Early Look: 'Rookie Blue' is Bland but Harmless Summer Fare

'Rookie Blue,' which ABC debuts tonight at 10PM ET, is harmless, good for a summer night when all that's on is reality and baseball, and you're not in the mood to watch either.

Unfortunately, the harmlessness of the show is its biggest problem.

It's about a team of rookie cops that are trying to feel their way during the first days on patrol after graduating the academy. There are cases to break and perps to chase down, but the point of the show is more about how these rooks interact with each other, the skeptical veterans on the force, and deal with the stresses of their jobs. There's sure to be lots of romance going on, as even the show's star, Missy Peregrym, likens it to a cop version of 'Grey's Anatomy.' It's even in the same timeslot.

Except for Peregrym's character, though, there isn't enough there yet to muster up any enthusiasm from the viewer. At least not for this viewer.

Peregrym plays Andy, the daughter of a cop who flamed out on the force; she's got good raw skills, but she's saddled with trying to avoid her father's dubious legacy. At the same time, she and her fellow rookies are trying to figure out how to work the streets when all they know how to do is to play it by the book. Andy's training officer likens the rookies to "fresh paint," because they smell and look like the nervous newbies they are.

It was interesting that the show's writers decided to really concentrate on Any's backstory in the pilot, pretty much at the expense of the other rookies. Dov (Gregory Smith) looks like he belongs more in a computer lab than a precinct house. Traci (Enuka Okuma) is dating one of the detectives. There are other ensemble show tropes -- the jock, the super-competitive one, the undercover cop with an attitude, the nice detective, etc. -- but they're too lightly-sketched in the premiere for me to remember much about them.

The show's a Canadian production, shot in Toronto. It's supposed to stand in for any large North American city, but it's definitely not trying to hide the fact that they're in Toronto. That by itself is refreshing, but the drawback is that the words "Toronto" and "gritty" are rarely uttered in the same sentence. What we're left with is 'Southland' without the realism and a whole lot more romance.

Viewers expect more than that from their cop shows these days; they want to feel like what happens in the show happens in real life. 'Rookie Blue' doesn't provide that. But, given the production agreement ABC has with the Canadian company producing it, it could be at least profitable enough to keep bringing it back over the summer. Perhaps by then, the show will have found its creative legs.