At the Television Critics’ Association winter press tour in Pasadena this Sunday, CBS presented one of the most anticipated new dramas coming in February to the network. Tommy is a cop drama that features Edie Falco in the titular role.
On panel were star Edie Falco and showrunner Tom Szentgyorgyi, who explained how the show worked, being filmed in New York yet set in Los Angeles.
Falco is a powerhouse, with an Emmy win in comedy and drama, and today she spoke at length about her upcoming series that promises to be a critical hit. Early word among the TV Critics who screened the series was overwhelmingly positive.
Szentgyorgyi said that Tommy is “very much” inspired by the news of the world today. The show will cover topics such as human trafficking, gun control, and even immigration issues.
Interestingly Tommy is set in Los Angeles, but Edie doesn’t have the experience her character has of being transplanted to the warmer coastal metropolis as the show actually shoots at Kaufman-Astoria studios in New York City. “I’ve got kids,” she said.
To underscore her attraction to the script, Falco said that her character “comes from a cop family, and she sees how it’s done” and never thought, “This is how dad does it, but I’m a girl.”
Her love life is more than a straight line. Falco said there is an ex-husband and viewers will see snaps of Tommy’s family and the way she interacts with them. Though once married, Tommy is now an out lesbian. Katrina Lenk will play someone who comes into Tommy’s life eventually and becomes a romantic partner.
“I think she is a New Yorker, she’s woman, she’s a blonde. She’s a lot of things. Her sexual orientation is just a part of who she is,” said Edie Falco, on her character’s sexual identity in Tommy.
“She doesn’t wear a shirt that says, ‘I’m a lesbian,’ it’s just who she is,” said Falco.
“The world is changing, we got to change with it. I think it’s important that every single person gets represented on television…I think we’ve been leaving huge swaths of the population out,” said Falco.
Executive producer and showrunner Tom Szentgyorgyi (The Mentalist) is bringing Tommy to the screen with CBS TV Studios and Amblin TV. The upcoming series is created/executive produced by Homicide: Life On the Streets creator Paul Attanasio.
The series Tommy is centered on Abigail “Tommy” Thomas, a former high-ranking NYPD officer who is now the first female Chief of Police of Los Angeles. She uses her unflinching grit to work in the center of the social, political and national-security issues that converge with Los Angeles law enforcement.
The series’ cast also includes Michael Chernus, Adelaide Clemens, Russell G. Jones, Olivia Lucy Phillip and Joseph Lyle Taylor.
Tommy premieres on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 10/9c. on CBS.