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...

Golden Boy isn't different from any other police procedural airing on CBS. The look of the show is identical to Elementary and, even, Person of Interest. The New York setting seems to entice directors to use grey filters and sterile lighting. Scenes set in the police station are aesthetically unappealing. The majority of CBS dramas are a slog to get through. Hawaii Five-0 is less of a slog than the other shows--because of its beautiful Hawaiian setting--but it is still a slog nonetheless. So many of the stories, so many of its characters, and its beats, have been done before on television, ...