''61st Street'' is an American

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

television series created by

Peter Moffat Alexander Peter Moffat (born 2 June 1962) is a British playwright and screenwriter. Early life Moffat was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to John Laidlaw Moffat, who was in the Royal Military Police, and Norma Guthrie. His grandfather and great- ...

that premiered on

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

on April 10, 2022. A second and final season was produced; however, in January 2023, AMC decided against airing it. In May 2023,

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

acquired the series.

Premise

Moses Johnson, a promising, black high school athlete, is swept up into the infamously corrupt Chicago criminal justice system. Taken by the police as a supposed gang member, Johnson finds himself and his lawyer Franklin Roberts in the eye of the storm as police and prosecutors seek revenge for the death of an officer during a drug bust gone wrong.

Cast and characters

Main

Courtney B. Vance Courtney Bernard Vance (born March 12, 1960) is an American actor. Known for his commanding presence Vance started his career on stage before transitioning his career into film and television. He's received various accolades including a Tony Awa ...

as Franklin Roberts *

Tosin Cole Tosin Cole (born 23 July 1992) is an American-born British actor. He is known for various roles in British television series and films. He began his on-screen career starring in '' The Cut'' and '' EastEnders: E20'', later securing a regular ro ...

as Moses Johnson (Season 1) * Bentley Green as Joshua Johnson *

Holt McCallany Holt McCallany (born Holt Quinn McAloney; September 3, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for portraying FBI Special Agent Bill Tench on the series '' Mindhunter'' (2017–2019) and has had leading and supporting roles in various television ...

as Lt. Brannigan *

Aunjanue Ellis Aunjanue L. Ellis ( born February 21, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Men of Honor'' (2000), ''The Caveman's Valentine'' (2001), ''Undercover Brother'' (2002), '' Ray'' (2004), '' The Express: The Erni ...

as Martha Roberts * Andrene Ward-Hammond as Norma Johnson * Mark O'Brien as Officer Logan

Recurring

* Patrick Mulvey as Michael Rossi (Season 1) * Rebecca Spence as Jessica Rossi * Jarell Maximillian Sullivan as David Roberts * Matthew Elam as TJ (Recurring Season 1, Guest Season 2) *

Jon Michael Hill Jon Michael Hill (born 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Detective Marcus Bell in the CBS series ''Elementary'' (2012–2019) and Detective Damon Washington in the ABC series ''Detroit 1-8-7'' (2010–2011). Life an ...

as Pastor Richards * Ben Barten as James Frater * Kamal Angelo Bolden as Young * Emily Althaus as Nicole Carter * James Vincent Meredith as Dr. Algren (Recurring Season 1, Guest Season 2) * Erik Hellman as Peter * Julian Parker as Dante Blake * David Parkes as Rick Leonard (Recurring Season 2, Guest Season 1) * Jerod Haynes as Big Phil * Malkia Stampley as Marisol * Rashada Dawan as Janet Porter (Season 1) * Madison Dirks as Marty Gallagher *

Morocco Omari Morocco Omari (born May 7, 1975) is an American film, television, and theater actor, screenwriter, producer, and a director. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for his role as Tariq in the Hip-Hop television drama series ''Empire ...

as Speak (Season 1) * Sammy A. Publes as Coach Angelo (Season 1) *

Michael Patrick Thornton Michael Patrick Thornton is an American actor and theater director. He recently played the character of Dr. Gabriel Fife in the ABC drama series ''Private Practice''. He's also known for his performances on Broadway including as Lennox in the Sa ...

as Michael Patrick Thornton (Season 1) * Jayson Lee as Calvin Harris (Season 1) * Al'Jaleel McGhee as Lotty * Antonie Pierre as Deputy Moss (Season 1) * Manuk Aret as Alex (Recurring Season 2, Guest Season 1) * Karen Aldridge as Naimah Watts (Season 2) * Paul Turner as Wayne Morris (Season 2) *

Brenda Strong Brenda Lee Strong (born March 25, 1960) is an American actress. She began her career in television, including guest starring appearances in ''Twin Peaks'', '' Party of Five'', ''Seinfeld'', '' Scandal'', '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', '' ...

as Kim Pearson (Season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2022)

Season 2 (2023)

Production

Development

In February 2019,

began development on ''61st Street'' which was created by

who is executive producing alongside

Michael B. Jordan Michael Bakari Jordan (; born February 9, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his film roles as shooting victim Oscar Grant in the drama ''Fruitvale Station'' (2013), boxer Adonis Creed in ''Creed'' (2015), and Erik Killmonger in ''Bl ...

and Alana Mayo. In October 2019, AMC greenlighted the series and gave it a two-season order, with each season consisting of eight episodes. Series star

serves as an executive producer.

Casting

In January 2020, Courtney B. Vance,

and Bentley Green were cast in the series. In May 2020,

Eric Lange Eric Lange (born February 19, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for his work on television, where he has appeared in a wide variety of both Character role, supporting and leading roles. Lange played the recurring roles of Stuart Radzinsky ...

was cast in the series. In February 2021,

replaced Lange; and

Killian Scott Cillian Damien Murphy (born 6 July 1985) is an Irish actor, better known professionally as Killian Scott. He first came to prominence for his role as Tommy in the RTÉ One series '' Love/Hate''. Early life The youngest of six children, Scott g ...

, and Andrene Ward-Hammond were cast in the series. In March 2021, Jerod Haynes was cast in the series. In May 2021, Mark O'Brien replaced Killian Scott as Officer Logan in the series.

Release

The series was originally set to premiere in 2021. The premiere was delayed and it premiered on April 10, 2022. The second season of the series had already been filmed, but was dropped by AMC as part of cost-cutting measures announced in December 2022. In May 2023,

acquired the series. The second season premiered on July 4, 2023 on Australian streaming service Stan.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 69% approval rating with an average rating of 6.2/10, based on 16 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''61st Street'' is situated smack dab in a clichéd zip code of television drama, but terrific performances by Courtney B. Vance and a strong supporting cast provide some local attraction."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * {{The CW programming 2022 American television series debuts 2020s American drama television series 2020s American legal television series AMC (TV channel) original programming English-language television shows The CW original programming Television series by BBC Studios Television shows set in Chicago