And really, I can’t speak highly enough about the cinematography, which has a “Collateral”-lite look to it. Make that “a lot glib.” But this is a great cast and it really doesn’t look like any other cast out there and at least 65 percent of the actors are playing characters with shading, not just stereotypes. What I got was a show that probably would be perfectly happy just to be a popcorn-y, somewhat glib version of “The Shield.” OK. I heard a couple colleagues say negative things about “Gang Related,” but I think they were watching it thinking that it’s aspiring to be an HBO or AMC-style drama with aspirations of being taken seriously. There’s a lot of thematically high-minded talk about family and loyalty and the American Dream, but it’s really more about abrupt reversals and moles and narcs and LA’s unique immigrant stratification. Cliff Curtis, The Maori George Clooney, doesn’t fit with the show’s casting verisimilitude, but as the Godfather of Latino Gangsters, he’s chowing down on scenery like the Kogi truck just rolled into his neighborhood. An amazingly diverse cast is fronted by Ramon Rodriguez, capably escaping the shadow of his brief run as Bosley on ABC’s “Charlie’s Angels.” You’ve also got strong supporting performances from the likes of RZA, Jay Hernandez, Sung Kang, Terry O’Quinn and at least one end-of-episode cameo from an actor who I hope will become a regular, because he adds nice continuity with another locally set cop show. Nobody’s going for nuance, but I like the unapologetic B-movie sense of stripped-down fun that it has. There are badass cops, badass Latino gangsters and, thanks to pilot director Allen Hughes, just a tremendous, digitally shot depiction of the underbelly of Downtown Los Angeles and East LA. With Chris Morgan, writer of all of the “Fast/Furious” films from “Tokyo Drift” on as creator, there’s a welcome bluntness to “Gang Related.” It’s straight-up testosterone-laden, smashmouth exploitation TV and there’s nothing like it on a major network these days. Quick Response: I feel like I have a very good sense of what “Gang Related” is and how well it’s achieving its aspirations. The Pitch: “It’s ‘Fast & Furious’ meets ‘The Departed.'”
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