day and trust us as storytellers to depict what they’re doing,” Elliot Wolf said.
The police department 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.
“We always appreciate seeing Long Beach featured on productions like ‘On Call,’ which shine a light on the uniqueness of our amazing city,” the LBPD said in a statement.
Uniforms, patches, logos and city seal on the patrol vehicles look similar but are not exact matches to the ones used by LBPD, the department said.
Local government officials, business owners and people passing by the film sets were all “genuinely excited about a show being set in Long Beach,” Elliot Wolf said.
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.
“Would love for that to be the case. I think that’s an Amazon question,” said Elliot Wolf. “We certainly have the stories to tell.”
All eight episodes of “On Call” will be released on Thursday, streaming exclusively on Prime Video.