CBS’s mid-season show, “Golden Boy,” a crime drama about a brash cop's turbulent journey to become the youngest police commissioner in New York City history, doesn’t reinvent the shield, but it does offer more promise than puffery.  

This is not another paint-by-numbers procedural that CBS has mass-produced for the past decade. “Golden Boy” follows the impressive career of Walter Clark, played with a beguiling intensity by Theo James.  After a heroic firefight that saves dozens of lives, Clark is promoted to homicide detective, and has to navigate the murky politics of police work, especia...