TNT’s New ‘Boston’s Finest’: ‘Not a Boston Version of ‘Cops”

Winston Deleon of BPD in a scene from TNT’s “Boston’s Finest.”

*Donnie Wahlberg may play a cop on TV, but he’s bringing the real thing to TNT next week in a new reality series that follows police officers in his hometown of Boston.

Aptly titled “Boston’s Finest,” the show is not just a Boston version of the popular Fox series “Cops,” Wahlberg insists.

“First and foremost, I grew up in Boston. And I would not be allowed back in the city if I just simply tried to make a Boston version of ‘Cops,’” said the former New Kids on the Block member, who plays an NYPD detective on CBS’ “Blue Bloods.”

Members of BPD’s Gang Unit in a scene from TNT’s “Boston’s Finest”

Unlike “Cops,” which only followed officers on the beat, “Boston’s Finest” tracks the men and women of the entire Boston Police Department – from beat officers to detectives, SWAT, fugitive and special task forces and members of the elite Gang Unit.

“It’s a very it was a very delicate process putting the show together because the cops who were in the show grew up in neighborhoods that I grew up in,” Wahlberg told us during interviews for the series. “A bunch of them live on a street that my older brother lives on. We found it very important to make a show that represented Boston in the right way.”

Wahlberg continues his comment below, saying it was vital to him that Boston have a reality series that doesn’t make a mockery of its unique accent and idiosyncrasies.

“Boston’s Finest” premieres Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 9 p.m. Scroll down to check out several of the cast members and to watch the first five minutes of the season premiere.

DIAMANTINO “D” ARAUJO

SKYE ROBINSON:

TERRIQUE CHAMBERS

GREG MCCORMICK

MYLES LAWTON

WINSTON DELEON