Rod Lurie is no stranger to writing strong female characters. In film, he wrote and directed The Contender, with Joan Allen as a woman who was being considered for the Vice Presidency of the United States.

Then with Commander in Chief on ABC, he made Geena Davis the President and actually showed her in action -- until the show was canceled.

Lurie's working on another female-driven drama now for Showtime, but this time it's not about politics. Hillary Jones is the name of the show and the character, a police detective working vice in Los Angeles during the week, but moonlighting as a hooker in Nevada during the weekend.

She's not breaking the law, though, because prostitution -- as you and I know from the movies -- is legal there.

They've done the right thing at CBS in casting -- at least it seems right. Brooklyn native Rosie Perez will play Lorna, Geena Davis' cop partner on the force in Exit 19. I say it's the right thing, and good casting, because Lorna is supposed to be a Brooklyn girl. You can't get more authentic than Rosie Perez. She's a New Yorker through and through. In Exit 19, with Geena cast as a cop who works in the city while raising two kids in Long Island, the work atmosphere will likely seem a lot more realistic with Perez as her partner. If they can muster up the chemistry of a Cagney & Lacey, they'll be well on their way to a success. Of course, with Rosie all of five feet, one and a half inches and Geena a statuesque six feet, they're going to look like Mutt and Jeff.

She's trying one more time. That'll make it three attempts, but who's counting. Three attempts since the new century, that is. Anyway, the point is that Geena Davis's new police drama, Exit 19, has been greenlighted by CBS. The Oscar-winning actress (for The Accidental Tourist), is going from playing the first female president on Commander in Chief, to an eccentric New York homicide detective who's also raising two kids -- sans spouse -- in suburban Long Island.