Ed Burns-Steven Spielberg Police Drama ‘Public Morals’ Greenlit by TNT

Burns will play an officer who is determined to raise his sons to be honest and hardworking as he deals with the city’s dark underbelly

TNT has given a 10-episode order to the police drama “Public Morals,” with Ed Burns (“Saving Private Ryan,” “The Brothers McMullen”) writing, directing, starring and executive producing.

The series, which marks TNT’s latest collaboration with Amblin Television, also includes Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank — the team behind TNT’s “Falling Skies” — as executive producers.

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“Public Morals” will focus on New York City’s Public Morals Division, where cops walk the line between morality and criminality as the temptations that come from dealing with all kinds of vice threaten to get the better of them. Burns will star as Officer Terry Muldoon, who is determined to raise his sons to be honest and hardworking as he deals with the city’s dark underbelly.

Michael Rapaport (“Justified”) and Elizabeth Masucci (“The Americans”) also star, as Muldoon’s partner, Charlie Bullman, the muscle of the Public Morals Division, and Christine, Muldoon’s wife, respectively.

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Timothy Hutton (“Ordinary People”) guest stars in the pilot as Mr. O., a smooth Irish gangster. Rob Knepper (“Mob City”) also guests in the pilot as Inspector Flynn, a veteran boss on the verge of retirement.

Edward Burns is one of my favorite filmmakers, and in ‘Public Morals,’ he has created an incredibly authentic series, inspired by his own life growing up in a family of cops in 1960s New York,” said Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies. “We’ve seen many stories about organized crime and corruption in the city, but this is a different way into that world as seen through the eyes of Irish-Americans, many of whom worked as police officers.”

 

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“We’re also excited to have the inspired creative guidance of Steven Spielberg and our partners at Amblin Television on what is certain to be one of the most talked-about new series of 2015,” Wright added.

On  Wednesday, the network also greenlit the supernatural drama “Proof,” which stars “Flashdance” actress Jennifer Beals as a brilliant surgeon with a caustic edge who’s suffered the recent, devastating loss of her teenage son, the breakup of her marriage and a growing estrangement from their daughter. Matthew Modine, Edi Gathegi and Joe Morton also star in the series, which counts Kyra Sedgwick among its executive producers.

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