Chicago P.D. TV

What happens when you take all of TV’s rebel cops — those raffish rogues who just don’t follow the rules, dammit! — and put them in one place? You’ll get something like Chicago P.D., the Dick Wolf-produced Chicago Fire spin-off where the only people who go by the book are the show’s writers.

The pilot episode introduces us to the off-duty J.Crew catalog models sexy, well-dressed detectives (Jon Seda, Sophia Bush, Jesse Lee Soffer) of a newly created intelligence unit. These exemplary badasses were recruited for one reason: They’ll do whatever it takes to catch the Windy City’s worst perps, even going so far as to hit and punch people. And who can blame them when the leader of their pack is the raspy-voiced Sergeant Voight (Jason Beghe), an established rule-breaker within the department — and possibly even a Bad Cop.

Yet, despite the unorthodox tactics, Chicago P.D. is as straightforward as police dramas get, right down to the trusty ol’ dead-partner trope. And, of course, there’s the suggestion of an office romance brewing as well, so viewers can probably expect some cop-on-cop action by season’s end. It’s hard to imagine the series capturing the compelling, can’t-watch-just-one magic that makes the Law & Order franchise so marathonable, but it moves just fast enough to keep you from changing the channel in search of an SVU re-run. Consider it police-procedural comfort food — meat, potatoes, but not enough sauce. B